Enfield Sporter Questions (Possible 56K Death)

[mmattockx]

I just bought an Enfield sporter, one of the Parker-Hale / Churchill style conversions. It is in generally good shape, but I have a few questions.

First the rifle:

Now the questions:

1) Where do I find a sight hood for it?

2) On the receiver pic we can see a brass lined hole. Should there be a screw in there? The opposite side has the same hole and has a screw in it.

3) Also on the receiver pic, we can see how the trigger can move forward. It will fall to this position on its own if the muzzle is pointed down. The trigger seems to function fine and has a well defined 2 stage pull with a nice, clean break. My other Enfield sporter trigger will not move forward like this. Is this normal? OK? Any fixes?

4) On the barrel pic it shows some scratches and wear on the barrel and edge of the front sight base. Can I use cold blue to touch those up and get a decent match with the very deep blue on the barrel? Any recommended cold bluing products for this job? Or should I just clean it up with fine steel wool and oil, then leave it alone?

5) The butt plate is broken, where is the best place to find a replacement? The EE? If the stock was cut flat I would just fit a thin rubber pad, but the cut is crescent shaped and will be harder to work with. I would prefer an original style plate if possible, but the old bit about beggars and choosers comes to mind.

6) The barrel is a touch over 22", has anybody chronied Winchester 180gr Super-X ammo through a barrel around this length? I am just looking for approximately what muzzle velocity to expect for preparing some ballistics tables.


Thanks,
Mark

 

[Scotlas]

Toward #4)
I stripped and refinished a win 94 with cold blue and it took 10 coats/cycles of blueing to get it to a passable color. I'm looking at my Enfield and it's really dark, as in 20-30 coats. I don't know if there's a better product than I used, but I'm thinking it'd be pretty tough to match.

 

[buffdog]

Answers

Sight Hood - keep looking at the gun shows, in the parts boxes. These rifles are long out of production, but many different sight hoods can fit them.

You have a later model No.4 rifle, if the forestock is any indication. The screw should go all the way through, and MUST be removed to take the forestock off IF the forestock is the proper one. Because of the surplus parts, Parker Hale made a lot of No.4 Mark 1 and Mark 1* rifles into sporters. If you can remove the forestock easily, you will find that a piece of wood has been inserted into the rear gap of the forestock, and the screw runs through it. If this is the case, there is no reason to remove the screw.

First remove the trigger guard. If the trigger is pinned to the trigger guard and comes out with it, you have an earlier rifle, with a late model forestock, and you should not remove the screw. If the trigger stays in the rifle, then REMOVE THE SCREW BEFORE TAKING THE FORESTOCK OFF OR YOU WILL DAMAGE THE FORESTOCK. These triggers are pinned to the rifle action itself.

Lee Enfield triggers are not spring supported. This is normal. You can build up the wood inside the forestock a bit to help reduce this.

Again the local gun shows are best for finding old parts. Take your old buttplate with you and try to match it up. It might take a while, but you can generally find something suitable that you can use or cut down a bit.

An option here is to have a recoil pad fitted.
.

 

[mmattockx]

I don't know if there's a better product than I used, but I'm thinking it'd be pretty tough to match.

That was my thought as well. The bluing is a very deep blue, nearly black and the cold blue I have seen left a very royal blue color.


Buffdog, thanks for the trigger and disassembly info. Looking at it again, the screw does go through and you can see the end of it inside the brass fitting.

One more pic:

Does anybody recognize the type/brand of scope mount I need to match the D&T'd holes shown above? I plan to strip the shiny varnish type finish and refinish with Tung oil, is there anything to worry about regarding fit of the wood to the metal? I will not be sanding, just steaming out some dents and cleaning the surface up with 0000 steel wool.


Thanks,
Mark

 

[TheTooner]

Looks like it was drilled and tapped for a Weaver TO-1 base (Weaver part no. 48203, MSRP US$16.95) which is used for Weaver 1" tip off rings (Weaver part no. 49819, MSRP US$15.49.)

 

[Pblatzz]

It's a Parker Hale supreme No 4, The front sight looks like it has Parker Hale on the left hand side. Depending on the time this was converted, it may have a PH stamped under the bolt hand on the receiver. Later versions had Parker Hale Birmingham, England stamped on them (And Parker hale never made lee enfield barrels, they just cleaned them up).

Yep missing the fore stock screw, there were two variations of this stock, one for the No4Mk1 & Mk1* variants and another for the No4Mk1/2 or No4mk1/3 & the No4Mk2 receivers. It meant that there was a small pc of wood filling in the gap behind the trigger on the no4Mk1's (if my memory serves me correct).

You can get butt plated from Numrich or at a gunshow, Or any local gunsmith may had a stash of old parts. Try Epps or any CGN sponsors? Forget the rubber butt pad, your LOP will be really long, those butt stocks are long to begin with. Unless you cut off what you are adding?

Pete

 

[plinker 777]

#2) I'm sure what you see is actually the screw's nut on the right hand side of the stock. The screw doesn't thread into the receiver, rather right thru to a nut in the right hand side of the stock. When tightened the stock "pinches" the receiver.

 

[Mk VII]

The thread, IRRC, is a No.4 BA (though commercial stocks may have used a different thread). The dark shiny blue is very typical of P-H bluing jobs. They also refinished Lugers like this.

 

[mg4201]

That was my thought as well. The bluing is a very deep blue, nearly black and the cold blue I have seen left a very royal blue color.


Buffdog, thanks for the trigger and disassembly info. Looking at it again, the screw does go through and you can see the end of it inside the brass fitting.

One more pic:

Does anybody recognize the type/brand of scope mount I need to match the D&T'd holes shown above? I plan to strip the shiny varnish type finish and refinish with Tung oil, is there anything to worry about regarding fit of the wood to the metal? I will not be sanding, just steaming out some dents and cleaning the surface up with 0000 steel wool.


Thanks,
Mark

the scope mount is a weaver to-1 I have the same one

 

[mmattockx]

It's a Parker Hale supreme No 4, The front sight looks like it has Parker Hale on the left hand side. Depending on the time this was converted, it may have a PH stamped under the bolt hand on the receiver. Later versions had Parker Hale Birmingham, England stamped on them (And Parker hale never made lee enfield barrels, they just cleaned them up).

The front sight has "Parker-Hale" over "England" on the LH side. Nothing on the receiver under the bolt handle, unless it is covered by the forearm.

Yep missing the fore stock screw, there were two variations of this stock, one for the No4Mk1 & Mk1* variants and another for the No4Mk1/2 or No4mk1/3 & the No4Mk2 receivers. It meant that there was a small pc of wood filling in the gap behind the trigger on the no4Mk1's (if my memory serves me correct).

The screw is there, it goes in from the other side. I wasn't sure if anything should have gone in from the RH side as well. Turns out it is all OK.

You can get butt plated from Numrich or at a gunshow, Or any local gunsmith may had a stash of old parts. Try Epps or any CGN sponsors? Forget the rubber butt pad, your LOP will be really long, those butt stocks are long to begin with. Unless you cut off what you are adding?

Pete

I have monkey arms and the stock fits me very nicely with the buttplate on. It will be good once I add a couple of layers of clothing for hunting season. I will not be putting a full recoil pad on it, at most it would be one of the thin rubber pads not much thicker than the plastic buttplate. I would prefer to find an original model plate to keep it correct.

#2) I'm sure what you see is actually the screw's nut on the right hand side of the stock. The screw doesn't thread into the receiver, rather right thru to a nut in the right hand side of the stock. When tightened the stock "pinches" the receiver.

That is exactly what is there. It all looks ok now.

Looks like it was drilled and tapped for a Weaver TO-1 base (Weaver part no. 48203, MSRP US$16.95) which is used for Weaver 1" tip off rings (Weaver part no. 49819, MSRP US$15.49.)

the scope mount is a weaver to-1 I have the same one

Most excellent, I will have to track down the mount and rings for future uses.

Final update: I had her out to the range today. Got it zeroed and had a sub 2" group at 100yds with Winchester Super-X 180gr SP ammo. This will work fine for the fall if I don't get around to doing load development before then. I took a mulie doe last year with my Garand, hopefully this rifle will collect one this year.

Thanks to all for the info and help,
Mark