First Lee-Enfield Purchase??

[Ken T]

Hello All,

I'm thinking of picking up a Lee-Enfield to plink around with and use occasionally for hunting.

Any huge advantage of a No. 4 Mk2 over a Mk I or Mk 1*?

My online searching last weekend shows some Mk I's available and maybe a Mk 2.

Not on the EE forums yets.


Cheers!

 

[LeeEnfieldNo.4_mk1]

The No.4 Mk2's have a better trigger, its hung from the receiver, not the trigger guard. Since the trigger guard is in contact with the wood stock, if the wood warps, like in humid conditions, the trigger guard moves, as does the trigger so the trigger is effected which can trough off accuracy. Hanging the trigger from the receiver solves this issue.

But that does not mean that No.4 Mk1's are not accurate.

Also, Unless you reload, Enfields are not really great for plinking because of the price of ammo. But they make great hunting rifles, (I hunt with one).

 

[smellie]

Yup, that just about says it all.

One more point. For accurate shooting, you will want the full wood, properly bedded. For hunting, you might want a lighter rifle. There are lots and lots of ruined fore-ends around, so you instal one of those for your hunting. Lightens the rifle by a couple of pounds... and you don't knock $200 off the value by wrecking a good stock...... which you will then want to replace for accurate shooting.

Have fun!

 

[Ken T]

Thanks,

I plan to purchase a case lot of Sierra match kings for the plinking/target practice part.

Some Barnes TSX for the hunting.

 

[aric84]

Thanks,

I plan to purchase a case lot of Sierra match kings for the plinking/target practice part.

Some Barnes TSX for the hunting.

Make sure that you get the bullets in the right calibre, .312ish diameter. If you use .308 in the enfield you may be setting yourself up for some expensive disappointment. Then again, if you can get those brands in .312 dia(I have not checked availability) then you should be laughing.

 

[smellie]

Enfield rifling really works well with the flat-based bullets. The rifling was deep and relatively narrow (equal to the land width) and so the bullets had to do comparatively more deforming to get down the tube. Boat-tails are really good with narrow-land rifling but the Lee demands more squishing of the bullet to get the best accuracy, so you stay with the flat-base bullets.... which are cheaper, anyway.

I use two bullets in my own .303s. One is the Sierra 180 .311" flatbase hunting bullet, seated to the overall length of a military Ball round, on top of about 38 grains of H-4895. They come out at about 2250 ft/sec, which is just a bit below military specs and just happens to be right at the (by test) most accurate velocity for the .303 with this weight of bullet. Depending on the rifle, I have had this load group as close as bullets touching at 100, but that's a called 2-shot group from a dead-cold barrel, shot within a minute of each other: simulates hunting or sniping conditions and tells you what the rifle CAN do. Hunting is something else.... tells you what YOU can do with the rifle!

For a zippier load, I use 39 to 40 grains of IMR-4064 with a Hornady .312" 150 Spire Point flatbase hunting bullet, seated out so the full cannelure on the bullet shows. What speed they are doing I have no idea, but it is a safe load and in my P-'14 it groups under half an inch at 100, so it must be doing something right.

Hope this is of some help.

 

[Ken T]

Thanks for the bullet tips.

The Barnes TSX come .311 in 150 gr and are flat base.

The match kings aren't flat base, so maybe I'll go with the suggested Sierra's.

Anyone shoot the 174 gr Woodleigh's?

What did Factory thorough repair do to the rifle?
Is it an advantage to purchase a Lee Enfield that had a FTR?


Cheers!

 

[macadoodle]

I use the Hornady 174gr .312" and 38 grains of H4895. works well for me.

 

[TheTooner]

Thanks for the bullet tips.

The Barnes TSX come .311 in 150 gr and are flat base.

The match kings aren't flat base, so maybe I'll go with the suggested Sierra's.

Anyone shoot the 174 gr Woodleigh's?

What did Factory thorough repair do to the rifle?Is it an advantage to purchase a Lee Enfield that had a FTR?


Cheers!

Anything required, including replacing any part except the receiver, (because if you did that you wouldn't be doing it to the rifle, you'd be doing it to a different rifle.)

The advantage of an FTR rifle is that it was repaired, refurbished, or rebuilt as required to return it to the specifications of a new rifle, which suggests it may be in better condition than one that hasn't been through FTR. But you don't know for sure unless you know the history of the individual rifles for comparison. A rifle that went through FTR may then have seen a lot of hard service afterwards, while one that didn't get FTR maybe didn't because it hadn't been used anywhere near enough to wear out.

 

[smellie]

Nice thing about FTR is that the ones released relatively recently will have a much better chance of being in super-good condition, simply because they were FTR'd more recently. If you're looking at a World War I rifle with FTR stamps, the thing could have been FTR'd in 1917 and then used roughly ever since.

If you are looking at an FTR, thing to do is to check the FTR date (stamped or engraved on a Number 4) and, on ANY SMLE, check the barrel date. Barrel dates on SMLEs are the date of the installation of the new barrel and are the equivalent of the FTR stamp on the later rifle. There was one here the other day, in this forum, a 1917 Enfield that had a '23 barrel date. Obviously, the rifle was completely rebuilt to 'as-new' in 1923, so it only has ONE war's wear-and-tear on it since rebuild.

It can get confusing, but at least the British Empire marked its rifles. A lot of places didn't.
Ivan, for example, simply had a barrel date that was part of the factory information. This is why you can get a Moisin-Nagant with an octagonal receiver, the Tsar's signet and a 1938 date, even though the octagonal receiver was old history by that time and the Tsar had been dead for 20 years. What you are looking at is the BARREL date. If it's Izhevsk, it might actually be a Remington or a Westinghouse or a Sestroryetski or Tul'ski receiver.... but the 1938 IZHEVSK barrel information misidentifies the entire specimen...... although it does tell you indirectly that the rifle was REbuilt in 1938, at Izhevsk. VERY confusing.

British practice was much easier to keep track of.

Have fun!

 

[Ken T]

Thanks everyone for the info...

Just have to sit on the EE until something I like shows up.

Unfortunately, the one I was thinking about is SPF.