Is This What You Would Call A No. 4?

This referes to not sporterized. Full forstock, 2 bands, sight gaurd etc, etc. Yours still has a full length barrel and looks to be in good shape so it would be a good candate for restoration. These 2 I restored to full length with unissued wood. Makes a world of difference on the look of the gun and makes it that much cooler to shoot. The one on the top is same as yours No4 Mk1*.

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Sorry, the U.S. Army NEVER adopted the No4mk1. The reason it is marked U.S. Property has to do with lend lease. Since you cannot "lend" what you do not own, the fiction continued until December 7, 1941 when we got into the war.

Now since the barrel is unaltered, the rifle can be restored to full military condition if you wish to. and there should be lots of folks on this forum who can help.
 
Just a note. WW2 Military ammo will be corrosive primed. You MUST clean the rifle the SAME DAY that you shoot it, and I do NOT mean just running a patch down the bore.
 
John, CANADIAN World War 2 .303 ammo made by Defence Industries (DI, Z and date headstamp) was noncorrosive and nonmercuric and also had Boxer primers. They also provided NCNM .30-'06 ammo to the US (headstamp VCC 45), although not as much as would have been liked.

The 'adoption' was paperwork only as the Neutrality Act forbade the manufacture of military equipment for a belligerant Power, yet allowed the sale of SURPLUS US equipment. ZERO rifles ever were taken on strength or issued, all being 'surplussed' as they were manufactured. ALL were delivered to Great Britain. The fiction, however, was useful and we are STILL thankful for it.

Same thing, the USAAF had very real problems with training (and even some combat) aircraft which were accidentally parked too close (within 30 feet, say) to the Canadian Border: the things tended to disappear just as soon as they were left untended. A good cowpoke can throw a rope that far and it only takes one team of horses to drag the thing 40 yards to where it can be started up and flown away.

US-bashing might be our Official Liberal Government-Approved National Hobby but, when you get right down to brass tacks, the US has been one helluvva fine neighbour on many more occasions than most Canadian even know about. I remember one occasion when a Canadian warship commited an overt Act of War by SHELLING an American town one bright Sunday morning. Anyone else would have invaded us (we were prepared for nothing) but the US just moved several miles of AFVs to the border, waited for the apology and the results of the ensuant courts-martial.

Good neighbours are hard to find.
.
 
smellie said:
John, CANADIAN World War 2 .303 ammo made by Defence Industries (DI, Z and date headstamp) was noncorrosive and nonmercuric and also had Boxer primers. They also provided NCNM .30-'06 ammo to the US (headstamp VCC 45), although not as much as would have been liked.

The 'adoption' was paperwork only as the Neutrality Act forbade the manufacture of military equipment for a belligerant Power, yet allowed the sale of SURPLUS US equipment. ZERO rifles ever were taken on strength or issued, all being 'surplussed' as they were manufactured. ALL were delivered to Great Britain. The fiction, however, was useful and we are STILL thankful for it.

Same thing, the USAAF had very real problems with training (and even some combat) aircraft which were accidentally parked too close (within 30 feet, say) to the Canadian Border: the things tended to disappear just as soon as they were left untended. A good cowpoke can throw a rope that far and it only takes one team of horses to drag the thing 40 yards to where it can be started up and flown away.

US-bashing might be our Official Liberal Government-Approved National Hobby but, when you get right down to brass tacks, the US has been one helluvva fine neighbour on many more occasions than most Canadian even know about. I remember one occasion when a Canadian warship commited an overt Act of War by SHELLING an American town one bright Sunday morning. Anyone else would have invaded us (we were prepared for nothing) but the US just moved several miles of AFVs to the border, waited for the apology and the results of the ensuant courts-martial.

Good neighbours are hard to find.
.
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Well said. If there's to be one superpower in the world, we should be damned glad it's the USA.

BTW, another good example of the 'nudge-nudge, wink-wink' happenings is the US selling us tanks as scrap metal. They were dated, but served well enough for training.
 
smellie said:
It is a wonderful chunk of history from the worst, darkest phase of World War Two, that period when England and the Commonwealth, very nearly totally unpepared for war, stood alone against Hitler..... who had had 6 years of very intense rearmament before the first shot was fired and THEN had taken over the Polish, Czechoslovakian, Austrian, Belgian, Danish, Norwegian and French factories.

It was also your Grandfather's rifle. Treasure it. NEVER sell it.
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What Smellie said. Owning a Lee Enfield should be a requisite for being able to vote in this country. My 1942 Long Branch is one of my most valued possessions. Plus, they glow with a cold pale blue light when there are Nazis nearby.
 
Chizzy: As said above, you have a fine old rifle, especially this one having belonged to your grandfather. As many of us did, I started my big game hunting with a Lee-Enfield, a SMLE, redone by Churchill Arms. Never let anyone tell you these rifles aren't fit for North American game.

I have my Dad's M1917 30-06. Sadly, it has been bubba'd as well as "sportered". The old rifle actually left the family back in about 1958, and I managed to buy it back 50 years later!

Edit: Just after Christmas I gave my Dad's old M1917 to my sister's grandson. Both he and his Dad are gunners, so it was appreciated. I told him the story about buying it back.
 
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Hello:

First off, my apologies to the people who posted in response to my thread. I was certain that I had subscribed for an e-mail update for new posts to my thread and some of your postings have gone without the required "Thank You" responses that should have been made long ago.

I am interested in bringing my sporterized rifle back to its original configuration and I have no idea where to look or how to proceed in order to accomplish such a goal.


enefgee said:
You're welcome, the rifle has had it's full military wood replaced (or remodelled, but it looks way to good for that) and it's military magazine either replaced or shortened to make it easier to hunt with. There are varying degrees of quality in rifles like this, some are very well done and others aren't, yours seems to be somewhere in the middle. Take a look at the bore, give it a good cleaning - ditto for the bolt and receiver, as I said - it's a real piece of Canadian culture.
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collector67 said:
If you are at all interested, yours looks restorable as well, seems like the barrel and front sight are original, and haven't been altered/chopped.
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I am very interested in restoring it to its original configuration.

greyman441 said:
This referes to not sporterized. Full forstock, 2 bands, sight gaurd etc, etc. Yours still has a full length barrel and looks to be in good shape so it would be a good candate for restoration. These 2 I restored to full length with unissued wood. Makes a world of difference on the look of the gun and makes it that much cooler to shoot. The one on the top is same as yours No4 Mk1*.
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I would like to do the same to my rifle, any suggestions on where / how to start?

plinker 777 said:
I say bring it back to full military furniture as it was intended....your granddad would most likely have approved
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That is my goal. Thank you for all of your responses, and again I offer my apologies for not offering my "Thanks" far sooner.

Should I be making an EE posting to purchase an original stock or is there a company that specializes in this type of thing?

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

Chizzy
 
Hey Chizzy. I would look on marstar's site and see if they have what you need. They had a big shipment of wood a while back.

I had thought the same about restoring my Grandpa's No1 MkIII but changed my mind. I could buy any decent sporter and restore it to military configuration, but I could never take a military No1 and turn it into Grandpa Bob's LE that he carried every time he left the farm house, which has little bluing left from his leathery hands and dings from the hundreds of hunting trips and numerous cases of ammo he shot through it. Even his weathered cracked old sling is staying for good. My family is lucky enough to have a rifle from a Grandad on each side of my family tree, and its a part of my families history that can never be bought sold or replaced.

I'd look for another sporter to restore if it was me, but its just my opinion, don't let it stop you if that's what you really want to do.
 
OP....Marstar is one place, as you've eluded to EE WTB is an excellent source. shop around and make sure of what you're buying. I would say no more than $200 for a complete set, bands, screws, wood everything all matching......then find a bayo:D.

This action, in my opinion doesn't detract from Granddad's rifle one bit....it protects it! Granddad's rifle is still at the heart of this finely restored military kit.
 
Thank for the replys. Am I correct that if I made these changes to the rifle that I would be able to return it to its existing form if I ever wanted to by just putting the old stock back on?

I did not think that I would need to alter anything on the rifle that would prevent me from returning it to the shape that it was in when I received it in.

I am sorry for the questions, I do not have a lot of knowledge of what all parts I would need for this conversion.

Regards,

Chizzy
 
Chizzy said:
Thank for the replys. Am I correct that if I made these changes to the rifle that I would be able to return it to its existing form if I ever wanted to by just putting the old stock back on?

I did not think that I would need to alter anything on the rifle that would prevent me from returning it to the shape that it was in when I received it in.

I am sorry for the questions, I do not have a lot of knowledge of what all parts I would need for this conversion.

Regards,

Chizzy
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Yes, you could put it back the way it was, easily enough.

If you had all of the parts there now it could be assembled in just a few minutes.
 
My project is finally finished! It took a little longer than I originally anticipated. May I present my de-sporterized Lee Enfield No4 MkI*

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Regards,

Chizzy
 
Canadian 303 certainly is Non corrosive BUT British ammo is NOT. Now the question here is whose ammo does he have with the rifle????? Ao by the way the pics some folks had posted with the sling are incorrect
ONLY the claws of the endpieces should show on the outside. The brass endpieces should be next to the wood with the smooth side of the rivits facing the wood. Lower loop one hand breaths wide with any adjustments being on the upper loop
 
John that is the best description of properly mounting the sling on a LE I've come across. Thanks for that, I'd never thought about the smooth side of the rivets or the placement of sling adjustment before.
 
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