Just seeing what I have - .303 Q's

LoneRanger

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I guess I should actually figure out exactly what sort of LE I got sitting in my cabinet. I'll post some pics and let you guys say what you think of the ol' girl!

As far as I know of the history of it a buddy of my grandpa's bought it in '58 (I believe) from the Army & Navy store in Vancouver. They were working together in Chetwynd, BC in 1963 and he owed my grandpa some cash so he gave him the rifle instead. My gramps isn't much of a hunter but he tried and got a couple of deer with it. His buddy bought the box of ammo with it when he bought the rifle, put 5 rounds though it, gave it all to my gramps who put 10 rounds through it when he got it and once the family started in '65 he wrapped it up and it sat in the closet like so until my grandma died in '96 and he sold the house. He had completely forgotten that he had it so he gave it to my dad, who in turned gave it to me as my first deer gun when I was 16.

We got it at this point in pretty much new shape (it was cleaned well before it was put away), and there was 5 rounds left in the original box of ammo (which I believe my dad fired when he got it :slap:). My dad had the Bushnell 2-7x scope mounted on it from his BRNO .30-06 and got a new Bushnell 3-9x for his.

In in the 12 years I've owned it I think I have put 3 or 4 boxes of ammo through the rifle, mostly Federal 150 gr and a half box of Hornady light magnum 150 gr (which I found the rifle liked a lot). It really doesn't have a lot of "history" I guess, with no idea on my behalf as to whether or not it seen active duty. Being built in 1942 I imagine it did, but where or with whom I don't know. Besides the wood being cut down and sporterized to some extent, most everything appears to me to be original, with fairly minimal wear and tear on it. My only real plans for it is to keep cleaning it and shoot it occasionally, and I keep meaning to get around to shining up the brass butt plate. Oh, and it still even has the original cleaning kit in the butt, unused!

Here's some pics:

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The CIL ammo box:

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Sorry for any fuzzy pics, I was having a heck of a time getting the camera to focus properly up close (8 - 10").

My main question is that I believe its a No4 MkII since my dad has a No4 MkI and they're quite different (his has the actual stamp on the left side, 1944 No4 MkI, mine doesn't), is this correct? LR
 
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It's an Austrailian made No 1 Mk III* Lee Enfield, also known as SMLE (Short, Magazine, Lee Enfield). These were produced in Lithgow, Austrailia from near the start of WWI until after WWII (exact dates in Skennerton's book, too lazy to go pick it up). The Austrailians never changed from the No 1 pattern rifle to the No 4 like most of the rest of the Commonwealth. That rifle would have been issued with full wood up to the muzzle of with a sight protector/bayonet lug metal nose cap. If you look around the forum a little bit you will see lots of photos. At some point, somebody removed this wood to make a nice light sporter. If so inclined, you might be able to find wood and the rest of the required hardware to restore it, but it has been drilled and tapped for a scope (also not original issue). No big collectors value, but a lovely bang around hunting rifle.
 
Thank you. That's a whole lot different info than what I figured. How many Aussie rifles made it up to Canada?

As for a full on restore, IMO its not worth it really. I like the idea of my own bubba'd .303. LR
 
Bubba'd No1 Mk3 are so cheap (well they should be), I voted to have one just like yours for hunting, and retrofit another one to its original glory, with bayonet. The same applies to a couple of No4 I have...

I'd recommend going to the range and seeing at least if your No1 is accurate and offers nice grouping - at least then it can make good use of the scope :)

Lou
 
While we're trying to figure out what guns we have...

I have gotten my hands on an Enfield without markings!
Everone I've seen has had the No. and Mk. stamped on the receiver but mine has been removed by some idiot that thought painting the whole thing in gloss black was a good idea! At least it still has the original buttstock and brass piece, but other than that it has been sporterized much to my chagrin.
I bead blasted all the crap off it and re-blued it, so it's starting to look nice now, but after the blasting I looked carefully for marks and found something interesting on the bolt that I haven't been able to find any info on, and I hope one of you guys can tell me what exactly this rifle is.
The bolt has stamped on it N 67 Mk. II and the serial number on the rifle begins with GB (Great Britain?).
I was under the impression that it is a No.4 Mk.1 because of the slot with tapered edges on that part that sticks out on the bolt, and so I bought a complete stock set off Ebay to bring this baby back to original, but now I'm wondering if it might be something else. Possibly a No.4 Mk.2? Anyone able to help out on this?
I have a couple of pics to post but I can't see where to do that.
 
There were ALOT of these Lithgows brought into Canada after WW2 - I've got one myself as a hand-me-down. Apparently Sears (Robuck) was one of the big importers at the time and they were going for about $15, from what I understand. Not sure where the sporterising happened, but it appears to have been done "professionally" before retail.
 
Yeah, its a very nice rifle and it'll shoot within 3" at 100 yrds standing if I take a bit of time (I don't bench shoot too much, IMO doesn't practise me for actual bush shooting). Its good to know about it, and IMO the action's nicer than my dad No4 Mk I he has sitting in his cabinet. Its a beautiful gun and its very smooth, shoots nice, with the recoil pad on it doesn't hammer me at all. I really enjoy shooting my Rem 700 '06 but this still takes the cake for me. I like hunting with it because of its removable mag which is fairly hard to find in a lot of modern rifles (most are built it). You can leave a few rounds in the mag and keep them separate in the truck, quicker to load up when you see something. For hiking I carry the '06 cause its lighter.

Thanks for the info guys. LR
 
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