Lee Enfield .410 conversion

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SquealingMoose

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Hello all, first off I would like to state that I understand that they made .410 Lee Enfields and they can sometimes be found online. I have seen a few. I am not inclined to pay hundreds of dollars when I might be able to do it myself for much less, with one of my old rifles. I am not a die hard collector, I just thought this would be a neat project. I don't care about owning an actual converted .410 Lee Enfield. I just want a cool project to spend my time on. So with that said, I would like to know what it would take to convert a normal run-of-the-mill .303 Lee Enfield to a .410 shotgun that will accept 3 inch shells. I am by no means a gunsmith but from my limited understanding and the internet, I assume all I would need to do is bore out the barrel to .410 and lengthen the chamber to about .460 to .470? And widen it to .469 for the 3 inch shell? And what about a choke? From what I've found online, people are largely unsuccessful converting the 10 round stacking mags to accept and feed .410 shells properly, maybe an experienced gunsmith could figure it out. I think I've read people used other mags designed for .410 rounds and adapted them to fit into the Lee Enfield. I don't think there is an issue with overpressure as the .303 is more powerful than the .410. So, am I correct in all this? Am I missing anything? I appreciate all the info you can give me. Thank you very much.
 
If you have a bubba'd Lee Enfield, and want to convert it to a single shot .410, the easiest way would be to install a .410 barrel. Boring, reaming and rechambering a .303 barrel would make sense only if you had access to the tooling to do the work. You would need a piloted drill to open out the bore, an appropriately sized reamer to finish it, and a chambering reamer. Unless you know a toolmaker who would grind these for you as a favour - or if you could make these yourself - the cost of acquiring the proper tools would make the job prohibitively expensive.
Before the law in the UK was changed, it was common for everything from rifles to machine guns to be converted to .410 so that they could he owned under a shotgun certificate. British companies were set up to do the work.
In my collection of odds and ends, I have a barrelled receiver from a Stevens bolt action shotgun. I could retrofit the barrel to a Lee Enfield receiver. A notch for the extractor would be needed. No action work would be necessary. If a repeater is desired, fitting a bolt action shotgun single stack magazine would be the way to go.
 
Not that this will help you much, but there are No.1 LE's that were converted to 2 1/2" shotshell types. I believe most were done by India for prison guards. I have also read that they were supplied to some reserve units and police. According to some, the thinking was that it was best to be not out-gunned by those who are supposed to be on your side, thus the single shot. I would expect this theory to be shot down, or, at least examined.

I have two of these beasties, one in original 2 1/2" and one rechambered to 3". Both are very dark wood, banged up, but interesting and fun to shoot. Single shot, both.
 
The Indian musket conversions were designed to use a cartridge made using an unformed, straight .303 casing. When .303 cartridges to be loaded with Cordite were being made, the cases were finished except for body taper and neck; the Cordite and wad were inserted, then final forming was done. The untapered cases were loaded with round ball. Sort of a less lethal load.
Handloaders may fireform .303 cases, or adapt .444 Marlin.
Many of the Indian muskets were reamed to 3" .410 to make them easier to shoot.
Don't know if the OP wants a .410 Lee Enfield that is in issue or sported configuration. Given what as-issued rifles are bringing these days, converting an intact rifle to .410 doesn't make sense.
There were .410 Lee Enfield based sporting guns made in the UK.
 
I already have a sxs .410, this is just as a cool project I thought I could do. Also, I knew that they made these in .410 before so I thought it might be easiest. Why do you suggest 7.62x39? How would I go about doing that?
 
tiriaq said:
The Indian musket conversions were designed to use a cartridge made using an unformed, straight .303 casing. When .303 cartridges to be loaded with Cordite were being made, the cases were finished except for body taper and neck; the Cordite and wad were inserted, then final forming was done. The untapered cases were loaded with round ball. Sort of a less lethal load.
Handloaders may fireform .303 cases, or adapt .444 Marlin.
Many of the Indian muskets were reamed to 3" .410 to make them easier to shoot.
Don't know if the OP wants a .410 Lee Enfield that is in issue or sported configuration. Given what as-issued rifles are bringing these days, converting an intact rifle to .410 doesn't make sense.
There were .410 Lee Enfield based sporting guns made in the UK.
Click to expand...

Yes, you are right I would never do that to a non-sporter rifle. You'd have to be insane haha
 
Best bet would likely be to get a .410 shotgun barrel and mill/thread the outer diameter to fit the enfield action. Boring out a .303 to .410 is going to be a big job, not impossible by any means but if you can't make your own boring bit and bore reamer its going to be expensive tooling to buy or a pretty expensive trip to the gunsmith. The magazine will likely need to be converted to single stack with the feed ramp and feed lips adjusted.
 
Threading a single shot .410 barrel for a Lee Enfield - were the Cooey's in .410 made smaller diameter than the rest? I have a Cooey 840 here, but it is in 28 gauge - the part number for the forearm is exactly the same as for a 12 gauge, so I presume the barrel contour is also the same - very, very thick walls at the chamber end of this barrel!!!
 
Lee Enfield threads are nominally 1-14. SMLE barrels breech against the inner receiver collar, No. 4s against the receiver face. If you are fitting a .410 barrel, I suppose you could set things up according to the barrel being installed. If the barrel isn't large enough for a shoulder, use the inner collar. An extractor groove will likely be needed, cut after the barrel has been fitted so it will be properly indexed.

I mentioned above that I have a barreled receiver from a bolt action shotgun. The barrel and receiver ring could be cut loose from the rest of the receiver, the receiver ring turned and threaded 1-14, and the barrel assembly turned into the receiver, butting against the inner collar. Headspace could be adjusted, if necessary, by facing the barrel or by altering the rim recess, and an extractor groove cut. Probably a straightforward installation. As it happens, I have a No. 4 receiver which has had the charger bridge and rear sight lugs removed. Streamlined, sort of like an EAL. Should work nicely for a shotgun.
 
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