Milsurp for hunting purposes?

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Tytalus

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Question from a total newb, licensed but still not a gun owner... I'm interested in picking up a bolt action milsurp (lee enfield maybe?) of some kind due to their reported ruggedness and decent performance for hunting purposes.

My question is, if I bought one (say some model of lee enfield) what would I be getting myself into?

Are the rifles able to mount modern scopes?

Just how easy can they be to maintain compared to modern commercial hunting rifles?

What else should I know?

Thanks. :)
 
I highly recommend the Steyr 1912 carbine in .308win. It is short enough to be handy in the woods and you can also take advantage on the availability of the .308.
 
davemccarthy707 said:
I have used a Polish m44 and Finnish M39 for taking moose with no problem. Know the rifle and you will have no problems.
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Was considering the 91/30 for whitetail this year but now that I've got the M44 I think it will make a much better rifle for lugging through the bush. Hunting with a milsurp definitely has that coolness factor.
 
MilSurps are plenty rugged, and reasonably accurate, although not tack-drivers.
Some can be scoped without drilling the receiver, many have to be drilled (Sinner!).
Most military calibres can also be found in hunting soft point loads. 303 British for sure.
If you are a hunter first and foremost, get a hunting rifle. You will eventually, so you might as well start there.
If you like military history, and want to hunt with your favourite MilSurp, thats fine, just understand that you might be using open sights.
And choose your hunting partners wisely. You dont want to have to listen to some crotchety old Fudd bagging away for the whole trip about "Why dont you sell that and get a nice gun?"
 
tootall said:
MilSurps are plenty rugged, and reasonably accurate, although not tack-drivers.
Some can be scoped without drilling the receiver, many have to be drilled (Sinner!).
Most military calibres can also be found in hunting soft point loads. 303 British for sure.
If you are a hunter first and foremost, get a hunting rifle. You will eventually, so you might as well start there.
If you like military history, and want to hunt with your favourite MilSurp, thats fine, just understand that you might be using open sights.
And choose your hunting partners wisely. You dont want to have to listen to some crotchety old Fudd bagging away for the whole trip about "Why dont you sell that and get a nice gun?"
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Hmm. Food for thought, thanks! :)
 
Tytalus said:
Why do you say that?
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Because milsurps are used guns so there is greater variation in their accuracy, dependent on how used they are and how well they were cared for .

Because milsurps were built to stand up to much harsher use and conditions than a hunting rifle, usually this means they are heavier than a hunting rifle needs to be (especially if not "sporterised",) and they weren't built to be as accurate as a modern hunting rifle. Most can be accurate enough, but most modern hunting rifles are more accurate, and modern manufacturing means this is more predictable.

Because although you can mount a scope on most milsurps somehow or other, they weren't built for that so it is usually more difficult and expensive than mounting a scope on a modern hunting rifle. A scope doesn't make any rifle any more accurate, but it does make it easier for you to shoot the rifle as accurately as it can be shot.

(I do most of my big game hunting with either a Handi-Rifle or one of several Lee Enfields I have, including one with the full wood, all original.)
 
But you can still pick up an SMLE that Bubba has been at, bed it for $10 worth of compound, clean the bejaysis out of the barrel and you are ready to go hunt. Total expenditure $100 for the rifle, $10 for bedding compound (the leftovers are the toughest furniture glue you will EVER encounter), $20 for a good cleaning kit.

If you hav to scope it, you get an ATI mount for $50 and pick up a secondhand Weaver or Bushnell or even a new one for under $100 and you are ready to go.

You have spent less than $300 and you didn't have to spend HALF of that.

You spend $28 on a deer licence and you bring home 120 pounds of lean meat which would cost you $4 a pound at the store, perhaps more. So that's $480.

You have everything paid for, you still have the rifle and mount and scope and you still have $180 in your pocket that the meat would have cost.

Oh, you'll have to shell out $6 for freezer bags.

When you get rich, you can get the parts and start to restore the old Lee-Enfield into the piece of history that she IS. In the meantime, she'll feed you and the wife and the kids and ask only for a wipe-out, a bit of oil and flatbase bullets (they are cheaper, anyway).

Pretty hard to beat.

Whole GENERATIONS used .303s to feed their families. They still work, they still do the job. Only thing 'wrong' with them is that they are no longer shiny and hip and cool.

Yes, I like them.

If I didn't, I likely wouldn't have 25 of them.
 
I agree with smellie; there are lots of LE sporters out there, some of them have been very tastefully done.(Sante Fe or Parker Hale). The .303 is a excellent cartridge for North American game....
 
I use milsurps for hunting all the time. It's totally legal. I have a permit.

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"You spend $28 on a deer licence and you bring home 120 pounds of lean meat which would cost you $4 a pound at the store, perhaps more. So that's $480."

Maybe in rural Manitoba.

You make deer hunting seem like shopping.

The original poster is from B.C.

He's never been hunting before.

Do you think he's going to be able to drive out from Abortsford in the family car, shot his 120 pound deer and come home?


First he's got to take the BC hunting course and get a hunter number.

After he gets his $100 Lee Enfield.

Then he's got to invest a couple years in hunting and god knows how much in gear before he even sees a buck.

By the way, please direct him to his $100 rifle. At the gun shows they start at $150.
 
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Rugdoc said:
"You spend $28 on a deer licence and you bring home 120 pounds of lean meat which would cost you $4 a pound at the store, perhaps more. So that's $480."

Maybe in rural Manitoba.

You make deer hunting seem like shopping.

The original poster is from B.C.

He's never been hunting before.

Do you think he's going to be able to drive out from Burnaby or wherever he lives in the family car, shot his 120 pound deer and come home?


First he's got to take the BC hunting course and get a hunter number.

After he gets his $100 Lee Enfield.

Then he's got to invest a couple years in hunting and god knows how much in gear before he even sees a buck.

By the way, please direct him to his $100 rifle. At the gun shows they start at $150.
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It must be sad living in a place like that. I couldn't imagine :(
 
I first hunted with a Ross M-10 303. Heavy to lug around and it had no sling swivels so I carried it everywhere.

I've hunted and shot game with a Mosin Nagant too.

But now, I much prefer a nice light hunting rifle made for the purpose.

You get to feel limited on long shots after a while with big clunky iron sights on the military rifles and older you get the heavier they get.

That said, you can get a sporterized LE 303 for $200 that may shoot. It may not as well, that's the chance you're taking.
 
Rugdoc said:
"You spend $28 on a deer licence and you bring home 120 pounds of lean meat which would cost you $4 a pound at the store, perhaps more. So that's $480."

Maybe in rural Manitoba.

You make deer hunting seem like shopping.

The original poster is from B.C.

He's never been hunting before.

Do you think he's going to be able to drive out from Burnaby or wherever he lives in the family car, shot his 120 pound deer and come home?


First he's got to take the BC hunting course and get a hunter number.

After he gets his $100 Lee Enfield.

Then he's got to invest a couple years in hunting and god knows how much in gear before he even sees a buck.

By the way, please direct him to his $100 rifle. At the gun shows they start at $150.
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We also have to take hunter safety and all of that racket in Manitoba. There's still $100 enfields around, like this one:

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Bought for $100 last summer with 3 boxes of soft point 180gr ammo.

If you're a good shot like Smellie IS then yes hunting is like shopping! Also I know many Manitoban hunters that hunt with nothing more then an old lee enfield and some skill. Not everyone needs deer piss sprays, blinds and all of that crap.

Anyhow the OP was asking about "milsurp for hunting purposes?" not "the politics and rules of hunting in BC" the latter of which most of us manitobans probably know nothing about. That said though lots of canadians know a thing or 2 about hunting with Lee Enfields which is a time honored tradition in this country. The rifle pictured above was the previous owners first and only hunting rifle for over a decade and was used to take dozens if deer without a scope!

Op, buy an old lee Enfield Sporter and hunt with it! There's tens of thousands of deer in this country that can attest to the potentcy and accuracy of such a gun!!!
 
fernleaf said:
Personally, I think you're far better off buying a commercial sporting rifle over a military rifle to use for hunting.
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I have to agree, if OP just wants a tool to hunt with there are much better choices. That said, hunting with a milsurp is very enjoyable, brings history to life and can be very successful as long as the limitations of the rifle/hunter combination are respected. I have carried my Garand many days, with 2 deer so far to its credit. I have also carried an M38 Swede Mauser, but have not had the opportunity to take any game with it.


Mark
 
wait theres guns other then milsurps

ive used mosins,sks,lee enfield(may fav for hunting) i have no problem taking deer and with any of them would not hesitate to shoot a black bear or moose

never used any scopes and all my guns are still in they're military wood
 
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