More accurate Lee Enfields

My No.5 originally had a piece of cork in the barrel channel when I bought it. I removed it when I cleaned the rifle, and the darn thing wouldn't shoot worth s#@t! On a whim, I stuck the piece of cork back in, and now it will consistently hit my 600m. target. With the No.4, you want to check two things. First, make sure the forearm tip is exerting upward pressure on the barrel. Also make sure that the upper handguard hasn't slid forward, it will contact the front sight protector and make shooting erratic. With the SMLE, I find that if the barrel lies flat in the stripped forearm, and the muzzle hole in the nosecap lines up properly, the rifle will shoot well. Don't forget to fit the little spring plunger, and the spring on the inner band screw. There should be a bearing on the barrel just behind the inner band, that is your key in adjusting the barrel bedding. A SMLE bedded to military specs will be more CONSISTENTLY accurate than rifles bedded using the hocus pocus methods advocated by some. Anything set up where you have to turn screws, etc. is not likely to remain accurate without needing some kind of adjustments.
 
Well I took the No.4 and No.5 out this weekend and it went better than I thought it would. The No.4 Shot amazingly between 50-75 yards. I took a couple shots at a Cantaloupe at about 150, maybe, and it grazed the bottom of it. I was still amazed. As for the No.5 Im not as much worried. It was good with the close stuff and that was fun enough for me.

Now as this bedding thing goes, it looks pretty hard and precise? With all the pressures needing to be exact on how the stock grips the barrel and clearances. Is there anyone out there who has done it, or knows someone who has, just so i don't ruin a stock or make a total mess of it?

... I'm still amazed that i hit that cantaloupe, Iron sites too!!! And don't give me a hard time. I'm a newbie!!
 
kuziwr said:
... I'm still amazed that i hit that cantaloupe, Iron sites too!!! And don't give me a hard time. I'm a newbie!!
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Cantaloupe, schmanteloupe. The rest of us are hitting grapes at 500yds...
:D

Reactive targets are waaay mo' fun, eh?
 
Heck Yeah. I would love to be hitting grapes, and that's why Im trying to learn how to bed the stock of the rifle.

Coconuts are fun too, but only with soft points ;)
 
sail32 said:
The Jungle carbine was not adopted to replace the No.4, because of a wondering zero.
Check the Enfield, and target web sites for accuracy suggestions.
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Wandering zero largely a myth according to people who have fired the No5 on the range.

However here's something to think about. At the end of WW2, America had a self loading rifle, Russia had not only a self loading rifle, but one capable of full auto fire and was almost giving them away to it's sattelites. Other countries had adopted self loading rifles. BUT the MOD wanted to make an obsolescent BOLT ACTION rifle the standard arm for the British Army, and therefore the rest of the Commonwealth. :eek:
 
FWIW, my info came from Bill Brown, who shot a Possible with an SMLE at 1,000 yards.

We were playing with a 1918 Lithgow in 'new' condition that was shooting 14-inch groups. Got it down to half an inch. Works.

The Damned Crack (at the rear end of the fore-end) is responsible for more rotten shooting with the SMLE than all the 'bad barrels' in existence.

Have fun.
 
Your problem child

kuziwr said:
Well I took the No.4 and No.5 out this weekend and it went better than I thought it would. The No.4 Shot amazingly between 50-75 yards. I took a couple shots at a Cantaloupe at about 150, maybe, and it grazed the bottom of it. I was still amazed. As for the No.5 Im not as much worried. It was good with the close stuff and that was fun enough for me.

Now as this bedding thing goes, it looks pretty hard and precise? With all the pressures needing to be exact on how the stock grips the barrel and clearances. Is there anyone out there who has done it, or knows someone who has, just so i don't ruin a stock or make a total mess of it?

... I'm still amazed that i hit that cantaloupe, Iron sites too!!! And don't give me a hard time. I'm a newbie!!
Click to expand...


Hi!

Your problem child has more brothers and sisters than you could ever believe!

I have bedded several of these critters and have got good results. I am lucky in that I had some good teachers. Bill Brown, BTW, was 6 times at Bisley, shot a 74/75 at 1100 in the Commonwealth Games in Jamaica and had a nice letter from the Queen on his wall. He is gone, now. He PREFERRED the old SMLE for long-range shooting, only used the Number 4 at 800 and under.

I'm in Virden, in Manitoba. It is right on Number 1 Highway, about 25 miles inside Manitoba. If you are out this way some time, drop in and bring the problem child with you. We'll tear her down and bed her properly, float the main part of the barrelk, adjust the muzzle reinforce, the whole thing. BTW, the Magpie Screw is properly termed the Inner Band Screw. It has a special lock-washer so that you CAN use it to adjust vertical zero and it should not work loose. Entire bedding process takes about 16 hours, of which 14 is waiting.

I bedded by 1918 Lithgow in this fashion; groups went from 14 inches to half an inch. Serious.

Anyway, the offer is there.

Take care and have fun.
 
Smellie, a few yrs ago when I was living in Brandon a friend called from Virden to ask if I was interested in having some old Enfield stocks that had come his way. I drove down for coffee and he presented me with a stash of No4 forends and handguards in a FN rifle box with the name " Sgt Brown Virden,MB" on it. Most of the wood had been modified or re-bedded one way or another,incl center bedding. I put one of his nice LB maple forends and a handgd on a 74L LB (bought from behind a farmer's door north of Virden) to make a matching maple set. Among the more interesting pieces are a Brit laminate forend which has been center bedded as well as matching handgds. I wish I could find a laminate butt to go with it. One forestock is the blond Brit type with a Cunard Steamship Line stateroom sticker on it with the name,"J. Brown,room #31". I assumed from this that Brown was a Bisley shooter, possibly a member of the 12th Manitoba Dragoons before they were disbanded in 1964, who had made the trip to Bisley with this stock.
Small world. I'm assuming that this is the same gentleman that you speak of? Anyway, his No4 wood still carries on in the South Okanagan.
 
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