My #4 Mk 1 Rebuild.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I realized that if I wanted to sight the gun in I would need a method to drift the Front Sight. I designed and built this tool, which is the prototype for a run of tools I am making. It works just fine and allows predictable movements of the Front Sight.

This is only the Prototype. The run will be made from 7075 Aluminum. All I had laying around the shop that was close to the right size was this piece of brass.

Randy

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

The rifles refurbishment is pretty much complete. and in the 6 weeks since I acquired it I have learned much about these guns. As I stated earlier this gun could be returned to Mil Spec if I so desired. However I bought the gun as a shooter primarily to be used with Cast Boolits shooting Cowboy or Short Range Silhouette Matches and local National Match event's.

I am a member of the Ojai Valley Gun Club and at our meeting last night the National Match Shoot chair was very enthusiastic about the gun. Apparently several guys are already shooting Enfields at the monthly events.

I am playing with rear sights now after I found both Lyman and Redfield sights mounted to a fairly common Adapter Plate That allows mounting these sights to a #4 With no alteration to the gun. I will fabricate some of these and I won a Redfield Olympic sight off Ebay recently which can be adapted to said plate to allow a little finer adjustment and aperture size control than the Mk1 sight allows.

I also got a complete set of Front Sights so I can deal with elevation issues outside the range of the Backsight.

Here are pics of my Cast Boolit and loaded rounds.

Randy

The boolit is from Lyman mould 314299.

 

[HarryD]

The Lee Enfield forum on gunboards is a good forum with a lot of very knowledgeable contributors. It's specifically a collectors forum for unmodified rifles.

 

[ryan]

Have you got a good load worked up for the cast bullets yet?

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Harry,,, Believe me,,, I fully understand this now, but there was nothing to indicate that on the front door. "By Collectors, For Collectors," can mean a lot of things to many people. They have no use for this gun even though it could be put back to Mil Spec by simply replacing the Fore End and handguards. I was going for an L39A1 replica and most people were supportive, however once one guy questioned the threads placement several others piled on. Such is the way of the Internet. I wish Al Gore would have considered that point when inventing it..


Ryan: Shooting some test loads tomorrow. The previous loads I shot last week were all loaded too hot and as a result the 100 yard groups were more like "patterns." I have every confidence that one of the powder charges I selected will work right and yield an accurate enough load to go all the way to 600 yards.

I am also waiting for some quality Jacketed bullets to become available to develop a couple of hunting loads. Looking for some Hornady 174 gr RNSP's and Woodleigh 215 gr RNSP's. From what I have read in several places the Woodleigh's are considered the premier hunting bullet for the .303 in Canada, and suitable for anything up there.

I will keep everyone informed as to the progress with this project.

Randy

 

[RRCo.]

Since you're on a .303 kick, try a Ross as well!

As per my previous, I would move the band back a good 1/2" behind the end of the stock. That means sawing off the shoulder the band sits on now and re-cutting the band slot farther back.

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Almost did do a Ross. one showed up at the local Hardware Store earlier this year, and it was a real nice Ross Factory Sporter, with some light engraving and fairly nice wood. (needed refinish as well). It had an interesting "aftermarket" (I'm Sure) bolt latch that prevented the bolt form rotating unless the latch was tripped. Obviously to prevent the dreaded bolt in the face thing those guns are known for if the bolt is assembled wrong. They do tend to have extraction problems as well.

I did some research on the gun and decided my $700 would be better spent on some other gun related tack.

I probably will only deal with the Fore end barrel band if it doesn't work out. I have another Fore End and could buy another Hand Guard so it's not the end of the world.

Randy

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Nice work, Randy. A lovely thing.

 

[RRCo.]

Was the Ross a .303 or a .280? There is a photo in the the big Ross book of a latch similar to what you describe and it was an aftermarket job, that was on a .280 M10

No extraction problems with good ammo. Bolt issue: simple if you know what to check. Plenty of Ross info around here; we have some very experienced Ross wranglers on board!

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

RRCo: the gun was a .303. It kind of started my interest in the .303 cartridge, and obviously that shifted to Enfield Rifles.

Currently going thru load development for this gun.

My intention is to end up with a Cast Boolit load, and one or two Hunting Loads. The Hunting loads will be based on Hornady 174 gr RNSP's, and Woodleigh 215 gr RNSP's. However these bullets are not available anywhere right now so I have to wait until they become available. From what I have read the Woodleigh 215 gr bullet appears to be the hunting bullet of choice for you guys up North.

The Cast loads are done with the boolits shown above and XMP5744 powder. I have Winchester and Frontier (Hornady) Cases all but a few of the cases I have right now are new unfired.

I shot up my first loaded rounds last week and whereas I got zeroed at 50yds with only a few shots, the 100 yard group was more like a pattern. My conclusion was that I ran the boolits too hard. I had made the mistake of loading the previous run like I do my .30-06 with 25 gr of 5744. The .303 is more like the .30-40 Krag than the .30-06 so charges befitting that round are more appropriate.

So ,,, I backed off on the charges and started at the bottom, loading 5 each, from 19.5 to 22.5 gr of the above mentioned powder. One of these charge levels should work. If not then I will go to the "Universal" .30 cal. Cast Boolit load of 16 gr of 2400 which seems to work in just about any .30 cal. round.

Next day,,,

Shot the gun today with 7 different loads and the best I got was one 2" group at 50 yds. Shooting off a good rest with a rear bag in ideal conditions.

I think a good portion of the poor groups was the targets I am shooting at which don't allow me to index the Front Sight on the target very well. The best group was with 20.5 gr of 5744 powder and 314299 boolits. But 21, 21.5 and 22 were nearly the same size. Easily could have been poor sight alignment.

That said, I still had no problem hitting our 300 yard gong (36" hanging plate) 3 times in a row,,,, Offhand!

On another note:

I have to tell you guys ,,, the main reason why I bought this gun in the first place was my interest in the Canadian Rangers and their function in your society. I wish we had something like this here in the US, but it would probably be deployed on our Southern Border in the desert instead of a pristine wooded northern wilderness keeping the Ruskies at bay. You guys get to do Military type things without having to be in the Military perse'. If I lived up north I would be there with you.

I might add that I was the person who tried to get Ruger involved in the refit of the Canadian Ranger Rifle. As soon as I heard about the proposed upgrade a few years ago, I called my friends at Ruger and told them about the possibility. They got right on it. The Ruger Gunsite Scout is Exactly the gun they are looking for in it's current form, with the exception of a synthetic stock which your military wants and that Ruger could easily supply.

Apparently that refit has been shelved as Your Govt wants the gun to be made in Canada. The only US outfit that has a plant in Canada is Colt.

Colt's only mag fed bolt action offering, which is actually made by Dakota Arms in S. Dakota, is $2700 US and not completely to Canada's Spec ,,, Ruger's gun is to spec and is $1100. Big difference when talking about 5000 guns. Probably a quantity break to be had there as well!

On yet another note:

I will have Front Sight adjusting tools ready in about a week and will post pics as soon as they are ready to go. There has been a lot of interest in the tools at other places so I think you guys will like them too.Front sight adjuster tools are at the plater getting anodized.

I am starting to work on a Backsight Adapter Plate to mount my Redfield Olympic Sight. I think a combination of a better Backsight and a 2-3" black square for a target will yield some better groups. The aperture in the ladder sight is simply too big for shooting targets. Be fine for hunting or shooting people which was kind of the original intent.

Will also be casting some more Boolits this weekend.

Randy

 

[RRCo.]

Do you remember if the Ross was a 1905 action or a 1910?

I don't think the Rangers are looking for a synthetic stock and hopefully DND isn't either.

Good for you for trying to interest Ruger, but the Gunsite Scout is not a patch on the No4 as has been discussed elsewhere.

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

RRCo: I don't remember which Action It had I was more enamored with the Bolt latch.

The Spec for the Ranger Replacement as I read it was . Bolt Action, 10 rnd. Magazine Fed,, .308 caliber, Iron Sights with provision for easy scope mounting, and synthetic stock. The synthetic stock was a big deal for them due to the cold weather.

And then finally after the fact, they decided that they wanted it made in Canada. That was the big sticking point, as nobody makes guns like this in Canada, so as a result, they haven't gotten new rifles.

Rugers proposal had everything they asked for except the synthetic stock, right out of the box, and they were willing to do that as well. In Fact there is already a Canadian Version of the rifle with a 18" bbl. Ruger is very open to doing special runs of guns for big Customers. Lipsey's gets all kinds of oddball guns made exclusively for them all the time, and I have seen several variations of the Scout Rifle including one with a Walnut Stock which showed up at a LGS recently.

I even suggested for them to set up a Warehouse in Canada and ship the guns there in pieces to be mated with their stocks to satisfy the Made in Canada ruling, but no one was interested.

I personally don't think the Govt. up there has any intention on refitting the CR as there is no immediate threat, and I think they would rather spend the $5 Million on something else.

Randy

Here's the one I saw with the Wood Stock.

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Also Done with Redfield Olympic installation to my #4. Made adapter Plate so there is no alteration to the gun. Looks like it belongs there.

Randy

Safety is easily manipulated with the thumb. Plenty of room for your thumb.

Note how the aperture is placed neatly between the Receiver Ears for the Ladder Sight.

 

[patrickosuave]

Nice work Mr. Buchanan.

 

[RRCo.]

Yes, nice work. It's a pity no one makes a base for the Central sight that does not require D&T and still allows use of the safety.

I still think you need fine threads and steel inserts for your sight adjuster though!

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

RRCo. the sight adjuster is made from 7075 T651 Aluminum which is about 75K psi, CR steel is 60K psi. There is absolutely no need for inserts. Also the threads are 1/4-28 fine threads yielding .006 movement (3/4 MOA ) per Flat. or .036 per full revolution. You also get both Allen and Hex Head bolts.

The parts are all black anodized and there is so little force on the screws when you turn them that one of these tools should last 2 lifetimes of everyday use, you'll lose it before you ever wore one out.

Screws are stainless. and I even faced the ends so they are square and lubricated them so they run super smooth.

This is the best tool like this you're ever going to see.

I figure you should have one.

Randy

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Sight Adjusters are going fast and several other tools are coming. I have also sold several of my Receiver Sight Adapter Plates to friends in AUS and NZ. These allow you to adapt a Redfield or Lyman Levergun Receiver sight to the #4 rifle with no alteration to the gun.

Randy

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Trigger Work !

Ever since I got this gun I have been disappointed with the trigger. It has the standard two stage pull, but it was heavy and there was like about a 1/4" of creep.

I can usually figure out a trigger pretty quickly but this one simply sucked.

One of my Enfield Friends pointed out when I showed him the gun that it didn't have the Grooved Striker and thus was not correct.

I summarily dismissed this thought until I got ready to order some more piece parts from Sarco and saw that strikers were only $4. I said why not, So I got one, obviously bowing to peer pressure.

One of the things that the previous striker allowed was downward motion to the tune of about 1/16-1/8 " during take up of the second stage slack. This bugged me to the point where after Three Weeks of sitting on the bench I finally decided to install the new striker. However it took playing with my new project gun the #4 Mk1* to finally push me to action.

Something that I noticed as soon as I got my new gun,,, The #4 Mk1* Long Branch,,, home was that the action was noticeably smoother and the striker did not move vertically.

AS soon as I got the old striker out and put them side by side I could see what the difference was ,,, and it was major.

The bottom section of the New Grooved Striker, the arm that has the sear on it, and rides in the groove on the bottom of the receiver, is about .060 thicker vertically than the ungrooved version. This is where the all take up slack was at.

I had a few problems getting the new part to fit the firing pin threads as the British Threads are completely bastard, about 1/4 -27 or 26. They are now both 1/4- 28 and My apologizes to the Queens Armorers for reengineering their parts.

There is no longer any vertical movement of the striker during take up and very little "slack plus" (creep) before final let off.

Also the pull is now about 3.5-4lbs (have to get one of those gauges some day?) and considerably smoother than before.

So as the #4 Mk1 project continues, and the #4 Mk1* project progresses I learn more about the Lee Enfield system.

Which was kind of the point in the first place.

Randy

 

[RRCo.]

RRCo. the sight adjuster is made from 7075 T651 Aluminum which is about 75K psi, CR steel is 60K psi. There is absolutely no need for inserts. Also the threads are 1/4-28 fine threads yielding .006 movement (3/4 MOA ) per Flat. or .036 per full revolution. You also get both Allen and Hex Head bolts.

The parts are all black anodized and there is so little force on the screws when you turn them that one of these tools should last 2 lifetimes of everyday use, you'll lose it before you ever wore one out.

Screws are stainless. and I even faced the ends so they are square and lubricated them so they run super smooth.

This is the best tool like this you're ever going to see.

I figure you should have one.

Randy

I stand corrected on the screws, which I should have seen, now that I look at it again.

I would have one, except that I already have an original!

Now, if you really want to improve things, add some graduations correlated to MOA and T bar handles so a wrench is not required.

I've noticed quite a few European front sight adjusters have micrometer heads...

Trigger Work ! ....Something that I noticed as soon as I got my new gun,,, The #4 Mk1* Long Branch,,, home was that the action was noticeably smoother and the striker did not move vertically.

AS soon as I got the old striker out and put them side by side I could see what the difference was ,,, and it was major.

The bottom section of the New Grooved Striker, the arm that has the sear on it, and rides in the groove on the bottom of the receiver, is about .060 thicker vertically than the ungrooved version. This is where the all take up slack was at....Randy

Kudos on noticing that. It is apparent when looking at a quantity of cocking pieces, as we call them: you see the thicker Long Branch ones. It's something they introduced on their own hook, but when I don't know. They probably considered a closer fit between the firing pin and the hole in the back of the bolt it passes through and decided that would wear too quickly which such a small bearing surface, compared to the upper concave surface on the cocking piece pushing against the lower side of the bolt body.

Your sight base is a nice piece of work BTW.

 

[kjohn]

Very nice! As you well know now, posting something not quite right on some forums is like farting in church! Difference being that instead of getting a harsh stare, you get pounded over the net.

Thanks for posting here. Hopefully no one will get their shirt in a knot!