Parts-bin LE #4 Build

[tricky]

I know you're thinking, "But tricky! Building a parts-bin version of a relatively common rifle is the definition of insanity!" And I am inclined to agree with you.

However, I got tired of watching Epps website for a LE. Also I would not feel comfortable carrying out this plan with a proper LE.

I want to get my hands on a Criterion No.4 Mk1 barrel, when/if they actually make 'em. I was told by Criterion to keep an eye out this year. I've ordered the Numrich cheek riser and scope pads from Epps, so it looks like this one will end up dressed like a (T). I suppose I will have to find, or fashion, a (T) backsight.

My plan for now, while I wait for Criterion to move, is get these parts cleaned up and get the stock finished. I'm eyeballing Vulcan's website, and might end up sending the metal out there for beautification. I will also have to source the screws, and get the receiver drilled and tapped for the scope pads.

The goal for this will be 1.5 MOA at 100 yards, with anything better than that considered "gravy." I might end up tinkering with barrel dampening vs free floating to see what impact that has, after the rifle has been to the range.

The receiver is a '43 Long Branch No.4 Mk1*, which Marstar says was "never assembled." Main bolt body and magazine were both new. All the rest is in varying condition. Most of the stuff came from Marstar, the rest from Numrich. Still waiting on the forestock from Marstar.

This project is gonna take a while, mainly due to waiting for the barrel. So no need to check back often... I'll update whenever the need be

 

[flying pig]

It'll be a really fun build for sure! Get your barrel/wood etc all together and the rifle working well before you dedicate to turning it into a T. The collimation with the barrel is everything in the T conversion. Every time a barrel is replaced on a T you pretty much have to start over with fitting the pads etc. I did a build a year ago and documented everything on here pretty well, it might be helpful for you to check it out. Most of my sources for parts, tools etc are all listed in that thread. Also, have you found your repro No32 scope yet? If not contact Wheaty on here. Peter Laidler said the regular Sarco/Numrich scopes are junk, I don't know the particulars of where Wheaty gets his or how he fixes them but I have most of 1000 full power rounds through mine as well as several deep woods hunting trips and time spent in pretty extreme weather and it has never moved from zero once. He was a huge asset, as always, for help on the build as well.

Laidler has some very good articles on how to do the conversion, on bedding the rifle etc over at milsurps. I can't recommend you spend some time over there highly enough.

Have fun! Not going to lie, mine is my favorite rifle. I love shooting it.

 

[tricky]

It'll be a really fun build for sure! Get your barrel/wood etc all together and the rifle working well before you dedicate to turning it into a T. The collimation with the barrel is everything in the T conversion. Every time a barrel is replaced on a T you pretty much have to start over with fitting the pads etc. I did a build a year ago and documented everything on here pretty well, it might be helpful for you to check it out. Most of my sources for parts, tools etc are all listed in that thread. Also, have you found your repro No32 scope yet? If not contact Wheaty on here. Peter Laidler said the regular Sarco/Numrich scopes are junk, I don't know the particulars of where Wheaty gets his or how he fixes them but I have most of 1000 full power rounds through mine as well as several deep woods hunting trips and time spent in pretty extreme weather and it has never moved from zero once. He was a huge asset, as always, for help on the build as well.

Laidler has some very good articles on how to do the conversion, on bedding the rifle etc over at milsurps. I can't recommend you spend some time over there highly enough.

Have fun! Not going to lie, mine is my favorite rifle. I love shooting it.

She's a beaut! Something to strive towards, thanks for the pictures.

I haven't picked up the repro No32 yet, I was thinking that'd probably come later, after the rifle was pretty much finished. Thanks for the advice - I will be sure talk to Wheaty when the time comes, and hopefully he can help outfit me with one. I'll hold off on fitting the pads until then too. I will be sure to check out your build and the milsurps site for info on that.

I've loved the LE for as long as I can remember, so I'm really excited to see how this build unfolds!

 

[flying pig]

When you shoot one that you've built the same way they were done in the service and see how it shoots you won't want to shoot anything else. And the fact you are not wearing out a collectors piece makes it even more sweet.

Mine took about a year to put together. The actual conversion takes a couple of days if you take your time.

 

[BeaverMeat]

Damn, I want a No.4(T)

 

[tricky]

I boiled the parts in hot water + soap and then scrubbed away and re-oiled. That took a lot of the crud off.

The receiver has a nasty rust spot, and I can't stand for that. I'm gonna contact Vulcan for a quote on making all the metal purdy. Then again... maybe I should wait for the barrelled action.... decisions, decisions!

I might mock it all up tomorrow and double check my list of items still to get.. but at this point, according to my list, all I'm missing is:

Front Guard
Front Guard Screw
Stacking Swivel
Stacking Swivel Screw
Rear Sling Swivel & Bracket

 

[bearhunter]

tricky, if I may be so bold, may I suggest that you fit a .308 bore barrel instead of a .311 bore.

I am in the process (for to long) of putting together a No4 MKI T with a 7.62x51 barrel. I have a couple of very good reasons for this.

The first, is I have a 308 Palma Match reamer that has at least one more chamber in its life expectancy before it gets turfed. It has been sharpened a couple of times now and the chambers it cuts are borderline tight. There is a slim chance I could use it to make up a set of matching sizing dies but that never seems to work well for me. The chambers cut with this reamer, require a set of small base dies as it is. If I'm very lucky, I won't have to turn down the necks.

The second reason is the availability of match bullets in varying styles and weights as well as the very accurate Sierra and Hornady BT designs right up to 200 grains.

I was going to go with the L42 profile but decided against it. I like the No4 T profile to much.

I should also mention that I have a spare L42 barrel and I also have a spare DCRA barrel that came off a turned in for destruction rifle. Not a big loss, someone had gotten into trouble with it and was ordered by the courts to surrender it for destruction. The receiver was already cut in half by the time I found out about it. It had been bubbaed beyond repair anyway and all the wood was in a similar state. The barrel was the only thing they left alone.

Getting a barrel blank and having it profiled isn't as big an issue as many believe. Even if you're bound and determined to have bayo lugs.

A bit more fooling around but doable if you can afford the extra hour of milling time.

This rifle you are building is being set up with a cloned scope system anyway, so you can even make the profile of the barrel heavier and stiffer to help with consistent accuracy. No, it isn't original but where do you draw the line???

When the original No 4 rifles were being selected for T conversion, they had millions to choose from that showed the most promise. We wannabes, don't have such luxury. We take what we can get and hope for the best.

The parts you have gathered didn't come cheap. Why take a chance with a mediocre outcome and try for a true sub MOA or better end product???

I am lucky enough to have a 1950 dated Long Branch that looks like it came out of the factory yesterday. It is an honest sub MOA rifle when it's fed ammo it likes. 174 gn Winchester Gray Box is its choice. It will shoot everything else, including milsurp into just over MOA regularly. If it doesn't, I need to clean it. It gets a bit of copper fouling about a cm from the muzzle so it isn't a real chore. That rifle would have made a great candidate for a sniper clone, especially if there were original scopes and brackets available at affordable prices. NO, this rifle will remain as is, as long as it is in my stable.

Anyway, just a thought. Have fun with your project.

One more question, both for you and the fellow that posted his lovely clone, do you intend to solder the bases into place after they are fitted??? There was a very good reason this practice was followed. There is a lot of torque on those three little screws, especially when you consider how high and heavy that mount is and the angle it is taking the recoil from.

Flying Pig, great looking rifle. Why did you shim the rear pad, rather than mill the side of the receiver for the front pad? Don't get me wrong, it looks great and obviously works well.

I had an opportunity to take several scopeless No4 Ts apart many moons back they were parts rifles only so not the sacrilege some would believe. The No4 receiver can be a bear to rebarrel and sometimes things go wrong in the process. These were such barreled receivers. I'm not sure why my employer even bought them, maybe they came with a lot of other parts I didn't see. There were a few parts that were salvageable on them but the only things of value were the scope pads. I was surprised when I had to heat up the pads to remove them. They had been soft soldered in place with the screws tightened. Not only that, all of the front pads had the areas beneath them milled away to align them with the rear pad, which had the area underneath them only slightly milled to provide a clean area for the solder. That was my first experience, as a teenager with No4 T receivers.

 

[tricky]

bearhunter - you make a very convincing case for the .308, and it's something I considered for quite a while while gathering the parts.

In the end, I decided to stick with .303 for one reason, really; this rifle is set to be my first Lee Enfield, and because of that, I want it in the proper .303. If, down the road, I get more (and you can bet I will), then I would consider rebarreling this one in .308 for all the benefits it provides.

And I will probably stick to the soft soldering when mounting the scope pads, it seems appropriate!

 

[tiriaq]

A .30/.303 is also an option, if you are using an aftermarket barrel. Opens the door for all kinds of bullet options.
I've assembled a number of Lee Enfields from assorted parts. They require more 'smithing than, say AR-15 type rifles, but the results can be satisfying.

 

[sunray]

Century Arms et al built a whole industry around parts bin assembling of rifles. Difference is that most of those rifle have bad headspace due to the total lack of QC.
A decent barrel and ensuring the headspace is safe will give you a shooter. Don't think there's a better way to learn about how rifles work than building one either.

 

[flying pig]

Holy Sunray, are you missing fingers or an eye from bad head space? You are really hung up on that eh?!

Anyway, I didn't solder them on place because I'm terrible at it and it's really not that easy. I went with bearing retaining compound instead. I'll have to apply heat to get any of it to come apart again. They are rock solid even after 1000rds down the tube.

I had a brain fart with the pads. Wheaty rightfully gave me a bit of flak over it. His front pads are thick enough I could have filed it down to where it lined up and eliminated the shims. I didn't mill it simply because I don't have access to a mill, but I will be getting a milling attachment for my lathe soon.

 

[tricky]

Spent the morning wrestling with putting it together. A few hours and some very numb fingertips later and most of the action is together (backsight and mag release/sear took longer to install than I'm willing to admit). I did learn a lot about the LE action, which is what I'm going for.

I might be having an issue with Marstar, I just sent an email to clear it up so I'm waiting to hear the word. I am out 1 butt plate screw and the fore stock. Sending 1 butt plate screw was no doubt a small mistake on their part, which, given the size of the order, I can understand. But the fore stock is missing, and I haven't been billed for it after 3 weeks. So I'm thinking they forgot about it or are out of stock and didn't notify me. Maybe I'm wrong, and they are billing and shipping it separately.

My updated list of necessary parts, (might have to add the furniture in there)

Butt Plate Screw
Cocking Piece
Front Guard Screw
Rear Sling Swivel & Bracket
Stacking Swivel
Stacking Swivel Screw

 

[Beater]

cant generally shim the back that much, or you do not have enough thread contact with the bracket screw

 

[tricky]

Picked this one up at Epps for $150... seems to be a Savage FTR, bolt and reciever match (don't know if that means much with these rifles). The original plan was to graft some parts off of this one for the Long Branch, but now I'm thinking of just restoring this one, separately.

Surface rust has taken a hold of this one, but something tells me she'll clean up just fine. The barrel seems to have been lopped off behind the bayo lugs, though, so unless I rebarrel (maybe I'll pick up more than one Criterion barrel....) it'll always look a bit funny. The rifling seems good though, so I'll probably stick with this one for the time being.

Looks like I need two sets of furniture now!