On August 8th 2008 I took some time off work (BC Forest Service) to get in some baddly needed range time. Its sad when you work in a rural area and you need to take time off work to get your smoke pole out of the gun safe. Most chaps take their clients golfing and get the added bonus of a tax benefit. Anyhow I digress.
So I show up to the Range in my BC Forest Service uniform and had to explain to about a half dozen folks that I'm off duty before they would relax. I probably won't show up the range in uniform again. It would appear that uniforms scare rural Canadians regardless of the ministry or branch.
So out came the tired and shaggy looking 1959 POF No4Mk2 and gently plopped her down on the rifle rack. Automatically I received a few extra looks from the other guys on the range wondering why I didn't pull out a $2000 weatherby with tractor beams and space aged composite materials. One of the chaps there turned out to be an Eastern European - nothing less than a SAKO in 300 WM is apparently worthy of interest or conversation. He looked down at me from over his large eagle-like nozzle, was frankly quite rude in facial gesture before returning to the view piece of his spotting scope.
All of the rifle benches were full so I pulled out a piece of carpet and made myself comfortable in the prone supported position. I brought a few bean bags because I wanted to test this rifle out for accuracy. As a Canadian Ranger I practice quite a bit in the unsupported prone, kneeling, sitting and off-hand standing position and therefore felt a bench would not really provide any accuracy edge regardless. And anyways lee enfields and bench rests don't sounds right to me.
Up until this point I had never fired a shot through this rifle. I had checked headspace, performed a complete tear down, cleanup, oil and re-assemble and thats it. I fired two fouling shots and closely examined the spent shells. The chamber seemed to be cut close enough to true, no bulges or split necks. The primers were not showing any signs of pressure. Although I had inspected the firing pin before shooting I always examine the primer strikes for depth, cratering and flattening, before I continue shooting. Everything was fine up to this point.
The immediate objective was to determine if I needed to change the front sight out for a 200 yard zero. 15 rounds later and having swapped out three different front sites I was zeroed and ready to start trials. Precision shooting was not the objective yet, just to get zeroed and level.
I shot a 5 round grouping, 100 metres from the prone position and managed a 3" group. I had worked hard for every single round and was quite dissapointed. However upon close examination I discovered that the king screw was extremely proud and after four full turns it was tight. Yes, a rookie mistake The Eastern European mocked me further by chuckling at my frustration.
Did I lose the zero I had just worked hard to establish? Yes I did. Another five rounds later my zero was re-established - six clicks down and I'm back in V-Bull territory. I'll replace the front site again later because at this point in time my frustration levels are going up and that never helps a guy's shooting.
Up until this point I still haven't seen what this rifle can do. I've been farting around playing silly bugger and not accomplishing much. The Eastern European chap next to me is still looking down at me over his enormous schnozzel muttering quietly to himself in a foreign language I can not understand.
I assumed the prone supported position and loaded with a ten round magazine, made ready, applied the safety and raised my rear sight.
Time to get comfortable and apply some marksmanship principles. Time to show this guy what I can do. Then suddenly it dawned on me, I'm not wearing my prescription glasses. Without them I can see but certainly I'm no where near as able a shooter as I am capable of. Regardless lets give it a try and see what happens.
I took my time, determined natural point of aim, breathed, concentrated, squeezed, and focussed. I was doing everything right with the exception of my eyes. The ten rounds barked off in slow procession. The mirage coming off the handguards did not help my visual acuity but regardless I soldiered on.
I looked through my spotting scope and saw a 10 round cluster 3" across and 2.5" high. 7/10 rounds landed inside of 1-3/4".
POF No4Mk2 Criticisms (not in order of preference)
1. The front site tensioner screw is no dam good. I'm going to replace that part.
2. All of the trigger mechanism (including the sear) is parkerized. This doesn't help trigger pull or smoothness. However the trigger does break clean without creep. A little polishing with some 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper will fix this.
3. I had a pierced primer on the tenth round. It was the only round to show any signs of pressure. The primer was completely pancaked and the primer strike was blackened. I expect this may have affected my group size somewhat by at least one stray bullet.
4. The wood is frankly beat up and looks like someone used the rifle to drive in some tent spikes. Out of the 6 pakistani rifles I inspected this is the one I purchased because it had all matching numbers (including the mag) and the smoothest bore (as new). Yet somehow I think it adds a measure of character to the rifle.
5. The crown is not even. I don't like what POF did here. The rifling seems shallow at the muzzle in comparison to my Cdn Ranger Rifle (Thank You your Majesty for the 1950 Long Branch CNo4Mk1*) although it has in the neighborhood of 25000 rounds (I'm guessing on that number) through it the crown and muzzle rifling are still better than this POF. Although I believe the POF has a new barrel on it manufacturing tolerances seem to be different.
6. The POF front handguards are prouder / taller than any other No4 Enfield I have ever seen. This affects visual acuity as the taller handguards shroud the lower 30% of your sight picture.
7. There is no fore-tip pressure on this rifle. Very little muzzle movement at all. It is possible that there is a bedding issue but I will not be running around with a bayonette attached to this rifle anytime into the foreseeable future. The proof is in the pudding - the rifle seems to shoot. Although I'm not sure this is a criticism I wanted to add it some where.
What do I find interesting about this rifle?
1. Captured by the Indian Armed Forces from Pakistan in one of the two struggles for Kashmir. Probably the 1970 incursion where Pakistan observed serious losses. This rifle is 'ISA' Marked.
2. At some point this rifle was Full Trough Rearsenalled (athough not FTR marked). I don't know if the Indians did this or if it was done by Pakistan. The receiver lacks finish and has visible areas of staining but no pitting or frost. The bolt, magazine, front sight protector, sight base and most other fixtures have received new parkerizing. The rifle has also been rebarrelled at some point. All numbers match (even this beat-up stock) and are P circle marked.
3. I find the wood very interesting. Frankly working for the Forest Service I find timber harvesting, silviculture practices, wood marketing and wood species an interesting industry. The wood resembles walnut in so many ways but the darkest walnut (if walnut is what it indeed is) I have ever seen. Pakistan does not grow walnut but their northern neighbors in Turkey do. Having said that I am curious to know if Pakistan used dark brown or black dye on newly manufactured wood stocks.
This is a picture of a section of buttstock in full daylight. The wood looks almost black in low light conditions.
4. The heft of the rifle. Its heavy and there is more meat on the stock. You know you have a nicely curved stock in your hands when you pick it up. This is a solid rifle.
5. Frankly it shoots to my satisfaction. Nuff said there. Just wait until I take her out WHILE WEARING MY PRESCRIPTION GLASSES
6. All of the parks are POF marked and dated. No confusion who made this rifle - I LIKE THAT. Some parts of the rifle indicate they were manufactured in 1957 (which I find interesting).
7. The bore and anciliary components appear to be new. Over-all between the receiver and stock the rifle looks like a shot-out dog but when it comes down to what counts the rifle will perform.
8. I purchased this rifle for $350 including taxes. Enfield prices seem to be sky-rocketting making it difficult for new younger shooters to obtain 'as-issued' lee enfields. I'm sending my friends off to buy these rifles while they are available. They will not last forever.
9. Field ready - The stock screw may seem unsightly to some. Don't forget that these rifles saw action from dense and humid jungles to the deserts bordering Afganistan. To avoid stocks from splitting they found this was an inexpensive addition to ensure reliability in the field. I would not hesitate to carry one in the rain Forests of NW British Columbia, and I do.
10. This rifle functioned flawlessly. It always cycled and placed all ammunition in a nice pile to the right of my shooting position. The mag retaining lips were a little wide to properly seat Ball ammunition but because I use Soft Point - RN ammunition in the field I am leaving the tabs where they are. Regardless of this the rifle gave me no annoying or fidgetty quirks running ammunition and ejecting positively.
11. Last but not least the annoying and frankly rude Eastern European chap took serious notice when I returned to the firing point with my target. Both eyebrows were significantly raised upon my return from down-range. Although the grouping was nothing to bark about I managed to match with open sights what he was getting from the bench using an optical site on a new'ish SAKO. What a turd!
This rifle rates a 8.5/10 on Riflechair's "NEED TO BUY" Scale
I hope you have enjoyed this short assessment of the Pakistani No4Mk2 Lee Enfield.
1959 POF No4Mk2 TARGET POSTER 3.6MB jpg
1959 POF No4Mk2 The Ugly Duckling 5.1MB jpg
1959 POF No4Mk2 TARGET POSTER 3.6MB jpg
1959 POF No4Mk2 The Ugly Duckling 5.1MB jpg
PS: I would like to recommend to the CGN admins that we have a forum dedicated to Range Reviews. All types of firearms, handgun, milsurp, precision or otherwise (except the shotgun lads - they're just different
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