Sht. LE III won't chamber .303 Brit - UPDATE

yes a lot of work was done to put that barrel on

the thing that is throwing me is the flat on the knoxform

front sight looks like its just press fit, I don't see a keyway or pin

So here is a wild theory... the barrel comes off a 2A1 or was a NOS barrel for a 2A1, and was turned down a partial turn to rechamber to 307Win
 
It's not clearly visible in the pics but there appears to be a keyway in the sight from the front parallel to the bore axis but it hasn't been utilized
 
Is there a corresponding slot in the barrel? Given that the barrel is "upside down", probably not.

The rear sight should have a cross pin that goes through the top edge of the barrel and the little screw that secures the rear sight spring should engage a shallow hole in the top of the barrel. I suspect the rear sigh will have been mounted without one or both of these.
 
yidava25 said:
It's a 5 groove bore.
.307 win is a good thought, I have a friend who says he may have ammo I can try to see if it would feed out of this mag. That's what doesn't make sense to me, if someone went to the trouble of rechambering it to .308 Win why wouldn't it have a mag that was made or modified for that round? Unless it's an unfinished project.
If it WAS .308 Win, does anyone know if an Ishapore 2A 7.62 magazine would work in this rifle's magazine well?
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It will feed just fine.
 
Update:
Finally got my hands on a box of .307 Win ammo and it feeds... sort of. Might work better with slightly longer bullets that catch the front feed lips of the mag. Popped off one round to confirm it fires and didn't have any trouble extracting, no signs of concern on the case. Doesn't eject rounds reliably. So now that's cleared up and I have this extremely rare, somewhat useless firearm
 
That depends on whether or not he picked up a 1A magazine and tried to chamber 308 cartridges.

Read what I replied to and educate yourself on the round he is trying to feed. The 307 Win is a RIMMED ROUND.


If his chamber is 308, the OP isn't giving us all of the pertinent information. That barrel would have been set back and it would be very obvious. This whole thing doesn't make a lot of sense.

He may just have a magazine that needs the guide lips properly adjusted or replaced.

If his chamber is indeed a 308 Win, the bolt won't close on a 307 Win cartridge rim.

The OP should take his rifle to a real gunsmith, not a counter jockey.
 
bearhunter said:
That depends on whether or not he picked up a 1A magazine and tried to chamber 308 cartridges.

Read what I replied to and educate yourself on the round he is trying to feed. The 307 Win is a RIMMED ROUND.


If his chamber is 308, the OP isn't giving us all of the pertinent information. That barrel would have been set back and it would be very obvious. This whole thing doesn't make a lot of sense.

He may just have a magazine that needs the guide lips properly adjusted or replaced.

If his chamber is indeed a 308 Win, the bolt won't close on a 307 Win cartridge rim.

The OP should take his rifle to a real gunsmith, not a counter jockey.
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As stated above I fired a .307 Win. round and it worked fine. And yes of course the most thorough course of action would be to take it to a smith but I don't have one anywhere within a 6 hr drive and I'm not sticking more money into a $250 rifle anyway. It's only out of curiosity that I've spent even this much time with it.
Also, I haven't tried a 1A magazine, only the one that came with it and another out of a No. 4 Mk1
 
yidava25 said:
As stated above I fired a .307 Win. round and it worked fine. And yes of course the most thorough course of action would be to take it to a smith but I don't have one anywhere within a 6 hr drive and I'm not sticking more money into a $250 rifle anyway. It's only out of curiosity that I've spent even this much time with it.
Also, I haven't tried a 1A magazine, only the one that came with it and another out of a No. 4 Mk1
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I wasn't knocking what you're doing, other than you're chasing something that could cause you issues.

The .307 Win rim is close enough to being identical to that of a 303Brit, that there will be a noticeable difference. However, The body tapers vary a lot and the 307Win shouldn't be able to be chambered.

You say you've "fired" the 307Win from your rifle. Did you have to force it into the chamber and did it fireform to the configuration of the 303Brit?

The 307Win creates higher pressures than the 303 Brit, but not likely enough to be dangerous, unless your rifle is in poor condition.

If that chamber is indeed reamed for the 307 or some other cartridge, and you fired that round through it, without any obvious deformation, then the shoulder/tenon would have had to be cut off, shoulders cut back and the tenon rethreaded. All of this would be visibly obvious.
 
This stuff annoys the crap out of me...if you are going to rechamber a firearm to another caliber,it would be great to actually have it marked on the bbl or reciever just what the new caliber is...always an adventure I guess...
 
so I looked at all the pictures again

that barrel was taken off and turned down, it may have been made into a barrel stub and had a new barrel installed, but I don't see any obvious joint, but you indicate that the lands engrave a .308 bullet so it seems to be 30cal/.308 not 303/.311 bore.

the flat of the barrel in on the underside and the profile shows a reduced taper near the barrel shoulder, it was heavily worked on.

the rear sight is further back then it should normally be so the barrel has a different profile then the original

I don't travel to LaCrete anymore but it would be an interesting rifle to inspect
 
SA85M1 said:
This stuff annoys the crap out of me...if you are going to rechamber a firearm to another caliber,it would be great to actually have it marked on the bbl or reciever just what the new caliber is...always an adventure I guess...
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This happens a lot more than most people think.

I find this fairly often with bubba milsurps from estate sales.

People like to "build better mousetraps" Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Then, there comes a time to "finish" the mousetrap, whether or not they have the ability or the tools available for the job.

Most people doing these "custom" jobs, don't have a decent set of punches.
 
If it has been rechambered to the 307Win, it would likely require .311 or larger bullets to shoot well.

The conversion wouldn't be the best choice as 307Win ammunition has always been difficult to source.

Assuming the OP hand loads, the cases could be made from 303 Brit cases.

There is a very similar cartridge used in Australia, where many such conversions were done to utilize rifles chambered for the 303Brit, which were no longer allowed in some of their Provinces.
 
bearhunter said:
I wasn't knocking what you're doing, other than you're chasing something that could cause you issues.

The .307 Win rim is close enough to being identical to that of a 303Brit, that there will be a noticeable difference. However, The body tapers vary a lot and the 307Win shouldn't be able to be chambered.

You say you've "fired" the 307Win from your rifle. Did you have to force it into the chamber and did it fireform to the configuration of the 303Brit?

The 307Win creates higher pressures than the 303 Brit, but not likely enough to be dangerous, unless your rifle is in poor condition.

If that chamber is indeed reamed for the 307 or some other cartridge, and you fired that round through it, without any obvious deformation, then the shoulder/tenon would have had to be cut off, shoulders cut back and the tenon rethreaded. All of this would be visibly obvious.
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Don't know if you bothered to read the whole thread but I did a chamber cast, that's how I got to .307 Win. And .307 ammo chambers perfectly, I would not have attempted to fire it otherwise.
 
Thanx for that, I got bogged down in reading all of the posts.

That would be a nice cartridge in the No1 or No4 action.

Have you tried loading .310-.312 bullets yet?? Just change out your expander ball on the die for proper diameter.

I really wasn't dissing your thread. I like seeing such oddities on the Lee Enfield type actions.

Many folks cringe at the idea of modifying these rifles. Not me. I like them and feel there is a lot of other cartridges which are suitable for them.

I have a friend with one he converted to 8x57 JS mauser, after reading an article on the Turkish Frankenmauser Lee Enfield rifles which were converted.

He loves this rifle, which has a take of 98 barrel, which had the shoulder set back and rethreaded to fit the No4. It looks odd but shoots very well.

Have fun with this rifle. The only issue I can see with it is ammo or case availability. You should be able to make cases from 303 British, which are readily available.
 
bearhunter said:
Thanx for that, I got bogged down in reading all of the posts.

That would be a nice cartridge in the No1 or No4 action.

Have you tried loading .310-.312 bullets yet?? Just change out your expander ball on the die for proper diameter.

I really wasn't dissing your thread. I like seeing such oddities on the Lee Enfield type actions.

Many folks cringe at the idea of modifying these rifles. Not me. I like them and feel there is a lot of other cartridges which are suitable for them.

I have a friend with one he converted to 8x57 JS mauser, after reading an article on the Turkish Frankenmauser Lee Enfield rifles which were converted.

He loves this rifle, which has a take of 98 barrel, which had the shoulder set back and rethreaded to fit the No4. It looks odd but shoots very well.

Have fun with this rifle. The only issue I can see with it is ammo or case availability. You should be able to make cases from 303 British, which are readily available.
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I actually just sold it to a member on here, but I agree they're a good design. Wouldn't have been against the idea of using it if it stuck around.
 
So, I took my PTG Lee Enfield bore erosion gauge & inserted it into the muzzle, which, based on a bore-scope inspection, does not appear to be eroded / worn, any more than the rest of the bore. It went in right up to the 0.3035"-0.3040" mark, but no further, so it is likely that it was a .303 or 7.63x54R barrel of some description in its prior life. It does chamber & extract FL sized .308 Win Hornady brass, so it also appears someone swapped out a 2A1 extractor & possibly the bolt head when it was converted.

Just for $'s & G's, I ran my .308 Winchester Match reamer in & it took some minute [think the size of the graphite shavings when sharpening a pencil] shavings out of the body, neck & throat. Then, considering the 0.304" land size of the barrel, I ran my custom PTG .30 Neck & Throater reamer [made for necking & throating worn / oversize SMLE / Lee speed throats so that the correct cast bullets can be used]. As a result, it now feeds, chambers & extracts dummy rounds loaded with my 206 gr. 0.316" bullets made from a 316299 NOE mould, which have a 0.3038" nose when cast with my alloy. It just wipes the XLOX lube off the nose when inserted into the chamber or muzzle.

While I will test the rifle next week during my weekly range trip, I do not hold out much hope for accuracy with the open sights, due to my OAS-aged, pre-cataract eyes & because the charger guide has been removed so that I cannot utilize one of my ATI no-drill mounts, better accuracy testing will have to wait until I spin the barrel off & install it onto one of my spare #1 Mk. III actions with an intact charger guide.

Stay tuned!
 
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