One Friday in April – I won an on-line auction for a rifle described as:"303 Lee Enfield converted to 9mm and fully suppressed – Has problem with breech and needs work. Has no magazine."
As Advertised.
Hmm, well – the date was very close to April Fools Day and I was none too sure that I hadn't just made a fool of myself ! - Previously I had arranged with the helpful Christchurch Police Arms Office to organize the required 'Mail Order Form'. It was the following Thursday when the couriers van handed-over the parcel and I was able to open it - then screw the concentric 19 inch x 2" diameter barrel/silencer unit onto the action, and have a good look at it.
Yup – the head-space was way too much and the bolt was really stiff and notchy when I tried to extract a fired case– the chamber looked rough but usable.
The Lee-Enfield action was stamped with a 'Crown over VR' and '1896' that says it was almost a hundred and twenty years since it passed-out of the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield UK. - The old girl must have been given her second life much later, but it was grubby and a bit rusty – having what a collector would call ' patina' .
- I spent the next couple of hours with wooden toothpicks and fine wire-wool scraping off assorted muck and replacing it with a smear of oil – the Enfield looked much better for it but my jeans gained a few oil stains.
Next day I went round to my favorite local gunsmith (since retired) Rod Woods who initially said he thought the way to fix it would be to set the 9mm barrel back one full turn and reface the chamber to match the bolt-face.
- While thinking about the problem we tried various single stack 9mm pistol magazines for fit – then Rod grinned and said "I've got it" and whipped-out the shortened L-E bolt, took it apart, clamped it in a vice, preheated it with the oxyacetylene torch and built-up the rear camming face with weld, - quenched and precisely hand-ground the cam surface to suite – then "Where's that live ammo?" - out to the back room bullet trap - and clang goes the 9mm bullet into the trap.- One De Lisle copy - working first time!
- Note: Rod has previously made a batch of accurate true replica De-Lisle Carbines in .45"ACP. **News Flash** - Note 2: Rod says he's still making accurate replica 'De-Lisles' e-mail:
gundoc@xtra.co.nz
Brilliant – what Rod had done – in less than an hour - was determine what 9mm magazine I needed, ream the chamber, weld the bolt and adjust head space, de-rust the firing-pin and make another stronger spring, reduce and smooth the trigger pull – refit and test fire. - And he also sold me an old double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun (to convert to a coach-gun).
The needed missing magazine proved to be a Walther P 38 seven/eight round pistol mag and had to be modified by adding a rib to the rear face to engage it with the original magazine release catch on the rifles trigger guard. - Luckily one came-up on-line for sale a few weeks later and I got it for $100 and rushed it into Rod where he attached the required rear rib and cold-blued it.
9MM NATO Caliber Fully Silenced Bolt-Action Rifle Now (with telescopic sight).
The 9mm Lee Enfield / De Lisle rifle shoots very quietly & well ( better than I do) and with a telescopic sight added is accurate out as far as I've tested it. - Used with standard supersonic 9 mm loads it is much quieter than a handgun – but when loaded with heavier sub-sonic 147 grain 9x19mm rounds it becomes really refined & quiet enough to use without hearing protection. - It actually is a great fun gun to shoot.
