Sporterized Lee Enfields

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I Dont Care About You

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There are loads of sporterized Lee Enfields listed on ####### in the $300 - $500 range. But who the hell is buying them? Do they even sell? I don't get it?

There is absolutely nothing special about a sporterized LE as a rifle. There are a dozen better options for not that much more. Anyone who buys a sporter LE because its cheap isn't going to be able to afford the ammo.

People who can afford the ammo or who reload it can certainly afford the ca. $1k for a decent MIL spec rifle.

I can see a few selling to guys who want to put them back to MIL spec but there can't be that many people doing those sorts of projects.

A sporterized LE would seem to be a dead end. Yet there are dozens of them listed for sale.
 
There are some conversions to sporting rifles that go way beyond the usual chop jobs. These usually command premium and my well be worth it.
 
One of my faves (hunting rifle of course)is my Parker Hale no4 mk2 supreme. And of course lee speeds. But regular ole plain Jane cut down wood ones are 100$ rifles. EAL are neat too.

I also have alot of jacketed bullets, primers and brass though...alot..

I love lee enfields in military config, so naturally I decided the parker hale supreme and deluxe would work for me as well. Deep blueing, monte carlo stock....ohh yeh

If I wasn't so setup for reloading 303 in jacketed and cast, I would have just bought something else...

My other fave rifle is a 1640 husky in 6.5x55
 
The first thing we Enfield lovers do is look at the rarity and restoration potential of an offering. Then we look at our stash (or potential availability) of parts to see if a restoration is warranted. A cut barrel, mismatch, drill and tap or missing magazine can make all the difference. I'm siting pretty on .303 but recognize the problems this poses for these old warriors.
 
"There is absolutely nothing special about a sporterized LE as a rifle. There are a dozen better options for not that much more."

I have to respectfully disagree. You obviously havent come across a nice Parker Hale, Churchill, or Cogswell and Harrison sporter. They make excellent hunting rifles, with features such as :

- nice walnut stock, highly polished, real blued metal.
- all metal flush mount detachable magazine
- iron sights with QD scope mounts (eg Parker Hale)
- slick action with half ####/manual #### feature
- slow barrel twist for 30 cal heavy pills (eg 200+ gr)

What would you have to pay for an equivalent rifle made today? As far as ammo is concerned, I'm sure the current shortage will resolve itself in due time, and suppliers such as S+B, PPU, Winchester, Federal etc will come forward.
 
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tiriaq said:
There are some conversions to sporting rifles that go way beyond the usual chop jobs. These usually command premium and my well be worth it.
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There is the odd one that has had some actual work put into the sporterize job but the vast majority are just chopped down stocks.



cosmic said:
"There is absolutely nothing special about a sporterized LE as a rifle. There are a dozen better options for not that much more."

I have to respectfully disagree. You obviously havent come across a nice Parker Hale, Churchill, or Cogswell and Harrison sporter. They make excellent hunting rifles, with features such as :

- nice walnut stock, highly polished, real blued metal.
- all metal flush mount detachable magazine
- iron sights with QD scope mounts (eg Parker Hale)
- slick action with half ####/manual #### feature
- slow barrel twist for 30 cal heavy pills (eg 200+ gr)

What would you have to pay for an equivalent rifle made today? As far as ammo is concerned, I'm sure the current shortage will resolve itself in due time, and suppliers such as S+B, PPU, Winchester, Federal etc will come forward.
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99% of the rifles listed on ####### are military rifles with chopped down fore stock. Most still have the MIL front sight but some have barrel chopped down. None of these are what you describe. You picked a very rare exception to my statement to suggest I'm wrong? Let me rephrase then: There is nothing special about a sporterized former military pattern LE.
 
collector67 said:
I look at them mainly as candidates for restoration, but there are some very nice sporters out there….
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I totally get that but there can't be hundreds of rifles being restored?

My suspicion is that 95% of those rifles simply don't sell but people don't want to price them lower. OR the people who do buy them haven't done their research with respect to ammo availability and price.
 
I Dont Care About You said:
I totally get that but there can't be hundreds of rifles being restored?

My suspicion is that 95% of those rifles simply don't sell but people don't want to price them lower. OR the people who do buy them haven't done their research with respect to ammo availability and price.
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There is definitely a market for them. Expensive ammo or not, they make a good gun for behind a tractor or truck seat. The ones listed for $300+ probably will never sell though. Maybe $350 for an unchopped desirable make/year with potential for restoration. The ones with a chopped barrel are never going to sell for $300.
 
They make excellent truck/quad/tractor guns. The #4 has good peep sights, detachable mag and fires a cartridge good for anything. Where else are you going to get these features for a comparable price?
 
MiG25 said:
They make excellent truck/quad/tractor guns. The #4 has good peep sights, detachable mag and fires a cartridge good for anything. Where else are you going to get these features for a comparable price?
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Brand new Savage Axis is $550 from Cabelas, chambered in a round that can actually be found in quantity and purchased at a reasonable price.

Brand new Mossberg Patriot Predator is $599 from Cabelas.

Used, these rifles can be had for even less.

The biggest problem, bar none, for a LE sporter is the lack of ammo available and the ludicrous cost of the ammo that can be found. This should be enough to make those rifles essentially worthless to most shooters.
 
I Dont Care About You said:
Brand new Savage Axis is $550 from Cabelas, chambered in a round that can actually be found in quantity and purchased at a reasonable price.

Brand new Mossberg Patriot Predator is $599 from Cabelas.

Used, these rifles can be had for even less.

The biggest problem, bar none, for a LE sporter is the lack of ammo available and the ludicrous cost of the ammo that can be found. This should be enough to make those rifles essentially worthless to most shooters.
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A Savage axis doesn't have a quality set of irons that were specifically made to be robust enough for battle. That's what makes it a good tractor gun. How much ammo are you putting through a gun like that? A few rounds a year?
 
cam1936 said:
How much ammo are you putting through a gun like that? A few rounds a year?
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A sporterized LE is worth the same amount as 100 rounds of the ammo that rifle shoots. There is no other rifle I can think of that operates within those kind of economics.

I saw one post where a guy was asking $1200 for a sporterized LE along with ~200 rounds of ammo. That means he valued the rifle at $400 and the ammo at $800. The economics of that deal is insane.

The worst ammo prices for 303Br I've seen are near $5 a round. That is what match 338 LM ammo used to cost. I think even 50 BMG used to be able to be had for that price.

Maybe It is me who is out to lunch and there are hundreds of guys across the country happy to have a $300 bubba'd rifle that shoots, difficult to find, $4 a round ammo as their truck and tractor gun ..... but somehow I doubt it.
 
I Dont Care About You said:
Brand new Savage Axis is $550 from Cabelas, chambered in a round that can actually be found in quantity and purchased at a reasonable price.

Brand new Mossberg Patriot Predator is $599 from Cabelas.

Used, these rifles can be had for even less.

The biggest problem, bar none, for a LE sporter is the lack of ammo available and the ludicrous cost of the ammo that can be found. This should be enough to make those rifles essentially worthless to most shooters.
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An Axis with sights is $725. No way I'd pay that.
 
I look at sporterized enfields with the thought of what were they and what can they become.

In my little project pile there are a few waiting for parts, but those all have some desirable traits, like the early Savage 0C###X No4Mk1 (no star) and the little selection of early carbines

other then that the next pile are ones that have excellent bores and are shooters that may some day find themselves in a spliced forestock in a 'tanker' configuration

the current 'tanker' project is a sporter reject that is wearing a turned down 1919MG barrel and chambered in 308, I'm just in the process of finishing carving out the wood bits and fabricating the new nose cap metal bits.
 
There is a beatuful Churchill sporter on the EE right now made off a LongBranch receiver. I know the seller and he is a fantastic human being and all around great guy hahahaha
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"95% don't sell".... you're probably right. It's like going to gun shows when you see the regulars bring the same table full of overpriced stuff year after year. I've been shopping a bit for unique sporters this year and have found a few gems but haven't paid over $250 including shipping. One of our EE colleagues out east sold a nice PH , Monte Carlo stock, with scope for $300 shipped this morning. That's realistic if not below market.
 
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