Sporterized Lee Enfields

Oh man I was eyeballing that beauty of a long branch Sporter! I still have a horde of .303 I got from the ole fellas so I’m good in the ammo department.
 
so here is the latest bubba I am working on

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the stock is spliced under the barrel band, the top wood was fabricated out of a butchered buttstock and the metal bits for the nose cap were made out of sheet metal that I bent welded filed a lot and then oil blackened, the nose band comes from some metal out of an old ammo can and to my surprise has a high zinc content and did not oil blacken

tkr2 barrel wood.jpg
 

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When I run out of factory 303 I will pull 7.62x54r and x39 surplus rounds and use their powder and projectiles for reloading.

I have a jungle carbine sporter that was bought for a hunt and never used. Sat in a closet for about 70 years until I rescued it. As truck guns go it would be perfect, has a vintage weaver 4x scope with german post reticle
 
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.

The OP obviously hasn’t seen or handled a Parker Hale Supreme or Custom. These top of the line PH’s and the top of the line Churchill are equal to the better hunting rifles of today and a hell of a lot better that the lesser quality guns being produced today like the Axis and others. These top of the line firearms have new barrels and have taken more moose and other large game over the years than one can imagine.

My first moose was taken with a PH Custom in .303 and I purchased it brand new from the Parker Hale factory at the Baden Rod & Gun club in 73. It came with a nice scope mount and a Japanese 3x9 40 scope. A fine hunting rifle. (And still is today)

But yes, the plain buttstock version with the forestock wood chopped and a chopped barrel are a different story altogether but they still shoot very well and the OP should take one out some day. He’d be pleasantly surprised…
 
I have a nice old Churchill No.1 I bought in 1965. Smoked a few whitetail with it. I still take it out once in a while and kill a rock or two.

There is something about LE sporters that I find attractive, no matter how ugly they are. I recently bought a No4 sporter that was all matching, including the magazine. The stock was not pretty. Long live LE sporters.
 
I dont see 303 any more costly than anything else, half of similar calibers are unavailable. The ones I have are for my collection, worth something, no, interesting yes. What else you going to buy 100 years old under 300 dollars and shoot anything you want, with a 10 shot mag.
 
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Gun inflation is getting plain silly IMHO, but everything is worth what someone will pay for it.

Those doggy old chop-jobs can always be improved if you enjoy doing that kind of work and most are too far gone to restore anyway.

Why hasn't anyone brought in a container or two of .303 SP from Prvi Partizan?
 
so here is the latest bubba I am working on

the stock is spliced under the barrel band, the top wood was fabricated out of a butchered buttstock and the metal bits for the nose cap were made out of sheet metal that I bent welded filed a lot and then oil blackened, the nose band comes from some metal out of an old ammo can and to my surprise has a high zinc content and did not oil blacken

Are those parts not available? Or do you just like making your own?
 
The OP obviously hasn’t seen or handled a Parker Hale Supreme or Custom. These top of the line PH’s and the top of the line Churchill are equal to the better hunting rifles of today and a hell of a lot better that the lesser quality guns being produced today like the Axis and others. These top of the line firearms have new barrels and have taken more moose and other large game over the years than one can imagine. …

The OP was commenting on the 99% of rifles that are absolutely nothing special and don't come close to justifying the use of $5 a round ammo. But people keep bringing up the 0.1% of sport 303's that the OP wasn't commenting on in the first place as some kind of indication that the 99% of crappy sporterized LE's are somehow not crappy sporterized LE's?
 
The OP was commenting on the 99% of rifles that are absolutely nothing special and don't come close to justifying the use of $5 a round ammo. But people keep bringing up the 0.1% of sport 303's that the OP wasn't commenting on in the first place as some kind of indication that the 99% of crappy sporterized LE's are somehow not crappy sporterized LE's?

Haha, guess I didn’t realize the OP was so unaware of the quality of these fine rifles. Maybe he should read the comments in this thread… And $5 a round is a funny exaggeration. Dealers today have quality SP ammo on for $35 a box, lol

I would suggest that the OP either check out these gems or leave them to those that appreciate fine old firearms. Maybe he’s a younger guy that doesn’t appreciate the finer things of yore…
 
The OP had been perusing ####### where 99 % of the guns are overpriced, then goes on a rant about sported Lee Enfields.
BTW - The Parker Hale and Churchill sporters were made up from ex-military stocks, like all the others. I would suggest they represent substantially more than 0.1% (1% ???) of the population, however, people that have them are dis-inclined to sell them. Even the lesser factory sporters sold by Eatons and Sears, and many of the gunsmith specials have the Savage Axis beat.
 
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Maybe I'm reading his tone wrong, but the OP seems to have a burr up his arse about something? The OP should learn to shop around iff he's paying $5/ round...
 
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Maybe I'm reading his tone wrong, but the OP seems to have a burr up his arse about something? The OP should learn to shop around iff he's paying $5/ round...

Yep…. PPU is quality ammo at a very decent price;

https://www.firearmsoutletcanada.com/ammo/rifle-ammunition/303-british

https://www.siwashsports.ca/ammunition/rifle/303-british/

https://g4cgunstore.com/product/ppu-303-british-150gr-sp-20rds/

And my local store;

https://theammosource.com/303-british/
 
Are those parts not available? Or do you just like making your own?

well I have a problem chopping up any parts to make them fit. If I get a full length stock it will be going on a full length rifle.

making a tanker stock requires 2 sporter forestocks, preferable with matching wood colour and grain, and a bubba but stock that can be used to create the top wood. I will always move the middle band back a few inches and then use that to cover up the splice.

the other metal parts would need to be salvaged from other rifles and again if the stock is full length and useable then I won't be taking it apart. Its not really that hard to make a nose cap some bending, hammering, then some cutting welding grinding and fitting and shaping.

I still need to source some little brass rivets.

and some parts just don't exist, the rear barrel band in this case needed to be a custom size and shape as the 308 barrel has a different knoxform so I had to hammer that out of some sheet. I have 4 or 5 NOS rear bands to use as reference for the custom one.

I also have been marking my parts with my own stamps so down the road when something I've bubbaed pops up I'll know.

I am seeing some of these 'tankers' selling at auction for as much as or even more then a full length example.
 

The link you asked for; :d

https://theammosource.com/303-british/

It’s actually $39.99 a box but SFRC has one of their numerous 14% off sales on now until Wednesday morning so the actual price is $34.39. Thanks for the reminder, I just placed another order.

And yep, surplus wartime British.303 ammo in wartime packaging is pricy but not for serious collectors. No one is suggesting shooting off a bunch of these for range plinking, lol
 
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