The .45 ACP Enfield Thread!

This is mine, front sight is from a mini-30 first gen
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God bless you guys for doing this work.
And showing that restoring old sporterized rifles into original trim isn’t the only way to save them.
 
I really enjoy mine. Bought it off a Gunner here. It had a modded mag to make it work but I just got the Rhineland adapter and I’ll never look back. I wish I knew the story behind the build but the seller was light on the details.
 
Got mine from Mr. Wolverine!! Putting it together slowly. Pretty straightforward, just going slow to lengthen the enjoyment in this endless lockdown. Probably become a delisle clone-wanna be. Great thread to start.
 
I’ve put one together, just waiting on range day weather to live fire test it. So far just snap caps.

Issues to sort out

1. It feeds from the mag only if the bolt is worked very fast, otherwise the mag follower just ejects the round from the action.

2. Ejection. It kinda works, again only if the bolt is worked very fast, and only ~50% of the time.

Anyone further down the path who can offer solutions?
 
did one on the Rhineland kit last year MK3 and the other is a SAI from years ago ..
Have used 45 super in the bottom one and works fine ,did not crony it B8F8A484-6FAC-44F5-8974-F73140FA7005_1_201_a.jpg
 

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I've got a parts bin no1 mk3 I'm going to convert. It's got no rear sight, and almost looks like any rear sight mount was milled off. Any recommendations for sights? preferably something easy to DIY.

Those of you who have completed your builds are you also loading 45 super, and if so what type of velocities are we talking?

Ballistics by the Inch did some tests and it sounds like most 45 acp loads top out by 16 inches and start losing velocity after that. You should be able to break 1200 fps with 45 super. you could probably go even hotter with 450 SMC or 45-08. I don't have any data for you personally though.
 
Does the recommended tilting of the action help with ejection?

Yes fer sure. I've always had to give my one a wee flick to the right when opening the bolt to clear the fired case from the action. The SAI kit I fitted included an 8-32x 7/16" spring plunger to aid in ejection. It's not worth the effort on a No 4 build as it did little to help kick out the spent cases & added extra work on receiver & the bolt head to accommodate that addition. I broke the plunger pin on mine at around the 300 round mark whilst doing some quick action shooting. Never bothered getting a new plunger after that.
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Folks doing up a No 4 would be best served by using a bolt head from an L8 series rifle in 7.62x51 to best serve in this regard as the .45 ACP & .308 share the
same rim diameter. ;)
 

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A couple of questions for you folks.
Optimum length on barrel and rate of twist for these units? I scored a cheap 1891 South American Mauser for this purpose...got sidetracked and never made it happen.
Thinking about contacting 'Bits of pieces' about a quote on a barrel...sorta need all the required specs that I want to 'Make it so'
 
A couple of questions for you folks.
Optimum length on barrel and rate of twist for these units? I scored a cheap 1891 South American Mauser for this purpose...got sidetracked and never made it happen.
Thinking about contacting 'Bits of pieces' about a quote on a barrel...sorta need all the required specs that I want to 'Make it so'

My LE wears a Shilen 1 in 16" twist, 14" tube. I did my 1st 45 ACP unit up on a M96 Swede action with an 18" Pacnor barrel that shot sweet, but I set that rifle up as a single shot unit as bolt rifles with forward locking lugs have a large gap between the mag & chamber mouth that ain't good fer feeding the short pistol cartridges.

If ye gotta do up a repeating bolt rifle in .45 ACP, a rear locker like the Lee Enfield or Rem 788 are best.
 
I'm staying single shot and am not constrained by original design I you guys are... historically accurate.
I insert a wooden block with a concave top, and screw on a 45 cal bbl of proper profile and twist...get sights and go shooting...precious little work.
Bolt face is perfect and no extractor mods required...or so the author of the article claimed.
 
What about 9mm LE?

Tiriaq been working on mine. I supplied him with a Suomi M31 12.4" 9mm barrel and a mag adapter. He worked his magic to use the barrel w/o modding it, so it is still NR. Seems the shorter 9mm is making it a bit challenging to run "reliable"
 
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