What should I pay for a Lee Enfield?

AdrianM

AdrianM

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I have recently been bitten by the milsurp bug.

I've always owned old wooden rifles for hunting. My father is a master at restoring wood. Sadly, so many of my buddies are buying new cheap hunting rifles with plastic stocks. I hate them.

I have owned a british .303 before but sold it to my wife's cousin's kid who wanted to get into hunting. I've been kicking myself ever since. It was a SMLE MKIII I think, it was huge!

I'd love to have a Jungle Carbine. What should I pay for a decent one?

I'm reading this forum every night learning about the mausers, Mosin Nagants, and other popular mislsurp stuff, but I still keep coming back to the Lee Enfields. I dunno, I just like them.
 
I know a gent who has a few for sale. I think for a full wood , unmolested, including sling the price is 375ish. Rubber pad was still intact as well
 
Good on you for going back to basics and ignoring those plastic "things".

If you are looking for a SMLE sporter, as previously mentioned you can get a decent one for $125 on a budget. No 5 Mk Is could be handy for hunting but they can kick something fierce if not against your shoulder properly. I think there is one on the EE that has had the front few inches of wood chopped off (I seriously wonder why ?).
 
Talquin said:
I know a gent who has a few for sale. I think for a full wood , unmolested, including sling the price is 375ish. Rubber pad was still intact as well
Click to expand...

Can you put me in touch with this fellow?

What's a No 5 Mk I? Is that the jungle carbine?

On a different topic altogether, can someone tell me a little bit about a Mauser? Why are they so desirable?
 
Mausers are a very good basic design, very solid and they can be made very accurate. The later designs (there are several) will handle very heavy loads with large cartridges.

In the 1950s and 1960s the Americans fell very much in love with Mauser rifles, partly because there were a lot on the market and they sold for much less than a Springfield (which is a Mauser clone)..... which was in short supply. Everybody KNEW that the Springfield (despite some very serious flaws) was the Bestest Rifle Ever Built: pure propaganda, but people were taken in by it.

If you want to get right down to brass tacks, the P-'14/M-1917 rifles, both Mauser derivatives and designed by the British, were the toughest, most robust rifles of World War One. They were produced in the US but they were not US DESIGNS...... and so were largely ignored except by those few who knew better. Remington's best rifle, the 30 S Express, was a M-1917 clone, as was Winchester's 54, the prototype for the iconic Model 70 of the late 1930s through 1964. These were now American designs and so were good, despite being based on a mere British design.... which was very much a development from the Mauser. And so the Mauser got yet another boost.

Mannlichers (apart from the 1903 Greek, which became the apex of Creation) became very much second-rate, especially the lower-production ones and the straight-pulls. The Ross became anathema and the Lee-Enfield was touted widely as a weak action. The Lee-Enfield action is not WEAK but it is SPRINGY, which creates its own problems. If you handload for a Lee-Enfield, keep your loads about 10% below MILITARY loads; your stretch problems will disappear, your brass will last a LOT longer and your rifle will become more accurate.

Mausers and Lee-Enfields faced off twice, in the 1914 - 1918 period and again in 1939 - 1945. Both times the Lee-Enfield proved itself the best BATTLE rifle built...... but the Mauser does make up into a lovely sporter, given that you like rock-solid bank-vault actions which actually are somewhat clunky to operate.

So there you have it from my point of view.

And yes, I DO own Mausers..... as well as Mannlichers (including the despised Carcanos), mega Lee-Enfields and even a rack of Rosses.

Most important of all: have fun.

And you can have a lot of fun with ANY of them.
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ah Smellie, your volumes of knowledge put me in awe.

So...I see turk mausers, swedes, and ones from all over. Is one any better than the others? And does that just indicate where they were manufactured or used?

Although, I'm still thinking jungle carbine. I don't hand load. Should I be worried about the accuracy and more important the consistency of hunting using factory ammo in one?
 
If you want an accurate Mauser, then go for a Swedish Mauser - either the original Mausers, made from 1896 to around 1902, or the Carl Gustav-made - up to 1941/2 - or the last of them all, made by the Husqvarna arsenal. Even the early Mauser of Oberndorf versions were made using Swedish steel, and you don't see many that are rusty. No, make that - none.

Some Mausers were German-built, others were made in the countries that adopted the pattern and design. Spanish Mausers were made in the Oviedo Arsenal, for instance.

tac
 
The jungle carbine will cost you quite a bit more than an SMLE.

There is one on the outdoorsmanforum.ca with an apparently mint, all matching one and the guy wants a trade for a Savage 30-30/12 ga. combo gun, which go between $400-500.

Personally if you want to use it for hunting I wouldn't want to beat up a nice piece of history like that. There are plenty of nice sportered Enfields around.

I picked this one up just recently for $175, and it is in amazing shape, with some real nice wood. It is a little long but not huge. I would have no issues carrying this through the bush here in S. Ont.

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I wasn't planning on buying an all-numbers-matching collectors item to take into the field. But having said that, I look after my rifles and they don't get beat up. I hunt mostly from stands. I mostly use a Browning BLR .308, and just like to have a unique piece to take out once in a while when I hunt with my father and his cronies.

I just found my last SMLE too long and love the idea of a Jungle Carbine. They look amazing and are exactly what I'd like to have. Basically a short SMLE.

Thanks for the tips on places to look online fellows.
 
Milsurp rifles for hunting are making a slow comeback over here, we have such long stalking seasons that you can aford to use up a few days with the old .303 pottering about looking for Does. I'm supposed to be out now but a trapped nerve means I'm sat on my fat bum cyber skiving and watching westerns on the box.
 
One thing to watch out for, is that the JC's will not be as accurate as either a NO1MKIII or a NO4MKI. I have both NO4MKI's (2) and a JC, and I have shot a friends NO1MKIII's (he has 3), and I found that with the NO1 or 4, I could shoot deer killing groups up to 250yds (limit of our range), but with the JC, the groups started to open up past 100.

This all goes back to what they were designed for. The NO1MKIII and NO4MKI were designed to be used out to greater ranges, whereas the JC was designed for a jungle environment, with engagment ranges typically sub 100yds.

I am not saying that the JC is a bad rifle. It is a nice light carbine, but I find myself grabbing my NO4 five times more often them my JC. Just a thought to consider.
 
you can always get a nice Parker Hale 303 for $200-$250,as you can a swedish Mauser-Tradeex has an excellent selection-and the best value for your money
 
I have a .308 rifle with scope for open terrain hunting and longer shots where more accuracy is needed. I want the JC for a few reasons;
- I think they look cool as hell
- I love Lee Enfields
- I want something shorter and lighter than the No1MkIII that I had
- I want my hunting buddies to drool over it's awesomeness

The few times a year I take it in the field will be when I walk/stalk deer in the bush. We don't have Jungle conditions in Northern NS, but it's close...
 
49 years ago I bought a stone mint No5 for $18. I installed a Bishop Monte-Carlo buttstock and a Weaver TO-1 mount. I've had a few different scopes on it over the yrs. It has gotten me a few truckloads of whitetails and mulies, a moose, and a nice bear.

It is a great timber rifle, light and fast handling and excellent for trail watching. I don't think I ever shot anything over 150 yds with it. Grouping with handloads is 2.5" @ 100 yds. As long as you avoid strafing away at animals @ 400 yds, as a lot of today's "hunters" seem to do, it is a very good deer rifle.

Today there is no need to drill & tap the receiver for a scope mount as the S&K no-drill mounts and some others are available. The S&K mounts work very well on a No4 LE.
 
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