Enfield gurus plz help

[fnlrun]

So I picked up a 1944 butchered, I mean sporterized 303 today. Pretty sure I paid a premium at three hundred bucks but I wanted the rifle. Can you guys help me with these date codes? And if any of you sexy gentleman can direct me towards replacement Furniture I would be extremely grateful. It seems to be extremely hard to find them

Not in the pic is the front sight---it's a blade style

[Ora Serrata]

Canadian Made No4 MkI. Is the barrel cut at all? Luckily for you No4's are easier to find furniture than No.1's.

Try Sarco, but I don't know what all you're missing or has been cut.

[fnlrun]

The barrel appears to be factory, it's 25". I'll get better pics of tthe complete rifle tomorrow. I did get the RCBS dies, a box of reload bullets and 25 rounds for the purchase price. Plus I reload so thats was cool

[Ora Serrata]

If it's just the furniture that was cut, $300 isn't a steller deal, but it also isn't bad. Prices on Enfields have really shot up the last couple years. If it's going to be a shooter rather than a collector refurb you can pick up repro furniture or even Ishapore furniture. Hopefully the headspace isn't bad. I haven't added a Long Branch to my collection yet, all my non-English Enfields are Lithgows so far.

[fnlrun]

It's just a collector for me and a pinker. I wanted a rifle with some history. I tried to find a Mosin, but this came to me first. Thanks for help and support guys!!

[sbo80]

If all that's been messed with is the stock then you're in a good starting position for that price, and will probably come out cheaper than if you bought a full rifle. $300 is I think really good if it's a shooter. Sarco and Liberty Tree are good starting places for parts. For just a stock if you can be patient you will probably find one on gunbroker or ebay eventually. Even if you drop $200 on a stock you'd be ahead in today's market.

[fnlrun]

Few more pics

[fnlrun]

Just bought a Stock and the rings off liberty tree. My gunsmith is gonna swap everything around. Another question is all mine has is the blade sight. I ordered the "ears" that go around it. Is that how it works? Do they just slide over?

[smle-man]

Just bought a Stock and the rings off liberty tree. My gunsmith is gonna swap everything around. Another question is all mine has is the blade sight. I ordered the "ears" that go around it. Is that how it works? Do they just slide over?

Yes, then retained by a transverse screw through the front sight mount.

When you put this all together be careful that the front handguard doesn't creep forward under recoil and end up touching the foresight protector. That does crazy things to the rifle's grouping. .

[Garand Hunter]

You are way better off with this rifle than a Moisin ! Enjoy it. I have had two of these rifles, solid and accurate if taken care of.

Psalm 1

[W.R.Buchanan]

What you have may be a Parker Hale Standard Sporter. PH bought up surplus Enfields form the British Govt in the 60's and "sporterized" them.


I have 2,,, a Standard Sporter like yours, and a Deluxe Sporter which had the barrel cutoff to 22" and a Parker Hale Front Sight attached. The ones they chose to make into Deluxe Sporters had the Muzzle Crowns wiped out from over cleaning. So they cut them off and re-crowned them and sold them for $10 more. They all had the Handguards removed and some got sling swivels on the fore end and the front sight protector removed..

The Standard model was $65 and the Deluxe was $75. There are lots of these guns out there and they were very popular during a time when money was tight and lots of people needed to put food on the table. They are generally good shooters.

My Deluxe was a Long Branch and had a two groove barrel. It is now bored out to .35-303 and has Boyd laminated wood on it.

My Standard was turned into a L39 replica. After complete refurbish it now wears a Redfield Olympic Rear Sight.







I have seen many guys who wanted to put their guns back to original Military configuration. However piecing the wood and all the little piece parts together can get expensive and since yours is a Longbranch it all depends on the condition of the barrel. A high percentage were either shot out or rotted out. If it has a two groove barrel it is not worth messing with other than shooting it for fun or hunting with it. There were literally millions of these guns made and there are still millions left. If you want one in original trim just go find one. Plenty more where they came from.

FYI do not f/L resize your brass. It will separate in 1 or 2 reloads. Neck size only. The chambers on these guns were deliberately made long so that they would chamber ammo made anywhere in the Empire. see pic of factory round and one fired and reloaded from my gun.



PPU ammo offers the best brass for reloading.

Randy

[fnlrun]

That is one sexy firearm sir. I have the RCBS dies. And I will definitely watch a few YouTube videos before I start reloading this cartridge. You guys are awesome I really appreciate all your help!

[steelrain82]

That is one sexy firearm sir. I have the RCBS dies. And I will definitely watch a few YouTube videos before I start reloading this cartridge. You guys are awesome I really appreciate all your help!

[fnlrun]

I plan on shooting it, just not a daily kind of thing. I have 2 Dylan's that I run, and a Frankford Arsenal hand loader.

[W.R.Buchanan]

That is one sexy firearm sir. I have the RCBS dies. And I will definitely watch a few YouTube videos before I start reloading this cartridge. You guys are awesome I really appreciate all your help!

You see the difference in what the shoulder looks like after firing. If you full length size it sets the shoulder back to where it started and then when fired again it stretches it back out to the shape of the chamber. My gun will separate cases in 2 reloadings.

Other than that point, it is just like reloading any other bottleneck cartridge. Loading manuals are full of well established data to use so the only thing you might have problems finding is bullets. Hornady is he best source for .312 bullets and they have 150 gr and 174 gr Round Nose bullets.. I also found some 215 gr Woodleigh Bullets but had to wait 6 months for them to come in from AUS. I got all these in 2016 and it took a while to get them. Right now they maybe unobtanium.



Another way to go is Cast Boolits. Lyman 314299 GC is a great boolit, and I shot my best Short Range Silhouette Score of 32/40 with it and 16 gr of 2400 powder.



Please understand,,, Despite assertions to the contrary by current Internet Experts, this cartridge which was designed in the 1890's is just as effective now as it was back then and was well proven thru 2 world wars, and was used thru out the world for hunting and military purposes. So don't think it is some obsolete POS.

I also shoot Long Range Silhouette with mine.

Randy