26Charlie
01-11-2006, 10:44 PM
A little while back I posted on the Lee Enfields thread -
Indian .308 Lee Enfield
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Got one of these in a trade, still had a barrel full of grease. However - when cleaned out, found a big ring in the barrel right under the rear sight. It will group about 5 inches at 100 yards with some military stuff,147 gr. JBT, but the occasional shot just vanishes into the bushes. Tried some 220 gr. jacketed which bridges the gap a bit better, at least I didn't lose any bullets off the paper, but I don't know what to do with the gun.
I could sell it to anyone who wanted it for the action. Or, I could try to find a barrel for it. (Gun Parts Corp. has .303 barrels but not .308 barrels.)
The third option is to try it with long 200 gr. & up cast bullets, which might jump the ring and continue on unaltered enough to make a decent group.
Anyone got any opinions, experience, or desires along these lines?
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Starmetal alerted me to a barrel available at Gun Parts Corp., which I bought and which a friend installed. I put the gun all back together, eyeballed the front sight as reasonably close to center, and took it to the range today. (It is about 44 degrees here in coastal Maine today - we are having a warm spell)
First shot at 100 yds was a 10! I didn't believe it in the spotting scope, I walked down to the target to be sure of the hole. Anyway, the thing shoots decently now. With military FMJ stuff 7 out of 10 were into 2.5", the other 3 opening it up to 4.6" with the iron sights. A load of 22.0 gr. Scot 4197 behind the 311299 210 gr. GC gave me a vertically strung-out group, 1" wide by 5.5" high. Also, oddly enough, the cast load shot about a foot high even though the sight was all the way down to the 100 meter setting. In an American Eagle Mauser .308 I have to run the sight up to 600 meters to get the same load printing near the military FMJ. In a Winchester .308 M88 Carbine the 311299 load prints about 5" below the military FMJ, as one would expect since it is ony half the power.
( As a point of interest, the M88 lever action groups the military FMJ into 1.5" for 4, with the fifth opening out to 4.5". The 311299/22.0 Scot 4197 groups 1.9" for 4, the fifth opening out to 3.9". The blunter 311335 210 gr. GC with the same 22.0 gr. Scot 4197 grouped 4 into an astonishing 0.7", with the fifth shot opening out to 2.4". It is not always the same shot that is out of the group, so it must have to do with my bench technique - the M88 trigger is not great. Four in a group with one flyer is typical for me with this gun. )
Indian .308 Lee Enfield
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Got one of these in a trade, still had a barrel full of grease. However - when cleaned out, found a big ring in the barrel right under the rear sight. It will group about 5 inches at 100 yards with some military stuff,147 gr. JBT, but the occasional shot just vanishes into the bushes. Tried some 220 gr. jacketed which bridges the gap a bit better, at least I didn't lose any bullets off the paper, but I don't know what to do with the gun.
I could sell it to anyone who wanted it for the action. Or, I could try to find a barrel for it. (Gun Parts Corp. has .303 barrels but not .308 barrels.)
The third option is to try it with long 200 gr. & up cast bullets, which might jump the ring and continue on unaltered enough to make a decent group.
Anyone got any opinions, experience, or desires along these lines?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starmetal alerted me to a barrel available at Gun Parts Corp., which I bought and which a friend installed. I put the gun all back together, eyeballed the front sight as reasonably close to center, and took it to the range today. (It is about 44 degrees here in coastal Maine today - we are having a warm spell)
First shot at 100 yds was a 10! I didn't believe it in the spotting scope, I walked down to the target to be sure of the hole. Anyway, the thing shoots decently now. With military FMJ stuff 7 out of 10 were into 2.5", the other 3 opening it up to 4.6" with the iron sights. A load of 22.0 gr. Scot 4197 behind the 311299 210 gr. GC gave me a vertically strung-out group, 1" wide by 5.5" high. Also, oddly enough, the cast load shot about a foot high even though the sight was all the way down to the 100 meter setting. In an American Eagle Mauser .308 I have to run the sight up to 600 meters to get the same load printing near the military FMJ. In a Winchester .308 M88 Carbine the 311299 load prints about 5" below the military FMJ, as one would expect since it is ony half the power.
( As a point of interest, the M88 lever action groups the military FMJ into 1.5" for 4, with the fifth opening out to 4.5". The 311299/22.0 Scot 4197 groups 1.9" for 4, the fifth opening out to 3.9". The blunter 311335 210 gr. GC with the same 22.0 gr. Scot 4197 grouped 4 into an astonishing 0.7", with the fifth shot opening out to 2.4". It is not always the same shot that is out of the group, so it must have to do with my bench technique - the M88 trigger is not great. Four in a group with one flyer is typical for me with this gun. )