No! It's not a Bubba, it's a factory rifle!

[No_1]

Those sure are some pretty rifles!

Robert

[smaragadine]

Hi, I got myself a Parker Hale custom, but it's not a No4 action. Looks very similar to the Custom No4 a few posts up.

It's a No1 MkIII, that's to say a SMLE as opposed to the big brother No4. The stock is slightly different, the fore-end cap and colts-foot cap are light in colour, looks a bit like cherrywood. I think the rest of the stock is mahogany, really deep-red and straight grained.

Any of you knowledgeable types know what this lovely little beast is?

She shoots very well, and the action is like liquid glass. Trigger on the other hand is bad, needs some work. Also some numpty decided to paint the metal parts of the action some time ago. Bit of a project really, but she's at a loving home now.

[Four Fingers of Death]

How about a picture? Old smellies were real popular to sporterise here in Australia, there were some nice ones about. Just about everyone my age owned at least one at one stage. I've had a few 303/25s, but only one 303, apart from this recent acquisition.

From memory, I was told the weight of the trigger pull could be adjusted by bending the mag well. Is this true?

I've always fancied converting some of these old Sporters into interesting rounds (35Remington, 375Win), etc, but for the costs involved, you can just about buy a brand new rifle or definetly buy a good strong second hand hunting rifle. Not worth it, but I'd still like to do it.

Now.................... there was that conversion of an M17 sporter to 35 Whelan, teh 375H&H as well and the 94 Winny converted to 35Lever Power, yarda, yarda, yarda.

[smaragadine]

Not a lot to show picture-wise atm. All I've got is the wood, the metal is away being refinished. I've stripped the god-awful yellowing cellulose varnish off the stock, and she's now smelling of wax and linseed oil. It's a long-term finish, she'll be properly dry in around 4-6 months, then it's a buff-up and a reapplication once a year or so.

I know what you mean about the .303 wildcats. There's an old SAffie standard, the 6mm Musgrave, that I'm seriously considering rebarrelling this action to if the barrel proves bad. I'll probably have to pay for the reamers, but that is a really sweet cartridge, well worth it.

Cost is one factor of course. Now, if some forward-thinking soul could be persuaded to produce some new, high quality Lee actions that'd be something, eh? Doubt there'd be much of a market, but I do seem to recall that IBM said the same thing about PCs in the 60s.

[BruceB]

I'll tell you guys what....I've loved Enfield .303s for over fifty years, but just this week I obtained THE ULTIMATE Lee Enfield sporter of my life. It is flatly gorgeous to my eyes, and either the bunch of pals I had here this week was being VERY polite, or they were also extremely impressed. They all (five of them, ammohead, Buckshot, 9.3x62 AL and two others not known here at CB) had a chance to fire it.

To see this lovely creation based on a 1914-built #1 Mk III, go to

www.auctionarms.com and type in 9059436 as your search. See what you think...the gent takes much better photos than I do.

I yam in love all over again!

[Four Fingers of Death]

BruceB, that is one nice rifle! It is also the first shortened magazine that I liked the look of. Well done, Four Fingers.

[smaragadine]

That's one nice sporter, very rare to see one in such good condition. Lovely line to the stock as well, perfect really.