sporterized 303

[milsurpcollector1970]

Hi Matt,
Where do you shoot at?

A few things about your enfield, You most likely have a cut down military barrel. Original military barrels were not free floated and usually do not benefit from free floating. Make sure your forestock is tight to the action and barrel.

Your action has a lot of metal removed from it, it may be flexing.

If you need any help fitting a new barrel or installing a new one let me know. I have all the proper tools.

[mattd]

Hi Matt,
Where do you shoot at?

Henges if I'm going for a quick trip. Mostly at my farm 50 minutes from Henges.

Hi Matt,
A few things about your enfield, You most likely have a cut down military barrel. Original military barrels were not free floated and usually do not benefit from free floating. Make sure your forestock is tight to the action and barrel.

Barrel is 21.5". I wouldnt say the stock is tight along the whole barrel. There is one tight spot where I cant pass a dollar thru tho.

Hi Matt,
If you need any help fitting a new barrel or installing a new one let me know. I have all the proper tools.

I think this barrel is good. Mil surp ammo goes into 2 inches at 50 yds the two times I've been out with it. However, I have been really struggling getting a barrel off a Turk Mauser.

[mattd]

My 30 cal checks have an outside diameter of 315. I've already honed out my Lee push thru sizer to 316, so it looks like the 8mm checks will be the way to go.

[Multigunner]

Barrel is 21.5". I wouldnt say the stock is tight along the whole barrel. There is one tight spot where I cant pass a dollar thru tho.

Best method for Bedding a No.4 either full stocked or shorten fore end is as follows.The bottom of the action body should make full contact for 1 1/2 inches at the front and the rear leaving no contact in between. The Receiver ring itsel should not make contact on either side, only contacting at the very bottom in a narrow strip.The Barrel should not contact the fore end except for about a 1" strip about 8-9" past the receiver ring with good upwards pressure when the king screw is tightened.In accurizing No.4 (T) rifles in India they developed a metal staple they drove into the barrel channel at the position I mentioned. This worked until barrel vibration would drive the staple a bitt deeper into the wood, so inlaid hard wood blocks or glass bedding pads were later used.When nothing seems to work as it should free floating is the default position, but the bedding I recommend has always worked well for me and consistently cut group sizes in half.I also like to ensure a tight side fit at the rear of the action body by gluing in aprox 3/4-1" long shims made from hardwood veneer.Some Canadian marksmen have drilled holes back there and inserted hardwood dowels from the sides for the same purpose, but I think the shims are better looking and more durable. Glass bedding can also be used.

[PAT303]

Just to add to the above post I've been playing with my No.4 and had it bedded just the same with a small pad just behind the front sight,it shot as good as I could shoot it,yesterday I changed it to the Parker Hale style center bedding with floated muzzle and it shot all over the paper,I was using 50m pistol targets and it couldn't keep all it's shots on it,the bedding on LE's is either right or ****. Pat

[mattd]

Got 8mm checks and the new mold is rocking and rolling. Cast at 318. Sized 316. Weigh 170g. This is a dummy without a crimp that shrunk a little after closing the bolt. Will go about .02 longer when I crimp live rounds.

[mattd]

Well I have time blocked out to go shoot this thing in 2 days, loaded up 20 rounds with my new 317 bullets sized to 316......and my hornady seating die won't let the fat bullet go deep enough to use the roll crimp. No lee crimp dies in stock locally. Any other ideas? Have them loaded a little long, and they'll get pushed back w no crimp.

[mattd]

Got the lee factory crimp die. Loaded up 20 with my 173g sized 316 w Unique, 14 - 16g. shot pretty good. less then 2" at 50y w 14g. that's slightly better then the factory rounds, and this is the first time out. 14.5-16g weren't very good. Forgot the tripod so no crohny data, but I'm guessing 1600ish. It'll be a back up gun this deer season, but I'll cast with 50/50 and I would think that would do ok.

[303Guy]

Looking good. I take it those are two separate groups.

I changed it to the Parker Hale style center bedding with floated muzzle and it shot all over the paper,

I can't see how a centre pressure point can do any good. That's right in a harmonic node where it can be expected to really do bad things. Yet Parker Hale made it work? My No4 barrelled No1 MkI has the action body fully bedded top and bottom and has the Knox Form fully bedded. I won't be changing anything anytime soon. It shoots 1¼ MOA ten shot groups all day long. Mind you, sub MOA would be nice. Maybe I should take a fresh look at it.

I found a record of ¾ MOA. That was at 46m and the number of shots not recorded. I doubt that would be a ten shot group. Anyway, that's of no relevance here.

[Artful]

Wow - nice rifle - glad you got it shooting better for hunting season.

[mattd]

Well, back to working on my 303. Considering leaving the 3006 at home for opening day....for the first time ever. And bringing this guy instead. Using the 173g lovern style bullet sized to 316. The 14g of unique i loaded for last deer season weren't as good as they were last year! I think the carnauba red lube is temp sensitive. I know it was when it got cold anyways. But in the MO heat today I was about a 4" group, 6" from POA. Avg. vel of 1630, with a max deviation of 16fps. Gotta love unique.

But the real news is 29g of RL7. 1.5" at 50y. Best it's ever shot. Avg vel 1780. Max dev 33fps. The flat nosed bullet pictured above cast at 50/50. Should be great deer medicine.


I was honing in on a load for the mini 14 as well, in .3g increments. All loads were about 2". So, two diff rifles with peep sights. 1.5" to 2" at 50y was the typical group, of the better groups. I think it's fair to say that that's as good as I can shoot peeps. I was thinking about recrowning it, but why mess with it if it's doing this well.

[mattd]

I'm revising my '1.5' group that I eyeballed. It's actually 1-1/8". I'm fighting for every fraction! With converted berden brass, btw.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Thee is a lot of hunting for which that sort of accuracy is perfectly acceptable. You might get an improvement by cutting that muzzled back to the front sight and recrowning.

I saw quite a few rifles for sale on that web page, and am not sure which one you meant. But as those bore dimensions and its condition sound fine, you seem to have an excellent rifle, and one of the most infallible in field conditions. Inconsistent bore dimensions and production quality shortcuts are more common in the No4 than the First World War No1 SMLE. The inconsistency is more common in early production than late, and roughness of finish tends to be purely cosmetic.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone in the US is sitting on a stock of late, inexpensive target barrels, left over when British military target shooting went over to the 7.62x51. These are usually extremely well made and chambered, and can be turned down to sporting length. Limited case life in some military chambers is not well dealt with by neck sizing, as some advocate, as it is due to the size and shape of the shoulder, to let the round chamber in the presence of dirt. It can sometimes be dealt with by setting the barrel back a thread, and rechambering with a commercial reamer.

For those who find themselves with a bad bore, www.trackofthewolf.com stock a barrel liner made for the 7.65 Luger which is just the twist and minimum diameter for a .303.

[mattd]

That link is expired. They don't maintain the page very long after the gun sells. I posted pics somewhere in this thread tho.

Not sure which version it is. Everything on the reciever/band has been polished off except for the serial. Not sure if that would help id it. The bolt says it's a MK2.

I was thinking this trip how good the bore is. Even tho it's 3155, the riffling is sharp and these bullets shoot clean. Maybe one small step from being mirror after cleaning.

Heres the crown. Looks like lots of cleaning from the muzzle.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

It's probably a No4 Mk2 then. The No1 Mk2 is a pretty rare pre-WW1 firearm, and the designation would probably be stamped as MkII. The No1 probably has at least the vestiges of a rear sight mounted by a band on the barrel, as on earlier Lee-Enfields it was found that rapid fire could melt solder and leave the sight attached by one screw till it hardened. The No4 has a strengthened receiver, and probably has at least the vestiges of an integral receiver sight.e

If you particularly want to use jacketed bullets, there are .318in. ones made for the J-bore version of the 8x57 Mauser, although these were soon overtaken by the .323-bullet S-bore version. These can easily be sized down in a simple ring die. We are sometimes advised not to size down jacketed bullets, as the jacket is springier than lead, and may leave the core off-center. But his much sizing, of a bullet with a fairly long tapering nose, should be pretty harmless.

[mattd]

It actually is stamped MKII. And has a 1 stamped on the bolt head





No sings of a sight on the barrel. And non on the reciever unless the peep is covering it. Someone commented earlier in this thread that the receiver looked like it had a lot of metal removed. Maybe it is the non-strengthened one.



No no need for jacketed bullets in this one!

[303Guy]

That's a No4 with the rear peep sights milled off to accommodate the target peep sight. The Mk1* bolt head rail slot is clearly visible. There is no weakening of the action. It looks to be in nice condition.

I have a barrel tip and front sight from a rifle just like that, that I cut off just behind the sight ramp. The crown is the same too, if one can call it a crown. Check it for any damage. It might be an idea to get someone to recess the crown just a tad to keep it safe from dings in the field.

[Stoats]

OK, what you have there is absolutely clearly a No.4 Mk.1* that's been hacked about a bit to remove the charger bridge. You can tell this because of the gap in the bolt head rail near the front for removing the bolt, and no bolt through the back of the forend which absolutely excludes it being a Mk.1/3 (which are not that common anyway).

A No.4 Mk.2 it most definitely is not - these had the push-button bolt head release at the back and a bolt through the back of the forend (you'll also find No.4 Mk.1's and 1*'s with a Mk.2 forend, btw - I have had 3 of them). The Mk.2 needed this bolt because the back of the forend couldn't be solid because of the hung trigger getting in the way.

It is fitted with a Mk.II cocking piece and has a #1 (of 4, iirc - unnumbered, 1, 2, 3) bolt head. The higher the number, the longer the bolt head.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

It is an extremely nice example. A worn muzzle typically doesn't extend far back, and it may transformed by amputating the half inch or so in front of the sight. Replacing that can be tricky, especially if it is silver soldered or the barrel is tapped for a screw. If you look in the Brownells catalogue, preferably the print version, you will probably be able to identify the front sight ramp, very likely as Williams, and buy a hood to slip into those grooves. I don't find it at all useful for shade, but it is extremely useful to protect the bead. Scope mounts are also available, but before laying out cash on this, you need to find pictures of the left-hand side of the No4 receiver, in case someone has removed metal there. It is more likely that they have done so only on top, where the receiver sight and the charger guide were.

Many a person will tell you that you need a gunsmith's crowning tool with a bore-specific pilot - which means you need a gunsmith for an easy job, to pay for a small part of the capital cost, rather than all of it. Most non-piloted devices are likely to go badly wrong, by cutting more to one side than another. An exception, though, is a tungsten carbide burr, which must be ball-shaped or ball-nosed cylinder in shape, as conical or flame-shaped ones will go wrong. You don't use it in any powered device, as it cuts very fiercely indeed. You hold the shank in a vice and rotate the barrel against it by hand.

[mattd]

Well, have been out of a home for almost a year now. No shop, no tools, etc. 13 more days we move into our house we've been building. In the meantime no shade tree gunsmithing has happened and I still have a crsppy crown, but another good group! The previous group I posted was w converted berdan brass. When I used the same load in boxer brass it shot almost 400fps faster and was not as accurate. According to previous post that was 29g of RL7. Today I was working in .3g increments w boxer and was doing about 2" at 35y until 23.3g. About .5"! Case is only half full, and I tipped the muzzle back before each shot, so maybe it's time to start working w fillers.