Lee Enfield No 4 a really great buy....

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I may be wrong, but I thought at that time they still used five grooves. In the days of cut rifling they could get it smoother (or perhaps as smooth with fewer and deeper passes of the cutter) when the tool was backed up by a land opposite the groove.

It became quite pointless when they went over to broached rifling, as I believe all No4 rifles were. A very expensive tool had a long series of graduated teeth for each groove, and cut them all in one pass. The reason some No4 barrels (more, I think, than with earlier Lee-Enfields) have oversized groove diameter is probably that they started with the broaches oversized to permit the maximum number of resharpenings before they were discarded.

Savage-Stevens and Long Branch in Canada both produced two-groove barrels. Long Branch and possibly Savage started with five and changed to two. In fact Long Branch, after the war, used Bren gun equipment to make six-groove barrels with a right-hand twist. None of them were intrinsically better or worse than the others. It isn't true, as sometimes suggested, that two grooves speeded up the rifling process. Broaching was always equally speedy. It speed up toolmaking and resharpening.

I hear the US army was found to have warehouses full of Second World War underwear. I wouldn't be surprised if the British government has a room full of undersize broaches, just about right for a tight .308 barrel.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

My blue! yes, they are 5 groove.

[Klaus]

Hello Bad ***,

some impressiv Sights and Rifles you have there in Down under

Further your Bullet Mould takes my interrest , seems to be good Bullet for the .303

I have one from NOE for my 8x57 Mauser 215 grs



currently i`ve been looking for a similar for the .303
At present time i use the Lee Bullet

what do you ( gents ) would recommended for the best lead cast Bullet for the .303 ?

by the way here some more pics from my Marks on the Lee Enfield


















Klaus

[northmn]

My first deer rifle was a "sporterized" #4 with the Weaver scope mount taking 22 rings installed it is an Eddystone and mikes at 312. Also had a 2 groove (memory loss on who made it, but I believe they were made in the States as some Springfields were two groove) and a North Branch.
Used to visit a Canadian site on the 303's and found that I could get better accuracy with a COW filler over 3031, but later have switched to shotgun buffer which does way with COW problems. Got a deer with it and a Lee cast bullet at 208 grains. Wanted to match the old 215 grain load. My son got his first 3 deer with the old #4 my father bought me using my handloads and the Hornady 150 grain bullet. Never had a problem tracking them as it blew a pretty impressive hole.
Rather fond of the old SMLE's and may take the old rifle out again. Considering that I am now retired and my father bought it for me when I was in school, its been around a while.

DP

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Klaus,
The longer 220gn boolit seems to work well in the Martini's and early "Long Toms" with the 30"barrels, while the 190gn gives best accuracy in the 25" standard SMLE

Cast Bullet Engineering moulds in the 0.314-.316" range seem best

http://www.castbulletengineering.com...fle/31-calibre

[Scharfschuetze]

Klaus,

I like the Lyman (or NOE) 314299 or the NOE 316299 moulds. My tighter bored LEs get the 314299 and the larger bores get the 316299. The design (depending on the mould) throws about a 210 grain bullet with lube and gas check on it. This is a bore riding design so it's important that the long nose is a good fit between the lands for maximum support of the bullet in the barrel.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/530...nose-gas-check

[leebuilder]

Hi Klaus. Lots of good info shared. I lived in Lahr and was born in Iserlohn. Fine rifle, does it have the small or large battle sight hole? With the larger an adapter can be made to make the hole smaller and more fine, works in a pinch till you find some thing better. Your groupings look a bit big but it is not a measure of accuracy as the groups shrink at farther ranges.
I like the 314299 and 316299 but the more i use my NOE 314198 the more i like it, and dont under estimate the lee 185br one boolit that always inpresses me.
Neat rifle, 1948 ftr could be rare as the no4mk2 was adopted in 1949. Never seen one that late, could of been for a forigen contract.

Be well

[Der Gebirgsjager]

[QUOTE=Klaus;4002937
but it depends on you if you turn sadly...... If you was in Germany at your Army Time most of the Soldiers are in the Middle or South of Germany like Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Munic. in the Areas the US Army had some Long Shooting Ranges but for the normal Guys here a 100 m Range is the top of Distance.

KLaus[/QUOTE]

Klaus -- I was stationed in Schweinfurt for 2 1/2 years. About 5 km from the post was a 500 m range. The post was returned to German control several years ago. Perhaps that range is now available. Something to check on.
DG

[Klaus]

Hi Klaus. Lots of good info shared. I lived in Lahr and was born in Iserlohn. Fine rifle, does it have the small or large battle sight hole? With the larger an adapter can be made to make the hole smaller and more fine, works in a pinch till you find some thing better. Your groupings look a bit big but it is not a measure of accuracy as the groups shrink at farther ranges.
I like the 314299 and 316299 but the more i use my NOE 314198 the more i like it, and dont under estimate the lee 185br one boolit that always inpresses me.
Neat rifle, 1948 ftr could be rare as the no4mk2 was adopted in 1949. Never seen one that late, could of been for a forigen contract.

Be well

pls be so kind and tell me the how the 314198 drops out the mould.

as i told before i use the Lee which came out very close at .312 . and in a 314 Lee Push through there are only i very,very small track of evidence that these bullets touch the Tool .

does the 314 198 compares better as the 316299 in your Rifle ?

thx for input

Klaus

[leebuilder]

Hi Klaus
All Noe molds I have drop 0.001 to 0.002 thousands of an inch bigger. So you shouldn't have any size issues. My Lee drops .312" too, I beagled it and got .314" with great success now I use them powder coated.
My lyman 314299 dropped. 312" again beagled and got good results, since then I lapped it out, great in some not so great in others because the nose/body isn't riding the bore in some rifles.
The Noe .316202 is a great preformer as the .314198 is, the .314198 so far has produced much tighter groups right from the start. I think this is so because I have a bit more experience casting and case preperation.
With all this said every 303 rifle is a bit different, the lee 185 PCed has impressed me quite a few times. You can't go wrong with the 314299 or 316202 or any clone there of properly sized and matched to a barrel. The 314198 is a good boolit.
Hope this helps.
Be safe