Savage Lee Enfield

[phonejack]

Today I was gifted a family gun I saw once in the early 1960’s. It was carried by a man who introduced me to deer hunting. When I got home and took it out of the case here is what I’ve now got.
Mark 4 #1 1942. Bolt and stock band serial numbers match
Bolt head is an#3
It’s been sporterized.
Barrel has been cut back to 21 1/2”. A modern ramp front sight soldered on with a drift adjustable blade front sight.
The 600meter peep has been ground off and made into a V notch. Hopefully it will shoot close to poa.
Forend of stock has been cutoff and rounded ahead of the sling swivel and car touches removed.
No rust, scratches. Bore is immaculate.
With it came 2 partial boxes of remington ammo. One is priced $5.15 so, that probably dates to the 1970’s. And a box of Winchester.
Ribs dies with shell holder,
About 50 pieces of unaired Remington brass and some hornady .312“ 50 gr. soft points.
I’ll get a Lee Loader so I can neck size only my fired cases.
I’ve never had a Lee Enfield, ought to be interesting.

[Jniedbalski]

Nice I got a stock 4mk2 made in the early 50’s

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Great rifle, especially for the price! I think you'll like it.

[phonejack]

Forgot to say that the Barrel is free floated.

[RustyReel]

And it looks like a five round magazine to boot!! I have a Savage that someone sported as well. They did a decent job on mine as well. Fun guns.

[phonejack]

Apparently it is a Santa Fe sporter from the early 1950’s.

[Outpost75]

The Savage No. 4 has an interesting history.

Output from Savage began in late 1941 and lasted only 3 years compared to the Canadian Longbranch production which lasted into the 1950's. Very early North American production resulted in some No4 Mk1, rifles but the main body of output was the war expedient No4 Mk1* which made certain concessions to the original British No4 design such as the cut out in the receiver for modified bolt release vs the plunger styled bolt release of the typical No4 Mk1.

Only the North American factories of Longbranch and Savage produced the No4 Mk1* rifle. When Savage completed its Lend-Lease contract all spare parts, work-in-process, tooling and gages were sent to Longbranch. It is due to this that Longbranch No4's can be commonly found with Savage marked parts.

Savage rifles are generally marked U.S Property on the left receiver face, serial number is located on the left butt socket wrist with a letter prefix of C included. For example 96CXXXX would be typical where the "C" stands for Chicopee. Late-war Savage No4 Mk1* rifles are nearly always without being marked as to year of manufacture. Based on serial number surveys these final Savage production rifles are estimated to be 1944 production.

The first rifle contract was for 300,000 No4 rifles at a cost of $75 each. Of the 96 parts required to complete the No.4 rifle, 86 came from 30 parts sub contractors. Savage only produced the receiver, barrel, bolt, trigger guard, bolt head and stock and the entire package was assembled at Savage by them. Overall averaged output of Savage No.4 rifles was said to be 1,196,706 which includes 40,000 early production British rejects which were reworked for lend-lease to China.

The first Savage Stevens No.4 rifle was test fired on Friday, July 25th, 1941 at Chicopee Falls plant. Early rifles did not meet British Army specifications and were deemed sub-standard. Production adjustments were made and later rifles improved over time until production was at an adequate quality standard for export to Britain. Britain placed another order for 720,000 No4 Mk1* rifles in June 1942, including bayonets to run concurrent with the original order.

About 40,000 pre-Lend-Lease U.S No4's were rejected by the British Inspectorate for various reasons of standards, mostly being due to unique parts not interchangible with British rifles. The later Lend Lease agreement reduced the British conditions of control and payment as those rifle were then considered direct British Contract.

Once Savage rifles were received in Britain they were inspected them and marked them with a B beneath the serial numbers on the butt socket to indicate the British standard of inspection and a "pass" based on same. Savage rifles are generally found to have a 2 groove barrel and all parts should be found with the square Savage S or standard S receivers or various parts carry the U.S Flaming Bomb ordnance proof as well.

[303Guy]

Nice rifle. I have a No4 with a shortened barrel and a home made butt stock. Very well balanced rifle and very accurate. Barrel also free floated. The bullet I use in it is a 180 gr Highland semi-boat tail spitzer. Diameter is only .310 but the nose profile is such that it has less jump than a .311 Speer 180 gr round nose and also a .312 Hornady 150 gr spire point. That's with bullets seated as far out as the magazine will allow.

I'd be interested to learn how well that U notch rear sight works so close to the eye. I have one rifle that is destined to get just such a set up, only mounted into the clip charger bridge (it's an SMLE) which is that much further forward.

[RustyReel]

Apparently it is a Santa Fe sporter from the early 1950’s.

I have a couple of Santa Fe sporters, a Supreme and a Mountaineer. Both have been scrubbed as to date and place of original production but have the Santa Fe markings on the barrel. Maybe they left the Savage markings on your rifle because it is a Savage. Does it have barrel markings? If no barrel markings it could be a converted GI with a Santa Fe 5 Round Mag. Just curious.

[john.k]

I bought an early Savage with 6 groove rifling and proper sight ......at the time I thought it was an M17 .....yeah I was pretty dumb at 12 yr old.......upside was it only cost $5 ,my bean picking money....The local hardware store had a guns department,the old man was there to buy fencing wire .....he wasnt happy ,said it was a waste of money.

[marky123]

I have one too.
Savage mk1* but I believe mine is a Parker-Hale conversion judging by the proof marks.
MARK

[marky123]

[Multigunner]

I've reloaded thousands of rounds with a Lee Loader, but the best hand reloading outfit out there is the Lyman 310. Bench Rest shooters used to use the 310 for seating primers because it was so precise compared to bench mounted outfits.

I had a 310 with dies for the .38 Special and the 7.92X57. excellent results with both.

PS
I now have a Lee Had press with a set of Herters .303 Brit dies I got from a Member here.
Its also a good outfit.

[smithnframe]

Pretty cool.........I have a 1944 Savage from the lend/lease program.

[Texas by God]

That’s a pretty Lee Enfield sporter. I’ve always wanted the Savage #4 above all other Lees, but it hasn’t happened yet. I’ve probably missed my chance for a bargain by 20 years or so.

[samari46]

Look on the front sight ramp if it says Parker Hale then that is who sportered your rifle. I do have a PH sporter and the 5 round Sante Fe mag does not feed properly. So stuck a 10 rounder which I know feeds properly. And testing with the firing pin removed (accidental booms scare the heck out of my pit bull).And fed all ten rounds like greased pig snot. It's a 1942 Long Branch with 2 groove barrel. Could be the twin to yours. After the Christmas Holidays will give Tom at Accurate molds a call and most likely get a .318 version, a 30 cal for my 30-30's and a fat 44 for my 44 specials. I've been giving some serious thought about the 303 British cartridge necked up to .375 it's called the 37 Rimmed. Beat up #5 action cleaned up,possible .375 barrel at about 22" and sporter stock and forend. Frank

[phonejack]

Look on the front sight ramp if it says Parker Hale then that is who sportered your rifle. I do have a PH sporter and the 5 round Sante Fe mag does not feed properly. So stuck a 10 rounder which I know feeds properly. And testing with the firing pin removed (accidental booms scare the heck out of my pit bull).And fed all ten rounds like greased pig snot. It's a 1942 Long Branch with 2 groove barrel. Could be the twin to yours. After the Christmas Holidays will give Tom at Accurate molds a call and most likely get a .318 version, a 30 cal for my 30-30's and a fat 44 for my 44 specials. I've been giving some serious
thought about the 303 British cartridge necked up to .375 it's called the 37 Rimmed. Beat up #5 action cleaned up,possible .375 barrel at about 22" and sporter stock and forend. Frank

Thanks, I looked, it is a Parker Hale front sight

[samari46]

After WWII England was darn near broke,and from what I've read they didn't get off food rationing until about the mid 50's and were awash with Enfields in both 303 British and '06. So Parker Hale set about making sporters and if I remember right there were about 3-4 grades. So yours as well as mine were the economy ones. Could very well be yours was done up by Parker Hale. I was told mine was by a gent who knew what he was talking about. His favorites were some of the higher grades. Have fun and enjoy. Frank

[W.R.Buchanan]

Definitely a Parker Hale Deluxe Sporter.

Randy

[26Charlie]

A friend owns one of these Savage Lee Enfields, and I only saw him shoot it, did not shoot it myself. He was not very happy with it, but he was shooting at a paper plate at 50 yards, and the shots were scattered all over the plate. He was in the amphibs, drove a landing craft in WWII , and was much more fond of a 7.7mm jap sporter he made out of a rifle he retrieved off a beach in the Pacific. The two-groove barrel looked lop-sided because the machinery seemed to have been made to cut the 5-groove Enfield pattern, whereas the Springfield two-groove barrels can be symmetric because the design is for 4 grooves.