L.E. Jungle Carbine

[jwsomrvl]

I just purchased a Lee Enfield Jungle Carbine. My father had one that he sportorized. I shot my first deer with that one. I'm going to keep mine in the original military configuration. I just joined this forum and am looking for more information on this rifle.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Hello jwsomrvl, Welcome to the Castboolits Forum. I saw your first post about Jungle Carbines in the Factory Rifles area and moved it to the Military Rifles area, since you are seeking information and not just displaying it. You'll probably get more information at this location.

They're neat little rifles, and I've owned two of them. They were said to have a "wandering zero" due to the lightening cuts that were made in the receivers, but both of mine were quite accurate. They were developed by the British from the No.4 Lee Enfield for use in the jungles of places like Malaya and Burma where the shorter length and lighter weight were welcome in the brush and humid climate. You'll find them with both blued and baked on paint finishes. Most folks who have used them agree that the solid rubber butt pad isn't really much of a help in reducing recoil; but on the other hand, I think it would have to be an improvement over a steel butt plate. They have that neat flash hider, and take a knife-type bayonet. A J.C. bayonet in nice condition is hard to find now days, and pricey. They used the standard web rifle sling with the curved brass retainers on the ends. Great little deer rifles. Enjoy yours!

DG

[Moleman-]

I use mine as is for deer hunting with a 174gr Hornady. There are a lot of fakes out there, but your rifle should be marked as a #5 BSA or Fazakerley and have the lightening cuts on the receiver and the fluted section of barrel in front of the receiver. I have a #5 & #4 Fazakerley and also a sporterized #4 savage.

[longbow]

If you are reloading and using cast boolits you will likely need "fat" boolits! I have two No.5's and my son has one. I also have a No.4 MK1 and No. MK2. Four have typically fat bores and chambers. The No4. MK2 is tight in comparison.

I'd recommend that you slug the throat to determine the largest boolit that will fit as the 5 groove bore is difficult to measure without a special micrometer. All of my guns shoot the NOE 316299 quite well when sized to 0.315"

I found that I needed cast boolits of 0.315" so bought the NOE 316299 which shot pretty well but I found that due to the sizing dies being optimistic of SAAMI specs were sizing the necks much too small for 0.315" cast boolits and the boolits were being "sized" by the neclks at seating. My solution was initially to make a larger expander button which worked well but of course was working the brass a lot. Next I bought a Lee collet sizer and made a 0.313" mandrel for it and that works very well.

Another issue is that generally the military chambers tend to be oversize so again if you full length size the brass gets worked a lot. I'd recommend neck sizing only or getting the Lee collet die... apparently they can be used without the mandrel so set to neck size to what you want.I made the 0.313" mandrel before I found that out so I just use it.

Other than that I enjoy shooting mine and I do not see evidence of a "wandering zero" as often mentioned and commented above. Maybe if rapid fired and hot?

Anyway, I like mine!

Enjoy!

Longbow

[littlejack]

Welcome to the CastBoolits sir. Enjoy.

[schutzen-jager]

welcome - great rifles - check out the import stamp - many were #4's that were converted to the jungle configuration by navy arms/gibbs + others to improve sales -


Gibbs built their version of the No. 5 Jungle Carbine from a No. 4 barrelled action. A new stock and flash hider with bayonet lug were added to the trimmed down barrel, still in .303. By using the No. 4 receiver they cured the “wandering zero” problem of the original No. 5, which finally was traced to lightening the action

[Bazoo]

Congratulations and welcome to the forum.

I had a Santa Fe Jungle Carbine for a while and it was fun as heck. Of course, those were made from other Enfields for the civilian market.

[Bigslug]

Welcome! My .303 geekery is fairly advanced, though I've yet to acquire a jungle carbine. I'll be watching this one to read and learn.

The 314299 and 316299 are both good bullet molds to own to account for the variability of barrels in the Enfield family (and the 311299 too if you're into .30-06's). As the shank diameter increases from .311 to .314 to .316 to match groove diameter so does the nose section increase from .300 to .303 to .305 to match the bore. Maybe a bit heavy for playing in a carbine - there's lighter choices of course - but they make a decent equivalent of the pre-WWI 215 grain MKI through MKVI bullets.

Accuracy with Enfields is a fascinating study of barrel harmonics and utilizing your stock to control them. The No.4 family did away with the spring-loaded saddle that the No.1 MKIII series had inside the barrel channel and went with forend geometry that simply pushed upward on the muzzle end with about five pounds of pressure when the action was anchored down. That of course is the No.4 RIFLE. As to what was done on the No.5 CARBINE??? I'm hoping someone chimes in. I suspect it was little different than the upward pressure at the forend seen on factory Remington 700 sporters. There was an established history of short-stocked L.E. hunting rifles like the Lee-Speed long before the Jungle Carbine, so they doubtless had this sorted out.

[atr]

my first large caliber rifle, .303 British was a #5 jungle carbine. Average accuracy. The chamber was oversized and I got a lot of case separation after just one reload using full length sizing. I switched to neck sizing and the cases lasted longer.
welcome to this forum....it is a great place to gain information.
atr