Need help with an Enfield

[hja4941]

I have a Longbranch No 4 Mk1* which appears to have a factory carbine configuration. My problem is that the rifle will not feed from the magazine with any reliability. The magazine does appear to be a replacement, as it has much less wear on the finish. Can these magazines be tuned to feed reliably?

If so, how is it done?

[wallenba]

Are there any gouges or burrs on the magazine follower or dents in the magazine wall? How about your ammo? Hand loads with a crimp that leaves an edge at the case mouth can grab at the transition from magazine to ramp area. Some ogives too, will just not work in some rifles. My Savage 99 shoots Lee C312-185-2r's wonderfully, but they won't feed from the magazine and have to be hand fed. Make some dummy rounds to try. Try another magazine if you can, then try your loads in someone elses Enfield.

[hja4941]

I was using surplus 303 from stirpper clips and loaded without. The bolt has a tendancy to ride over the cartridges when worked, And occasionally the front of the cartridge seems to pop out early, jamming into the top of the chamber.

[Bloodman14]

Is the magazine seated properly? How about spring tension on the follower? Are the rounds in the clips arranged correctly? Need more info, and pics would help.

[hja4941]

A friend of mine came by with his enfield mags at lunch. I tried a couple of his mags and found that one of them feeds the same ammo from the same stripper clips perfectly; in my rifle.

The mag spring in his is much heavier then on mine, and the feed lips are more closed. I thank you all for the help.

Now the configuration is a 19" barrel on a 1942 receiver. Other than the length it looks the same as any other no 4 mk1*. Was this an option on originals?

[462]

A home-made Jungle Carbine?

[doubs43]

A home-made Jungle Carbine?

Possibly but it's more likely that it's one of the rifles altered by a company I can't recall the name of. Maybe 10 years back there were a lot of them on the market.

[3006guns]

Sounds like the magazine feed lips are slightly distorted, possibly from being dropped. If the bolt is over riding the rear of the cartridge it's not high enough, that's all. Use a stout pair of needle nose pliers and carefully bend (open) both rear lips a little at a time until you start to get reliable feeding. Enfield magazines are built from some pretty stout material so it will take a little effort.....just don't go too far and have to bend them back again.

Edit: Whoops! Looks like you've already found the problem. Now, go shoot it! By the way, a "real" jungle carbine has flutes cut on the outside of the barrel by the receiver ring. No flutes=copy.

[462]

Possibly but it's more likely that it's one of the rifles altered by a company I can't recall the name of. Maybe 10 years back there were a lot of them on the market.

Gibbs?

[wallenba]

Since the 303 is rimmed and you filled the mag by hand, any chance you got a round or two stacked with the rim behind the one below? Not sure that is even possible, just playing with my minds eye here.

[Bloodman14]

A home-made Jungle Carbine?

Some pics would confirm/deny that one.

[Multigunner]

If the stock is much like the No.4 stock only shorter, and no flash hider, then its probably one of the "Tanker" or "Bulldog" carbines. These may have been built in limited numbers experimentally, but none were ever issued. Any found today are copies made by various dealers.

Several shortened rifle designs were tested before the No.5 Carbine came along, including stortened P-14 rifles, and a few shortened No.4 rifles that resembled the No.5 jungle carbine other than having the standard No.4 butt stock and a muzzle similar to the No.4 rifle with bayonet lugs. The test models used a cut down No.4 barrel with bayonet lugs milled from the smaller diameter muzzle section. The lugs were built up by brazing for the tests, if it had gone into production they would have used purpose made barrels.

The Commercial Tanker clones don't have bayonet lugs, a single example which may be legit has bayonet lugs. No way to verify if it is the real thing.
Awhile back a similar cutdown No.4 adapted to fire anti-tank grenades or smoke grenades was dug up on in relic condition at a European battle field where British Patatroopers had done battle. No records on such a conversion have come to light that I've heard of.

[gew98]

ed ; The two or three "shortened " examples of No4 immeadiately were redesignated as "no5" and so ordered with modifications that sealed the No5 pattern. The canadians manufactured a "lightweight" No4 of at most 40 or so units, and these had a one peice stock.
The likelihood of encountering anything other than a No5 is about zero. The South African Police apparently had made for them a couple 14" barrel takedown No4's ( lord knows why ).
Please provide a link for this shortened dug relic you mention - or did you here it from someone whom heard it from someone else ?.

[rayzer]

Possibly but it's more likely that it's one of the rifles altered by a company I can't recall the name of. Maybe 10 years back there were a lot of them on the market.

Parker Hale?