Classy SMLE Mannlicher conversion.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I picked this up today (well, I bought it, I will get it in a few weeks when the paperwork comes through and I manage to drive the 180 miles to the gunshop!).

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/4fingermick/Rifles/20120323-SMLEMannligher6.jpg

I was contemplating sporterizing a Mauser ( I have owned a lot, but never done one myself). I was lookign at the rack with all of the bubber'ed milsup rifles and I saw this one with the funny bolt. Thinking it might be an old one, I got the owner to pass it down. It is a really well done conversion in 303/25. It has an early 3-9 scope with a post and crosshair reticle.

I picked it up for $300, which is a bit to pay for a sporter in 303/25, but it is a lovely rifle. The barrel is in good condition. The owner is checking to see if the old guy that sold it has any dies, etc.

I will try it in the 303/25 and see how it goes. I also have a near new No4 Bbl which would go nicely as a cast boolit hunting rifle with an Epps chamber. If I do this conversion, I won't be loading it up, just improving brass performance. Easily done while the Barrel is off the rifle and being fitted.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/4fingermick/Rifles/20120323-SMLEMannligher2.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/4fingermick/Rifles/20120323-SMLEMannligher.jpg

More pics: http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k228/4fingermick/Rifles/

The shop a few hundred yards down the road had a neat Steyer 8x56 Straight Pull for $400. It had several hundred rounds, all in original packaging and all in stripper clips! I rifle at a time! Although the stripper clips are probably worth $5-10 each.

Virtally all of the dings on the stock seem to be on the exterior varnish only (better looked after tham my rifles, lol.)

[Multigunner]

Looks like the scope has taken a hard lick at one time, you'll probably have to replace it.

The tube is badly bulged and bent just ahead of the front ring.

[725]

That is a pretty rifle!!!!! For $300, I'd have jumped on it.

[Haggway]

Nice rig.

[Dead Dog Jack]

Please tell me that is not a CLLE! :groner:

[Multigunner]

Please tell me that is not a CLLE! :groner:

Looks more like an SMLE action body with a LE bolt or cocking piece substituted.

Being its in .25 its unlikely that the rifle the action or bolt came from was in restorable condition when converted.

[Four Fingers of Death]

No it is a 1942 Lithgow. I didn't notice the scope, I didn't actually pay much attention to it.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Whats a CLLE?

[herbert buckland]

Whats a CLLE?Clip Loading Lee Enfield.converted from long Lee Enfields to clip loading,very desirable

[Haggway]

is the clle the same action as the RIC short lee?

[Jim]

Classy is right!

I LIKE THAT!!

[Multigunner]

No it is a 1942 Lithgow. I didn't notice the scope, I didn't actually pay much attention to it.


The cocking piece is from a much earlier action type, either Lee Metford or the LE.
It has a safety mounted on the cocking piece. Not sure if these will fit an SMLE bolt or not or if the entire bolt is from the earlier rifle.
If the SMLE receiver mounted safety is intact you would have two manual safeties on this rifle.

That scope is obviously buggered badly.
You might try to get part of your purchase price back on this, if the seller did not inform you that the scope is damaged beyond economical repair, which should have been obvious.

While it may be possible to straighten out the bent tube, theres no telling how much damage was done to the internals. If repaired the scope may never be trustworthy.

[Four Fingers of Death]

The rifle came from an old guy who is too old to shoot anymore. The guy in the shop mentioned that he hasn't shot for many years. He frequents the shotgun club up there and usually drops in for a coffee and a yarn at the end of the shooting on Saturdays.

If he has any dies, etc I might try and get them for gratis, but I will let the old guy alone about the scope. It is a shame, as I am fond of post and crosshairs.

I picked up a CLLE for my mate recently. It had also been converted to 303/25. It had been sporterised and the front and rear volley sights were intact and all numbers matched. The clip guide was still on the bolt knob, along with the little flip up part on the magazine. My mate restores military rifles so I passed it onto him for a make over. It cost $150!!!!!

[Multigunner]

You might look up some craftsman who repairs older scopes. Most of them only work on the really rare or expensive types. If you find one he may even have a donor scope he can strip to repair this one.

I've done some scope sight and telescope repairs and I've repaired heavily dented bird gun barrels and metal powder flasks, but never tried fixing a scope tube that badly bent.
If I were familar with this particular model I might give it a shot, but I doubt I could do much with it.

[Four Fingers of Death]

You might look up some craftsman who repairs older scopes. Most of them only work on the really rare or expensive types. If you find one he may even have a donor scope he can strip to repair this one.

I've done some scope sight and telescope repairs and I've repaired heavily dented bird gun barrels and metal powder flasks, but never tried fixing a scope tube that badly bent.
If I were familar with this particular model I might give it a shot, but I doubt I could do much with it.

There was a guy who fixed scopes in Sydney, Fred Horton. He is retired now. He rebuilt a damaged Pecar for me once. Fielder INstruments also repair scopes (or used to ). I don't recognise the brand, so it is probably not worth putting much money into it, especially with the cheap scopes around now.

The Aussie Army have German Leopard Tanks. Their epi-scopes were difficult to repair and they ended up contracting the work out to old Fred after not being satisfied with the German company. Old Fred did pretty impressive work and he ended up doing the repairs for the German Army as well.

When I get the gun home, I will check the scope out properly.

[dualsport]

Very nice looking rifle. Love those full length stocks. I ordered a cocking piece (thumb piece?) for a No1 from Numrich. The one they sent me looks kinda like yours, but no safety on it. Never seen one like it before, usually they're squared off. It did fit though and works fine. Congratulations on your new baby, have fun. That .25 might just be the ticket for cbs on wallabies and baby grabbin' dingoes.

[303Guy]

I like the 25. I only have one with a long barrel.

I have several rifles with that bolt configuration. It carries the safety which works quite well and doesn't get bumped off too easily and can never get bumped on. Those bolts had an attached dust cover. So did the Lee Speed but that did not have the safety in the rear.

That scope might be damaged but not necessarily ruined. I had a scope with the rear bit bent like that. The threads on the power adjust had jumped. It was fine apart from being locked at one power and looked funny. One day I applied brute force and un-jumped that thread. Now it works perfectly. That bend had no effect on the sighting. Yours might be the same and be no worse than look funny.

What's a RIC short lee?

[Four Fingers of Death]

I bought an ols Weaver (2-7 I think), it lost zero when the powers were changed. I bought it for chump change and was going to get Fred Horton to fix it. He said it wasn't worth looking at because although Weaver made much noise about the steel bodies, the internals were plastic and plastic in the 60s and 70s wasn't anywhere near as good as plastics are nowadays. He said he had tried several times to make brass replacement internals without succcess. He went on to say whatever was wrong with it and said to pick a power, zero it on that and leave it there. I did and it worked fine. When I sold the rifle, I explained it iver and over to the new owner who obviously wasn't listening. A few days later he did nothing but complain about the scope! I couldn't believe it. He left the rifle unattended (well before registration, etc). I put the money he had paid on the bench and took the rifle home.

This might work out the same. I wouldn't trust any scope like that on an expensive hunt however. That my friends is Leupold territory.

I have a couple of 25Cal moulds, both a bit light for the 303/25, more aimed at the 25/20. It might end up being a 25/20 level performer with TrailBoss.

[Hardcast416taylor]

VERY NICE! I have to guess that a walnut stock and fore end as nicely figured as this and then checkered in a beautiful pattern cost easily the $300 you are paying. I don`t want to guess the cost for inletting that MS long forend. Shame about the scope, I sort of favor the post/crosshairs myself too.Robert

[pietro]

I LIKE IT ! [smilie=w: IMHO, it's MUCH better done than the run-of-the-mill sporter project - professionally-done, even, considering the nice checkering job, etc.

Looking at your 1st pic, the full side profile, one can see that the scope's objective bell is bent/tilted downward towards the barrel, indicating that either the dropped rifle landed on the scope or something HEAVY was dropped onto the scope.

I'd just replace the scope & be done with it - enjoying that fine old gun. :happy dance:

.

[swheeler]

4 digits; that is a very nice looking rifle, add a new scope and enjoy!

[JeffinNZ]

A friend of mine once owned a Lee Enfield that someone had spent a LOT of time on. Butter knife bolt handle and ONE piece stock. The butt socket had been removed or shaped to allow for a one piece stock and it was a sweet looking rifle.

[Multigunner]

Some of the classic sporting rifles built on the Lee Metford or LE action bodies had the original cocking piece with integral safety replaced by the early SMLE style cocking piece then a double rifle/shotgun style thumb safety added on the grip behind the cocking piece. I don't have any clear photos of these handy, but I suppose some addition to the butt socket was necessary to house that aftermarket safety.

One piece stock conversions of the Lee Enfields offer some advantages for a sporter, but can result in the same tendency for stock splitting and damage to inletting that plagued earlier Lee rifles due to lack of secure bedding points to handle recoil stresses.
The Canadian shortened and lightened No.4, which actually used a modified No.5 type action body, was also a one piece stock conversion. Though these were new purpose made action bodies.
Those rifles had a functional recoil pad rather than the boot heel like rubber buttplate of the No.5.
A light handy rifle rather than a carbine.

[quasi]

$300.00 would be a steal for that here.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Congratulations on your new baby, have fun. That .25 might just be the ticket for cbs on wallabies and baby grabbin' dingoes.

Dingos are a problem regarding stock losses, etc (I suppose if you looked at the Dingo's side of things, he probably would say how silly it was to leave yummy stock about in a place that had Dingoes roaming for thousands of years.

A bigger problem is the wild dogs, runaways, unwanted pets that have been dumped by stupid people, hunting dogs that have become lost, etc. These often interbreed with the Dingo. Most of the dogs used for hunting are pretty nasty to start with and readily revert to their wild state, and because of there previous associations, aren't scared of man at all. They are a huge problem in some areas.

Having a slick 10 shot action would make this a terrific dogging rifle. I kind of think that the 303/25 with cast bullets might be a bit light, but re-barrelled to the 303 and with an Epps chamber at reasonable cast boolit velocities, this might be a viable rifle. Hunting wild dogs is not an area where you want things to go wrong.

Quasi, I think $300 out here is an amazing deal, even with the dud scope. I could always use it on a long range rifle, save me buying a special mount with extra elevation cant, lol.

[303Guy]

I suppose some addition to the butt socket was necessary to house that aftermarket safety.No, it was simply a square hole cut into the top of the end of the butt socket through which the safety protruded under the sear. The safety was fitted into the butt. It was a Speed Lee design. I shall endeavour to get a photo or two of my Dads rifle which my niece's ex has. (I'll also endeavour to retrieve the rifle).

Four Fingers, if you do decide to re-barrel would you mind selling the 25 barrel to me? Having said that and as much I should be trying to persuade you to re-barrel [smilie=1: , might I suggest trying some 120gr cast in it first? You might find it quite use-able, I don't know. I'm kinda guessing the achievable velocity with cast in that 25 would make up for the lighter boolit. I don't know. Maybe a longer barrel is required to even the odds.

There is something that can be done to 'modernise' a Lee Enfield for sporting purposes and that is to convert it to cocking on opening. It's not really cocking on opening. It's cocking on locking i.e. cocking on rotating the bolt handle into lock. All it requires is a custom trigger sear. Is it a good idea? I don't know. I'll be doing mine soon so I'll be able to report back once done.

[Four Fingers of Death]

two of my Dads rifle which my niece's ex has. (I'll also endeavour to retrieve the rifle).

Yep, go get em' when your' an ex, you lose all family heirloom rights, because, welllllllll, you just ain't family anymore! Good luck.

Maybe you should take a rifle to swap if it gets difficult. Much as you'd begrudge giving an ex anything, it is one bargaining chip up your sleeve if it all looks like going sour and may save the day and get your Dad's guns back.

[PAT303]

Mick,do you know some one with an Epps reamer?,if you go that way could you let me know as I want to do the same with my No.4. Pat

[Four Fingers of Death]

Mick,do you know some one with an Epps reamer?,if you go that way could you let me know as I want to do the same with my No.4. Pat

Barry Smith at "The Gunsmith's" in Helen St Sefton in Sydney. 02)97437328.

I was quoted $80-100 for the job. We were in the Reserves together, but that doesn't get me any discounts. Say hello for me. Mick Moriarty.

I'll keep you in mind 303 guy.

[Olevern]

Real purty stock on a classic rifle. Enjoy!