Question for you avid Enfield shooters

[RU shooter]

I have had a new found fixation to get a new milsurp cast boolit gun and have decided i want a nice #4 mk.2 I have seen a few of these around on the auctions but have been leary to bid on one without laying hands on it. I have found a decent Mk.2 with a 2 groove barrel in close to unfired cond. from a very reputable person that I trust on another board. Now I have had great luck getting cast to shoot for me in my 2 groove 03A3 very well from the very beginning,are the two groove Enfield barrels also that forgiving with cast? This gentleman said he used a Mil. plug gauge said the .303 just barely fit and a .304 wouldnt go in ? So I assume the bore is still tight as far as enfields go? The Mk.2 I have found is priced slightly higher than some others, should I just get a less expensive more common 4,5, or 6 groove? This particular rifle came from RSA and is dated 2/50 the barrel is a war time production 1942 but was fitted to this rifle at the armory as it has the SA rifles SN# stamped on the barrel also with the SA armorers markings ,again the condition of the bore is quoted in as new cond..
Any thoughts or ideas ? I have heard good things about cast in Enfields but I have heard alot of problems too. Pull the trigger on this one or keep looking for a good deal on a still in the mummy wrap Mk. 2 ? BTW are there any NOS #4 barrels floating around for sale anymore?

Thanks,Tim

[Freightman]

Have a two grove on a #4 Mk1* and you will have to work a little harder to get it to shoot as good as the 03 but with the correct size boolit and powder it will do fine. Seems that the 03's lands are broad but the Enfields are narrow being the difference. If it is a good price and you trust the owner, go for it as it is a piece of history that isn't going to be here forever.

[Pepe Ray]

First and foremost, critically examine a fired casing. Some of the chambers are unusable to a re loader. All else is fixable/usable.
Pepe Ray

[dromia]

My experience of 2 groovers with cast is limited, but having seen others load and shoot them I don't think they give up anything to the 5 groovers, Loverins seem to be popular.

Personally I prefer a bit of throat wear on my Enfield barrels for cast, I get better boolit fit that way. "New" Enfield barrels in my experience tend not to have much throat and I get better results from barrels with a bit of wear.

[RU shooter]

Seems that the 03's lands are broad but the Enfields are narrow being the difference.
So the Enfields lands are not the same in width as the 03A3 barrels? So If they are narrow like a normal rifling that dont seem like it would support the nose as well as 5 groove would or even 4 groove for that matter???? Thanks for the info Freightman that puts things in a whole new light.

[Jack Stanley]

I had a Savage number four mkI that had two grooves and it shot well comparable to a number 1 mk III . Oddly enough the bullet mold I had for the number one worked well in the Savage . Not hard to understand really , both bores were so huge a bullet mold that made .318" diameter slugs took care of both rifles .
The mold was a LBT design with the flat nose made to weigh in at two hundred fifteen grains . There is a lot of nose to ride the bore but since the mold was made for the Lithgow number one with the huge bore it must have rode the slightly smaller Savage just fine .

I use a set of Redding bushing dies for the fat boys and a regular sizer for the Fazakerly mkII that has much better tolerances . Whichever one you choose get the dies that moves your brass the least . It's likely that it will make very good ammo for you .

Jack

[JeffinNZ]

The No4 Mk2 will have a groove somewhere between .311 and .318 and if you are lucky at the smaller end of this. Mine is tight but a 5 groover.

Two groove barrels in these rifles really excel with bore riding bullets like the 314299 by Lyman or the CBE 313 220, 313215, 316 240. Two groove barrels are also quite accommodating of slightly undersized (driving band) bullets as the ration of bore to groove is 5/8 in favour of bore and 3/8 groove. This means that the bullet nose has LOTS of support and if the driving bands are a shade small they have a lot less groove to fill than in a 6 or 8 groove tube.

The absolutely critical factor is the bullet nose diameter. If you bore is .303-.304 as it will likely be the bullet MUST match or exceed this slightly. My bore riders have noses of .304-.305 and do very well.

My .303 Pygmy has a rather stout (.317) two groove barrel and shoots VERY well with bore riding bullets. It will not have a bar of Loverin designs however.

[JeffinNZ]

Tim.

If you are in any doubt as to what a 2 groove barrel can do I shot this today at 100m/110y with my .303 Pygmy with the FAT .317 2 groove barrel. First shot was a shade high and I think that was a neck tension issue.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/JeffinNZ/Shooting%20stuff/DSCN0074.jpg

[TAWILDCATT]

JEFF thats a proud shoot.I will have to shoot my 2 enfields.a savage and a faz.I used to shoot my 1917 at range with two groove and at 200 it kept them in x ring.the british tested the two grove and accepted it as bing just as accurate as the 4/5 groove