.303 No. 1 Mk III* Tanker Carbine

[26Charlie]

I understand Navy Arms bought Parker-Hale machinery and shortened up Lee-Enfields to make these carbines. The crown at the muzzle and the stock work look just like they came from a factory. Mine shoots very well. Had it out for a range session yesterday - with Lyman 210gr 314299 and 16gr Blue Dot 5 shots into 3.3” at 100yd. (Greek military hardball 5 shots into 4.4”, 4 of those into 2.25”, same range.) With sight on 200yd CBs were on point of aim, hardball 4” higher. This is a solid, handy, accurate rifle.

[Outpost75]

A picture would be nice.

Are these currently available, or is this something they did years ago which you happened to come across?

[CSMR]

It doesn't exist and nothing happened without pictures...….

[Kraschenbirn]

Neither Navy Arms nor Gibbs Rifle Co. (who did the actual work on most Navy Arms retreads) show a "Tanker" in their website 'history' pages. Both do show "#5 Jungle Carbines" that were actually reworked #4Mk1's and Gibbs shows both a "#7 Jungle Carbine" and a "Quest II" sporter carbine based upon the Ishapor 2A in 7.62x51. Other than the #5 Jungle Carbine, there were reportedly a few experimental/prototype 'shortened' Enfields assembled as various times by the Brits, Canadians, and Aussies but none made it into production.

http://www.angelfire.com/nh/milarm/fakes.html

Bill

[Texas by God]

About 20 years ago they made those from the No.1 Mark lll, the Ishapore .308, . And the No.4. They called them all tanker carbines. Navy arms had big ads in Shotgun News every month. They also had a 45 70 bolt action made from Lee Enfield and all these rifles were listed under Gibbs Rifles

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[Jack Stanley]

It doesn't exist and nothing happened without pictures...….
It happened with , or without pictures . I had one in the nineties and as the fellas said it look like it was new . Only exception was the inside of the barrel was just as pot luck as any other Enfield . Mine liked twelve and a half grains of Unique and a heavy bullet . It shot really well ......when my eyes were young .

Jack

[26Charlie]

Here are a .303 Savage, 22" barrel, and the .303 British "tanker" carbine, 20" barrel. I put quotes around 'tanker" since it wasn't an official British model.
224708

[303Guy]

Someone made a carbine out of his MkIII. It looked real cool too - quite short. He called it a 'truck gun'. It was as described by the OP. I'll see if I kept a photo of it.

[Texas by God]

Here are a .303 Savage, 22" barrel, and the .303 British "tanker" carbine, 20" barrel. I put quotes around 'tanker" since it wasn't an official British model.
224708So do you use the same ammo in both[emoji16]?
Nice pair there!

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[bob208]

if he does it would not be the first time people have tried to do it. I think the savage ammo will work in the british but not the other way.

[Outpost75]

if he does it would not be the first time people have tried to do it. I think the savage ammo will work in the british but not the other way.

No, it doesn't. Cases split and blow out at the shoulder.

We once had a guy show up at Sighting In Days with a Savage No.4 Mk2* trying to fire .303 Savage ammo in it...

[JoeJames]

Gibbs Rifle Company made a bunch of "Jungle Carbine" conversions back in the 1990's. I have seen several at gun shows; though none lately. They were perty things, and I'd have to slap myself to keep from buying one.

[Reverend Al]

A local gunsmith friend of mine altered a "project" Lee Enfield No. I MK III into a "tanker" model just like the one in the photo. What a great handling little rifle ... short and very handy. If I "fall" into a project LE No. 1 MK III at some point I'm very tempted to ask him to build one for me too!

[tbx-4]

I’ve seen the Gibbs tanker models and some decent conversions but I still prefer a “Jungle Carbine”. There was a No4 tanker conversion on Gunbroker a couple years ago that sold for $600+. It was cool but not that cool!

I might have posted this before but for those who haven’t seen it here is my “Jungle Carbine” conversion.

A 1942 Maltby No4 Mk1 that had been sporterized.
https://www.northwestfirearms.com/attachments/qcrjqvo-jpg.482959/

[JoeJames]

That is an excellent conversion. No harm done if it was already sporterized. Just an errant thought here ... the original British Jungle Carbines had a problem with a "wandering zero". I was wondering if your conversion had the same issues, or if it was only inherent in the originals?

[gwpercle]

It doesn't exist and nothing happened without pictures...….

Some of us computer/electronically challenged people can't do that stuff....you just going to have to take our word.
Charlie....I believe you and I believe it happened, I got faith.
Gary

[Multigunner]

The Wandering zero problem mainly affected No.5 rifles that had been used in high temperature environments. The rear receiver walls could flex and spread under high pressures of heat damaged propellants.
According to one source they discovered the cause when it was found some rifles had spreading bad enough to shear through the key pin of the rear sight pivot.
They rebuilt some of these rifles using No.4 receivers and that seemed to solve the problem.

As for the .303 Savage if you'll notice most Enfield have a caliber/chambering marking the includes the length of the cartridge case. Most British rifles had similar markings because of the many variations of cartridge length among sporting rifles with identical bore sizes.

[Outpost75]

The Gibb Rifle Co. (WV) No.4 conversions to jungle carbines shot well because they were simply cut down No.4s without the lightening cuts. The shortened No.4 barel is stiffer than the original and the rifle I tested for a friend was properly stocked up and bedded, shooting very well.

[tbx-4]

My Jungle Carbine conversion shoots just fine. After bore sighting it took it to the range (old quarry) loaded one charger clip in the mag and the first four shots were touching the fifth was just a little lower. Rear sight is original No5 micrometer, it was adjusted two clicks below 200 yard mark. We were shooting 100 yards from folding tables and lawn chairs. Ammo was 1976 HXP.

Oh, and this is a 2 groove barrel.

[26Charlie]

Just to clear up, the .303 Savage is a .30-30 length case (but fatter at the base) and the .303 British is a military longer case. I posted a thread about the .303 Savage in leverguns called .303 Savage M1899 if you want to do a search for that with my user name. At the time, the easiest way to make cases for me was sleeve .30-30s with a cut off .40 S&W case. Now, PPU makes the brass, and I bought 200 of them, so the world has been brought into proper order, .303 Savage-wise.

[Intel6]

There was a guy here in AZ who modified a few .303's into Tankers. Always thought they were cool and really wanted one. Saved a pic of one of them he did.


224788

[tbx-4]

Intel6,
That looks a lot like the one I saw on Gunbroker a couple years ago. I like it.

The No4 Tanker would be better because of the receiver mounted rear sight but a No1 Mk3 would have an incredibly short sight radius with the barrel mounted rear sight.

Either one is going to have a lot of muzzle flash though.

[bob208]

we used to go to the navy arms wearhouse in wv. about once a month. lots of interesting things. we saw number 3's stacked like cord wood. mausers by the box full. this was when sks's were $89.00. the one thing I saw but never seen anything done with were p08 frames about a 1000 of them in baskets like they were on their way to the machine shop.

[Multigunner]

Just remembered an article on shortened LE rifles used by Chinese bicycle messengers. They took old beat up SMLE rifles, cut the barrel back to about 12-14 inches, then for luck soldered a half of a Chinese coin to the muzzle end for a crude front sight. Some had the rear sight base removed and a slot cut in the charger bridge to serve as a rear sight notch. fore ends were optional.

They didn't expect to win any gunfights against Japanese patrols, just put up enough of a fight not to be taken alive.

In Burma in the 90's cut down No.4 rifles were converted to dedicated grenade launchers. The barrel was a short stub inside a tubular jacket that braced the grenade and held down the spoon handle till fired. They brazed the ladder rear sight to the front receiver ring. I doubt the sight was used much if at all.

[marlin39a]

There was a guy here in AZ who modified a few .303's into Tankers. Always thought they were cool and really wanted one. Saved a pic of one of them he did.


224788

That firearm may not be right, but it sure looks good. Any information on the guy that did these conversions?

[Intel6]

That firearm may not be right, but it sure looks good. Any information on the guy that did these conversions?

No, this was on one of the AZ boards that no longer exists so I am not sure if they guy is still around?