buck1
01-08-2009, 10:41 PM
After much self struggle, I decided to sporterize my Lee Enfield 303 #1mk4.
I know, I know, BAD BUBBA!
But thats why I bought it to begin with.
It was no pristeen pice to begin with but it has a good 5 grove, bright, bore.
I have no lathe nor local gunsmith sooooo, I did most of the work myself.
I wanted the bbl shorter in the worst way ,to get rid of the mil front sight set up and I wanted a carbinish bbl length. I cut the barrel off with a hacksaw, filed it flat, slightly smoothed the corner and crowned it with a large grinding ball. I then finished all the cuts with 3M wet or dry paper.It sounds crude but I swear you cant tell it from a factory job. Next I found a used bishop stock on ebone, I cut it to my LOP, floated all but the first 2.5" and last 1/2" of bbl, and refinished it, added a GOOD rubber recoil pad and a Hubber trigger and made a trigger stop. Then I added a ATI scope mt that I customized for fit and shortened it to allow easy acess to the shell bed. I then cut the mag down and shortened the spring to allow a flush mounted mag. Some carefully applied cold blue to touch up my bbl work,the mag, and some rub spots, and I was loading up some shells.
Well I just knew I had trashed this poor rifle.
But It looks great and if it shot I would be very happy. I read in my Speer manual that they had good luck with the 125 gr 7.62X39 bullets.
So I decided to start there, neck sized brass, 125 gr sierras, rem mag primers and BLC2 powder.
Well I finaly got to make a trip to the range for some testing.
At 50 yards ALL test loads ran from 3/8"- 3/4" ctc. with most being about 1/2" .
WHEWWW!! I was scared, but I think I managed to give this old honered vet a usefull new lease on life as a valued happy hunter enjoying its retirement as a qulified hunter.
I wish I had my camera but as of yet Its unavailable...........Buck
I know, I know, BAD BUBBA!
But thats why I bought it to begin with.
It was no pristeen pice to begin with but it has a good 5 grove, bright, bore.
I have no lathe nor local gunsmith sooooo, I did most of the work myself.
I wanted the bbl shorter in the worst way ,to get rid of the mil front sight set up and I wanted a carbinish bbl length. I cut the barrel off with a hacksaw, filed it flat, slightly smoothed the corner and crowned it with a large grinding ball. I then finished all the cuts with 3M wet or dry paper.It sounds crude but I swear you cant tell it from a factory job. Next I found a used bishop stock on ebone, I cut it to my LOP, floated all but the first 2.5" and last 1/2" of bbl, and refinished it, added a GOOD rubber recoil pad and a Hubber trigger and made a trigger stop. Then I added a ATI scope mt that I customized for fit and shortened it to allow easy acess to the shell bed. I then cut the mag down and shortened the spring to allow a flush mounted mag. Some carefully applied cold blue to touch up my bbl work,the mag, and some rub spots, and I was loading up some shells.
Well I just knew I had trashed this poor rifle.
But It looks great and if it shot I would be very happy. I read in my Speer manual that they had good luck with the 125 gr 7.62X39 bullets.
So I decided to start there, neck sized brass, 125 gr sierras, rem mag primers and BLC2 powder.
Well I finaly got to make a trip to the range for some testing.
At 50 yards ALL test loads ran from 3/8"- 3/4" ctc. with most being about 1/2" .
WHEWWW!! I was scared, but I think I managed to give this old honered vet a usefull new lease on life as a valued happy hunter enjoying its retirement as a qulified hunter.
I wish I had my camera but as of yet Its unavailable...........Buck