1917 SSA Enfield sporter with Westley-Richards barrel

[mauser98us]

Got this from a friend of mine for near nothing.What a sight to behold it was.Varnish on the stock,metal,everything,chip out of the buttstock where it meets the stock.Just a real bubba special.What attracted me to it was the sporter stock and the floorplate magazine and the pristine bore.Went in my safe for a couple years.Finally got around to researching it and discovered the maker and the barrel.At this point,I decided it was worth making it presentable.I stripped the finish, steamed thedents and applied eleven coats of finish mudding it in to baby butt smooth.Fitted a hogue pad,and took all the machine marks and Nick's out by draw filing the metal.Polished it up,and cold blued with oxypho blue.The action was left in the white.The poor stock looked like it was attacked by an ice pick and the bolt knob appeared the be beaten by hammers.Going to replace the sights with some nice express sights soon.The target was at fifty yards with prvi ammo.Finally got them down near the bull in a nice group.I also bedded it with accraglas and got lucky with the original bed.This is pretty hard with out experiments on Enfield.I thinks it looks pretty good for an investment of $125.00 total

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Looks like you did a commendable job on turning a bubba special into a nice rifle. Do you know where the flush fitting magazine came from?

[curator]

Lucky you! After the "Big War" in 1918 many British gunmakers went to making inexpensive "sporters" for the colonial trade using left-over, surplus Lee Enfield No.1 Mk111* actions. Often, the charging bridge was ground off and a new barrel was installed. If you have a genuine Westley-Richards Sporter, you have a very interesting piece of history regardless whether or not the "collectors" put a high value on it. Growing up in Canada (ey?) I have a misplaced reverence for Lee Enfield .303 rifles regardless of their provenance. As a friend and former "Mountie" would say: "they may be ugly but they sure can shoot," That has been my experience too. A Lee Enfield with a reasonable good bore is an excellent candidate for shooting cast boolits. Check out this website: http://www.303british.com/id37.html

[mauser98us]

Not a W-R sporterizing,just a hacked military rifle.The barrel is clearly marked W-R underneath.As a Mauser man,never been a big fan of the Enfield.Had many over the years,just never warmed up to them.Still trying to figure out where the floorplan came from.Thanks for the kind comments.The upside down pic is how it came to me

[Multigunner]

A swept forwards bolt handle with flattened knob would go goo with this sporter. They used this sort of bolt mandle with the LE and Metford carbines to avoid cracking the knuckle of the trigger finger when the lighter carbines recoiled. Some sporting versions also used this type of bolt knob for the same reason.
Most who have had the knuckle cracked once get out of the habit of stock crawling, but some never catch on.

[leebuilder]

Niffty rifle. Nice work bringing it back to life. Never heard of a westly richards conversion, uber neat!!!
The floor plate chummy got me stumped looks like quality work. Most of the parker hale and churchill conversions used the original barrels. The odd time you can find coddington & harrington (forgive my spellling) conversions with a replacement barrel, not sure if they back lapped them like the service barrels.
What are the excact markings on the wrist?
Just curious.
be well, eh

[nekshot]

some like em black, some like em plastic but I sure like em this way! Nice gun, would love to have it in my bull pen.

[mauser98us]

Not finished yet.I despise the Remington sights​ . Replacing with a redfield banded front and an Express sight on the rear.im also going to pear shape and drill a hole in the bolt.the before and after pictures posted really
Y don't show the transformation.Its amazing

[mauser98us]

As far as the markings,just the standard socket markings minus the manufacturer,which is what caught my attention and my research desire.SSA was found on the back of the receiver.Further study revealed the peddled scheme rifles contracted with WR for the barrels.At this point,along with the other work done,I decided it was worthy of the time to make it what it should have been,a nice sporterizing.Now I just need to find a cheap Parker-Hale rear sight.Ha HaHa

[leebuilder]

Peddled scheme was were i was going if there is no maker identifier under the bolt handle it is a keeper.
good score!

[mauser98us]

I also fitted an Ace trigger shoe,whilst doing nothing about the creep,did minimized the felt poundage on the pull.I have used many of these on other rifles,and the extra width does miracles on the trigger feel.I recommend these highly

[Texas by God]

I also fitted an Ace trigger shoe,whilst doing nothing about the creep,did minimized the felt poundage on the pull.I have used many of these on other rifles,and the extra width does miracles on the trigger feel.I recommend these highly

Where do you get Ace trigger shoes nowadays? I remember Tyler's and Flaig's but I think they are long gone?
Best, Thomas.

[mauser98us]

Google Tyler t grip,the sell em,but they are mighty proud of them

[WILCO]

Great job! Love a good rescue story.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Interesting replacement floorplate for the magazine. I am working on a very parted out No. 4 I came into. I`ve always thought about taking the plunge about doing a floorplate sporter job, just never had any sort of plans or guidance to do it.Robert

[leebuilder]

Hauled out my two peddled scheme barreled actions. Mine were both heavily bubbaed. None carry the WR markings both were rebarreled during WW2 and reserialized.
For a proper floor plate conversion you need a mag and trigger guard. The feed lips of the factory mag are the key the follower and mag spring can inserted once the trigger guard has been modifed. Seen many converted to single shot in a similar way.
Be safe

[salpal48]

Generally Westly Richards Did not hack Up Military Surplus. If The Signature On top Of The barrel . is not marked Westly Richards with The address. I doubt It is. There will be a Distinct Westly Proof Mark
Under the barrel. by The chamber

[mauser98us]

All it is a peddled scheme rifles with a W-R barrel,The proof is right where it should be,underneath this is just a hacked mil-surp that I made presentable,or at least I think I did.