Got a nice post war No4 MK2 and am thinking about rebarreling . I like the rifle ALOT and the .303 is a fantastic round so I dont want to stray from it too far...My idea , I'll call it the .30 Enfield, is to simply put a .30 caliber barrel on her and chamber it to a slightly necked down .303.The only change would be reducing the neck and throat to use .308 diameter bullets in place of the normal .312's.This will allow me to use all the great .30 cal. bullets and a wide range of velocities without having to modify the action or magazine. I dont like the idea of converting to 7.62 Nato. The barrel shouldn't be a problem but I will need a custom chambering reamer.Where does one find such a thing? I know it seems like alot for an old military rifle but I really like it and when the barrel goes I dont want to retire her. Any help is appreciated...
Hi Double30,
I had Dave Manson make me a wildcat reamer (.35 Greevy Express) and can highly recommend him. He is friendly, quick and well priced.
http://www.mansonreamers.com/Regards
Snow.
Nothing wrong with the 303 Br, but why not just have it rebarrelled to 30-40 Krag? Everything you are after in a factory cartridge.
Ted
If you are going to rebarrel a .303 Enfield, do it to a No.4 Mk1.
Most likely, your No.4 MkII is an FTR rifle, which has already been hand selected and tuned to shoot better than it ever will after some gunsmith gets done monkeying with it.
The .30-40 is a great round but not ballistically what I'm looking for and brass isn't always easy to find.My MK2 hasn't been FTR'd but is nearly match accurate as she is.Winchester and Federal factory loads are both sub 2 inch groupers for 3 at 100 yards.She's practically new so the rebarrel is a some day project and I want to have everything ready when it becomes necessary. Thanks
FTR= Factory Thorough Repair. The British equivelent of an arsenal reconditioning. Never heard of an FTR job done to specifically accurize a rifle.Always heard it was to rebuild as rifle and put it back in service.
The FTR rifles were culled out from all the issued rifles.
Some which showed the best accuracy were sent for further tuning and set aside for target rifles and sniper rifles. A friend of mine who is a collector of Enfields and a dealer in them has told me that there were about 60,000 of these top echelon FTR rifles. I own two , both of them No.4 MkIIs which had little use, but were FTRed and then tuned by Holland & Holland. The one I shoot will consistently fire 5/8 inch groups of 5 at 100 yards with factory Remington 180-gr RN or S&B FMJ ammunition, with the iron sights.
This sorting and culling process also went on with the .303s which were rebarreled to 7.62x51mm NATO as sniper rifles for the British and Israeli armies.
I have been hunting with a #4 rebarreled to 30/40 krag for 20 years. Performancewise, it is virtually identical to the 303 and feeds and functions well.
If I was to rebarrel again, I would simply make a 303 since good 311 barrels are available from Shilen and MRC. I have one 303 target rifle on which I used a Shilen CM barrel and it's a very accurate rifle. In fact, at 300 meters only my 6BR shoots any better. It's unlikely I will ever wear out the 30-40 barrel on the hunting rifle though so the Lee Enfield will probably stay that way. GD
Had no idea that new .311 barrels are available.I like the .303 so maybe I'll just get a barrel and keep her a .303...
.405 WCF should work through a No. 4
.338-303 can work as well. Great for closer in work, from what I've read.
There are a lot of English calibers based off the .303 Enfield case, but using American or German bullets.
.257-303
6.5-303
.270-303
7mm-303
If you're worried about wearing out an Enfield, take heart. First, it's a very mild cartridge (I just love the .303), and it's really hard to wear out a barrel with the .303.
But the really good news is, it's an extremely common military rifle, and if you keep your nose to the grindstone, you should have no problem at all locating a new condition military barrel. They're easy as pie to re-barrel and 99% of all Enfields are headspaced on a "Field" gauge.
Just keep shooting, and shooting and shooting. Nose around from time to time at different websites and keep your eyes open for a new barrel. Should be able to get one that's downright reasonable.
As for .303 bullets. the Hornady 150 grain SP is an excellent medium to long range deer bullet. For large game, the Woodleigh 215 grain SP is outstanding.
Enjoy your Enfield...They're just too cool.