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The Lee - Enfield .303 rifle -
a Review for Misc.Survivalism
By Pat T.
The Lee Enfield rifle was designed by James Paris Lee in the 1879, and adopted by Great Britain in 1903, IIRC. It continued in service in the England, Canada and Australia until the 1950's, and well into the 1960's in India. There are a lot of this rifles on the market right now, I suppose that the Commonwealth countries have abandoned bolt guns even as reserve weapons.
There are several variations of the Lee-Enfield, the most common are the Number 1 Mark III, and the Number 4. The No. 1 was used until the late 30's when the No. 4 was adopted. The No. 4 was made until the middle 1950's. It's easy to tell the two apart - the No. 1 has a more rounded receiver, and the rear sight is located at the rear of the barrel. The wood goes all the way to the end of the barrel, and there are two big metal ears to protect the front sight. The No. 4 has the rear sight on the receiver and the end of the barrel is exposed. The sight protection is smaller as well. The No. 5 is a shortened lightened version of the no. 4. It is easily identified by the larger area of barrel exposed and cone shaped flash hider. All .303 Enfield rifles have 10 shot detachable magazines. Parts are not interchangeable between the no. 1 and no 4, except the possibly magazines. Parts for the no. 4 and no. 5 are interchangeable.
Ammunition. Both of these rifles use the .303 British cartridge. It's a good big game cartridge with a bit more power than a 30-30. The .303 has seen a lot of use among Commonwealth target shooters and hunters. Federal, Winchester and Remington sell 150 and 180 grain loads commercially. Th 150 grain bullets generally move out at about 2600 fps, and the 180 grain loads move at about 2400 fps. The 150 grain load is a good deer cartridge, within 200 fps of the .308 Winchester, and the 180 is a decent elk load. Availability varies, depending on the area. Near seattle, I can find .303 in most Big-Five and Fred Meyer's. K-Mart and Wal-Mart? Maybe not.
Surplus ammo is available, and it's fine for practice. A note of caution, though: most surplus ammo is corrosive. The salts in these older priming compounds corrode steel. In addition, the salts are not soluble in regular commercial gun cleaner, so use the water based army surplus stuff or hot soapy water to clean up after shooting surplus ammo. Bye the way, those surplus shells are not reloadable with standard reloading gear, because of the primer they use. I have seen some reloadable non-corrosive ammo is available at low prices, mostly from Belmont.
Reloading
Bullets: Sierra, Speer and Hornady all make .311-.312 bullets. Bullet weights range from 90 grain handgun bullets (for the 32 HR magnum) to .312 diameter 180 grain hunting bullets. 125 gr. Bullets for the 7.62 x 39 will also work. Rumor has it that 200 or 220 grain roundnose hunting bullets are available, but I haven't been able to find any in catalogs. Lee and others also make moulds so you can cast your own. With that variety of bullet, you can reload for just about any situation. .303 Brass is generally available as well, and takes standard large rifle primers.
Overall Review
Since these rifles are heavy (nearly 9 pounds), and fire a relatively mild cartridge, the recoil is fairly soft. The bolt on the Lee is quite smooth and has a shorter amount to turn than many other bolt rifles. That makes additional shots very quick. Since it has a 10 round magazine, that gives you ten quick shots before reloading.
Reloading the Lee is easy. There are three ways to reload the Lee: you can press individual rounds into the magazine; load 5 rounds at a time off stripper clips; or keep a loaded magazine handy.
In case you've never seen them, stripper clips are the 1900's answer to speed loading. They are small strips of metal, just large enough to hold 5 shells. You put them in a slot in the receiver and push the top cartridge down and the rounds slide off the clip and into the magazine. Stripper clips are much faster than reloading by hand, but can be a bit tricky to use. A hint: alternate the cartridge rims so that they're staggered. Since a magazine runs from $10 to $20US, and stripper clips can be found for as low as 50 cents, they're quite a deal, and much lighter to carry.
A few word of caution: - Headspace can vary on all surplus rifles due to poor barreling or heavy use - have any surplus checked out by a good gunsmith. Out of specification headspace can be easy to fix on a No. 4 (replace the bolt head), but not on a No 1.
- Clean the barrel and then look in it with good bore light. The gold stripes in the rifling are bullet jacket deposits - clean the bore until they're gone. If you see little sparkly spots, the bore has seen some pitting from corrosive ammo. This may affect accuracy to a degree. It's hard to tell how much til you shoot it, but the more pitting, generally the less accurate the rifle.
- I ordered one of the "collector grade" Lithgow (that's Australian) rifles from a major importer. The finish was fine, but the receiver was from 1907 enfield gun, some of the screws were stripped, part numbers didn't match, etc. On the positive side, they took it right back - full refund. I'venoticed they're still running the ad, though. Remember, a rebuilt rifle is not collectible, so Caveat Emptor.
Specific Models No 1 Mark III and Mark III* This is the original rifle - all were made in Britain, India or Australia. Dates of manufacture vary depending on the country, ranging from 1907 to as late as the 20's (?) in England to as late as the 60's in India. Australia used the gun thru the end of WWII. The rear sight is the typical open military sight, mounted on the rear of the barrel. Sights are adjustable for elevation only on the Mark III*, some of the early Mark III rifles may have windage adjustable rear sights.
I don't have one of the No. 1 rifles (currently!), but they are relatively inexpensive. Prices range from 90 - $199 depending on the condition. The 90-$100 rifles are generally pretty beat, but I've seen good ones at Big-5 at that price. Check out the barrel before you buy, and see if the seller will give you a refund if you're not satisfied.
The No 4 Mark I and II This is the improved for WWII version of the rifle. This is the improved version of the rifle, with a stronger action. Many of these rifles have a receiver peep sight. It's better than the sight on the No. 1. These rifles were made in the US, Canada, and England. The Canadian and US are supposed to be the best. Prices run to $150 for a shooter, more for a collector rifle.
I've had a few of these. They are pretty nice, but many were used hard, so check them out before you buy. Post WWII dated rifles would be best, thought some of the re-finished rifles are nice.
No 5. And No. 4 "Tanker " I'd avoid the No 5. Not too many were made, so the collector value is high. They are also supposed to have a problem holding zero. In addition, the lighter weight means they kick pretty hard. There are some fake no 5 rifles out there. The Enfield FAQ will tell you how to tell the difference.
If you have to have a shorter, lighter Enfield, the Tanker rifles might be a good way to go. They are regular No 4 rifles that importers have cut down to carbine length. Don't pay a collector price for them, since they're not collectable.
No 2A This is the Indian rifle in 7.62 NATO. They are basically a No 1 Mark III* with parts changed to use the .308. They're supposed to be made from stronger steel than the No 1, but who knows. They're distinguishable by the square bottomed magazine.
I've heard it said that it's difficult to find one with good headspace. The action also wasn't designed for a high intensity cartridge like the .308, supposedly it lacks the proper venting, etc. Bear in mind, this is all 3rd person - I haven't owned one. Check out the web links or rec.guns for more info.
The 2A rifle does have some advantages. The magazine is 12 rounds. Replacements magazines are very hard to find, but it does use FAL stripper clips. .308 ammo is readily available. Having been made in the 60's, the 2A's haven't seen a lot of use, and the price is definitely right at around $120. Hey, it's your call, but definitely have a gunsmith check it out if you buy one.
Other Mounting a scope - Bolt on scope mounts are available for about $40 (US - 1998) in Shotgun News, etc. These mounts place the scope right above the receiver, so you won't be able to use stripper clips, but you can use a standard rifle scope. Sporter stocks are available form Cabella's, or thru Shotgun News.
References
Bolt Action Rifles (Frank DeHaas)
The Enfield FAQ
http://www.recguns.com/IIID2a11a.html
The Enfield Research Page http://www.uidaho.edu/~stratton/en-page.html
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