pharaoh2

Me and a friend on this site were arguing today. I won't give any names here, but Darbydabadoo and I were having a discussion on the famous Lee Enfields today. And without being onesided, Darbydabadoo, (no names) and I are interested in hearing what everyone has to say about the rifle and round. We both know there are better guns and cartridges out there, that's a gimmie. What we want is the scoop, be it personal experiances, grandpa's stories, best or worst groups. Whatever. Give it to me and Darbydabadoo straight up. Scoped or not, please tell us what you think. Just bear in mind, again, we know about modern cartridges and rifles, we just wan't experiances with this rifle. Thank you to all who take the time to read this and respond.

Charley

The Lee Enfields were fine rifles, in their day. Remember, the basic design goes back to 1888 or so. The rifle is a bit dated today, but can still be a very effective hunting/defense rifle. The No 1 MkIII (SMLE) is a rifle for younger eyes, but the WWII produced No 4 Mk 1, or Mk1/2, or Mk2, with an aperature sight on the reciever is much easier to shoot. The bolt lift is about 60 degrees, vs the 90 degrees lift of many modern bolt rifles, making the action pretty fast for a bolt gun. Cock on closing isn't liked by many people, but most of the effort used to unlock the bolt goes to primary cartridge extraction, not cocking the striker spring. The safety is very positive, locking the scear and the striker, and is located where your thumb naturally falls, it's very fast as well. I've hunted a fair amount with various Lee Enfields, used them as truck/utility rifles, and just generally used them as an all around rifle. You don't give up anything out to 200 yards or so, and even farther with a competent rifleman.

The .303 cartridge is no slouch, either, being pretty close to the .30/40 Krag in proformance. It's not difficult to hit 2600-2700 fps with 150 grain bullets, which will kill anything I hunt very dead. Only problem with the .303, IME, is the fact that many, if not most, of the Lee Enfields have very generous chambers. If you reload, you have to careful about sizing, otherwise you push the shoulder back every time you resize. Head seperation is almost guaranteed. Neck size only on your reloads, and full length size only when absolutely needed.

biscuit jake

My first high power, back when they were available by mail! The rifle I got was pretty sharp... a late Canadian manufactured #4 with a 5 groove barrel and a nice brass butt plate. It had roughly hunter accuracy and I got fairly used to shooting various ranges with the big combat rear sight, just by adjusting my sight picture. This rifle was happiest with hard ball or round nose bullets. Pointed soft points would flatten in the magazine, but back then, Remington was putting out round noses in 215 grain and they managed better. Well, different cartridges do different things. I have great respect for the 303 and any cartridge like this that works. I eventually got a sporter stock, had a little work done and sold it off for a fair chunk of change. Looking back, I would have left it in original condition.

Highpower

I still have 2 different .303's. Shot my first deer (more years ago than I care to talk about), with a .303. Charley summed it up pretty well. I would only add that the .303 is still thought to have one of the strongest military bolt actions ever made. You've already recognized that of course there are better rounds out there, but the .303 is no slouch by any means. Here, the .303 fell out of whatever favor it may have had years ago to the more versatile 30.06, but consider that in alot of the world, the .303 is still one of the most carried rifles. I'm sure that has to do with the fact that the Brits carried it with them wherever they went. Headspace is a very real issue with all .303's and should be checked and corrected before shooting. I've found mine to be very accurate and dependable and able to cleanly harvest most anything I hunt.

eldeguello

The Lee-Enfield is the most effective bolt-action combat rifle ever made! It leaves a lot to be desired, if one is talking about a FINE SPORTING ARM. However, the same characteristics that make it a great fighting weapon also make it a rugged, effective rifle for hunting in horrible conditions like Africa and Alaska.

Now, there are a lot more powerful cartridges than the .303 British too, but loaded with the correct bullets for the job, the .303 will kill any game animal on this planet.

I have seen straight military SMLE's AND sporterized ones also that would shoot 1" groups with a properly developed handload, some of which used .308" bullets.

I would not feel bad if I had nothing but a Lee-Enfield to hunt with.

James B

The 303 British has probably killed more animals and people than most any other five rifles combined. It has been used in Africa and Canada for well over a century. It has also wounded more game and people than any other cartridge. They are not the best rifle for handloader as the brass life is short except in the 303 rifles made here in the states during the war for the brits useing the Eddistone and Remington made rifles. I have one if the Canadian ones. Excellent condition and one if the American Eddiestone versions. With good bullets,and the best for big game is probably the 180 grain round nose, they will kill like a 30-06 out to 200 yards. Much past that and they loose steam pretty fast. All and All they are a great old rifle with more history behind it than one would ever care to read.

Charley

[ Kinda mixing apples and oranges here. Remington, Eddystone, and Winchester produced Pattern 14 rifles in WWI, a mauser type action. Not anything like a Lee Enfield, except in caliber. Winchester also produced their M1895 levergun in .303, so there were several different rifles available in the caliber.
Savage did build No 4 rifles in WWII, but those are the only Lee Enfields built in the US. The headspace/brass life issues are real, but can usually be minimized. The .303 headspaces off the rim, but chambers were often cut long to insure functioning in dirty/muddy environments. The military didn't care, they were not planning on reloading! If you allow the brass to blow forward once, no problem occurs. It is the constant resizing, and pushing the shoulder back to factory spec that does the damage. After the shoulder blows forward the second or third time, you are usually going to get a case head seperation. Neck size only, and allow the headspace to be controlled by the shoulder instead of the rim, and segregate your brass by rifles, and headspace becomes much less of a problem with these rifles.
I could hunt the rest of my life with a Lee Enfield with no problem.

Briman

I've been wanting to get either a MkIII or a no.4 for quite awhile, but the enfields that show up in my are area either the more expensive Gibbs rifles, or are completely worn out[:@]

James B

Look for the Canadian Long Branch models. Most were produced after the war and the bores are usually very nice. I went through half a dozen British ones and never found a shooter in the bunch. When I was a dearer a few years back we ordered about 25 of the 303's and abouit as many of the 6.5x55's. Also a scattering of 8x57 mausers. A gunsmith friend of mine and I sporterized them and resold them. My favorites by far were the Swedish 6.5x55's. I could however also get by with my Long Branch 303 Brit. Its a shooter and I can shoot 2- 21/2 inch groups with the old military sights. I have a B Square scope mount on the Eddiiestone. No Problems with brass strethching with this one.