Sometime in the 70’s before I was born my dad bought a .303 Lee-Enfield. He said it was in a barrel with about a dozen others in a pawn shop, and nearly black from neglect and general dirt and oil. He gave $30 (he thinks) for it, took it home and cleaned it up, cut the stock off about where a standard stock would be and put a cheap scope on it.
I never saw him shoot it but a friend of mine in high school had one just like it and I shot his and really liked it, something about that awful 2 stage trigger. I went home and asked dad to sell me his as he never shot it, he replied with basically, “No, but you can have it. Only shoots about 4” groups at 100 yards, I guess you can hunt with it but he better be close.”
So the next day I took it and put a Leupold VX-3 on it went out in the pasture to the bench and put 5 shots in group about nickel size, slightly larger, I still remember moving the nickel around trying to make it cover but it just wouldn’t do it. Also I’ve since figured out 5 shots is about the limit, after that the thin barrel starts heating up and groups open up quick.
I showed the target to my dad when he got home from work he said, “that at 25 yards” I told him it was 100 and he literally didn’t believe me. So we went out to the bench and he shot 4 shots in a single hole you could hide behind a dime. And all that with factory 180gr Remington CoreLokt
I just kept reminding him he had done given it to me, no take backs. He just kept saying, “I wish I had put a decent scope on it” while laughing.
His mind was blown, and it it still the most accurate gun I own. More so than some near 2k setups I have. I only ever use it for hunting and I killed several good deer with it. That old Leupold is still on it and that group my dad shot is still the best I’ve ever seen from that rifle.
I have been told it’s extremely uncommon for the Enfield’s to be accurate, much less really accurate.