Got to shoot my Enfield today.

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cool45auto

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It kicks a lot more than my SKS! I let it get up against my collar bone one time. Ouch! Other than that mistake I made it did good. I only shot it at 30 yard targets. It grouped at 2" with the iron sights. I was happy. I only had 20 rounds with me.:( Can you get ammo for this rifle cheap or should I check into reloading?
 
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Which enfield did you get? The .303 has cheap mil-surplus ammo available, but it has corrosive primers, so correct cleaning is imperitive. New stuff runs $18 for a box of 20, but they have modern non-corrosive primers so you save time cleaning. I have no idea about reloading.
 
All new production ammo is non-corrosive. It's only the old surplus stuff that you have to worry about. I think it was sometime in the sixties that everyone started using non-corrosive primers.
 
That PMP ammo is commercial and non-corrosive.

Actually, almost all commercial ammo had gone to non-corrosive primers by the 1930's. The military was concerned about stability under advserse conditions for long periods and the U.S. didn't go completely to non-corrosive until 1952, with even some corrosive after that. All WWII ammo should be considered corrosive except for U.S. made .30 carbine and Canadian .30-'06.

Jim
 
Look for some of the South African 303.The ammo I bought at gun show is Boxer primed,shoots good groups.The ammo I have is marked,7.7 A80 R1M32.(It's 174gr.) $14.00 per 50.
 
I have some surplus Greek stuff that I bought for my No. 4 MKII* about 5 years ago. I havn't had to buy any .303 in a while, as I rarely shoot it. I will be running low after my next outing with it, so I will have to get some more.
 
you can't get the south african ammo anymore.

i offloaded my lot of it because it didn't shoot to the same point of aim as my PMC ammo (which is made in the same place!)

PMC .303 is good stuff.


i need to pick up some of that pmp and see if ti shoots to POA. I want to take my number4mk1 pig hunting.
 
I find the S.A.at most of the gun shows I go to here in Florida.It shoots good in all 4 of my Enfields.Shoots under 1 inch in the one I built for my hunting buddy.
 
Congrats on your new Enfield. As an Enfield collector, I always love to see someone enjoy one for the first time. They are accurate, sturdy and history-soaked rifles with much to like!

FWIW, the South African surplus is non-corrosive, and accurate, hence it's popularity amongst shooters, but it's all dried up now.

Nearly ALL other surplus ammo for the .303 out there is corrosive, including DAC44, Greek HXP & the Port. stuff. Treat ANY unknown ammo as corrosive and follow your shooting with windex or soapy water down the bore and you'll never have a problem.

Now you need a No1, a No5 & a 2A1 to round out your collection. I'd suggest a No4mk1T sniper, but that's quite a nugget to cough up (ask me how I know!).
 
cool9mm - - -

"It's a '44 No.4 Mk1 . . . ." Exactly the one I bought from Southern Ohio Guns, about eleven years back. Heckuva shooter. I worked up a load with the Sierra flat base 180 and 4320 powder that shoots almost exactly to the sight graduations. (Closer than I can hold, anyway.)

Not as well thought-of in the USA as the Springfield and the 1917, this rifle is possibly the BEST military bolt gun ever produced.

I fell in love with the type some years back, using a pal's rifle and a coffee can full of old milsurp ammo. I got down prone with a rest and was making hits on various little bushes at 400 and 500 yards, across a railroad cut. Fascinating!

Best,
Johnny
 
the L type flip up?


the 300 yard aperature is zeroed for 300 yards witht the bayonet on, 400 with it off.

the 600 yard aperature is zeroed for 600 yards with the bayonet OFF. 500 with it on.
 
"Flip up" rear sight

Many of the No. 4 rifles were re-fit with the "L" sight, as described by Andrew wyatt above.

The original No 4 Mk I had a really nice (and expensive-to-make) micrometer click sight. There was a 300 yard battle sight with the sight in "down" position. When flipped up, the numbers correspond to yardage settings for the 174 grain Mark VII ball ammo. In my fairly limited experience, the numbers are amazingly close to real life.

If you DO get into reloading the .303, two items of interest - - -

Sierra has begun producing their fine Match King bullets for .303 in the 173 or 174 (?) weight, to correspond to military sights. The MK bullets are not cheap by any means, but they are EXCELLENT in uniformity. Please note, this is NOT a hunting bullet, though.

All the military Enfield/SMLE rifles were produced with very generous space in the shoulder area, to provide some fudge factor for very dirty chambers under battlefield conditions. (Just look at a fired case, compared with a new, loaded cartridge.) This means that if the case if full length resized, it is only good for one full power reload. Any more, and the handloader risks case separation, which is very annoying, and COULD be dangerous.

The easy cure for this problem is to neck size ONLY. Cases last for several full power reloads this way. The only draw back is that such reloads can (probably) only be counted upon to work in the rifle in which the case was originally fired.

Redding, for one company, makes a nice neck size die, and it works well. Standard dies can give very decent results, if you back out the FL die to where it does not touch the shoulder of the fired case during resizing.

Best of luck - - -
Johnny
 
does anyone know where to get enfield stripper clips without having to buy the rounds (usually corrosive) with it. i have plenty of ammo but no clips.

johnny guest - interesting about the MK bullets, i may have to get some dies and start reloading to see what the enfield is really capable of.
 
What it's capable of - - -

The NRA booklet on the Enfield Rifles, mostly a compilation of articles from the American Rifleman magazine, is very worth having. I see it at gun shows, and you can order it from NRA Publicaitons Service. It shows some very interesting accuracy tips for the No. 4 rifle, including bedding information. Haven't tried it yet, myself, though.

An armory stock, decently shooting No. 4 is not necessarily the ne plus ultra in tight groups, but it IS surprisingly easy to shoot well. It is a mass-produced, really-rough-duty, battle rifle, after all, intended to hold together under adverse conditions, while roundly thrashing the enemies of the realm.

Make sure you're consistently on target, with the windage properly set, and then go as far back as you can manage. Set up some silhouette targets, or just sheets of cardboard, and give it a try. As mentioned above, a well-defined target at 400 yards is not beyond capabilities of the the rifle and milsurp ammo. It was conceived, not for sporting use, but to make adversaries cease and desist activities contrary to Britian's interests . . . .

Best,
Johnny
 
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