help me bring an old .303 british back to life.

[AcceptableUserName]

so my uncle had some old guns he threw into a shed without protection and they've been in there for 5 years, snow, rain or shine. I dug them out today and my favorite is what I believe to be a sporterized .303 British. I rubbed it down and scrubbed the bore pretty good. It still isn't pretty, but I believe it'll function. The firing pin strikes. I can't see serial numbers anywhere on it. The bore seems to surprisingly corrosion free. It's missing the box mag. My question is,


how would you guys go about getting this gun back in worrking order? Will any box magazines labelled for a ".303 British" work or is that just the Caliber? Is my rifle an Enfield or .303 British? I can take pics if necessary. I am by no means a riflesmith, I'm a shotgun neanderthal. Any help would be appreciated. It has some great peep sights on it and I wanna get it going and shooting! It still has a good amount of rust residue everywhere. What's a preferred method of removing it and which product do you like? Can someone tell me even what the proper name of this rifle is? It says ENGLAND by the safety. PICS

 

[Liberty1776]

You have a nice, sporterized SMLE in .303 "British" caliber. SMLE means Short Magazine Lee Enfield. It looks like a No. 4, to me. Any magazine should work... I can't remember if there's a difference between the No. 1 magazine and the No. 4.

But I gotta ask - no disrespect to your Uncle, but what kind of butt-head does that to guns???

 

[AcceptableUserName]

thanks for the reply, and hahah, he's a fool I agree. As soon as he told me about it I got them out and he gave it to me. I don't think he really cares about anything but his Remingtons and his pistols. How would you take the rust off of it? I've gotten a lot off already with a rag and some all-purpose 3-in-1 oil....

 

[Roadkill]

Fine steel wool and clp.

 

[BCRider]

Fine steel wool and clp.

Yep, combined with a good measure of elbow grease.

The steel wool will not harm the blueing but it'll aid in scraping away the rust that the CLP softens. Under no circumstances use anything abrasive such as Scotchbrite or any sort of sandpaper. Even "polishing" compounds contain a super fine abrasive so avoid those as well. Just oil and steel wool and you'll be amazed.

 

[Aren't we all]

Good work saving it from your uncle. If you really want to bring it back to life you should get a replacement millitary stock and hardware.That should bump up the value signifigantly if the bore and headspace are good. Oh and be sure to get a mag for that old girl, if you practice you could get the famed 30rd mad minute of WW1 or 2 fame.






Marsh..

 

[alemonkey]

If you really want to bring it back to life you should get a replacement millitary stock and hardware.

Good advice, as long as the barrel hasn't been cut down.

 

[DougW]

That is a #4mk1 of probable British manufacture (WWII), which was a modernization of the Sht LE mkIII, or the #1mkIII of WWI fame. The front sight is intact, and you could restore it to its origional slpendor. It does look like the barrel was shortened in front of the front sight though. Nothing you can do about that. Still, it looks like a nice rifle.

Only mags for the #4mk1 or the #5mk1 will work. The older #1mkIII mags will not work. You can contact Springfield Sporters for replacement parts to bring her back. I recently restored a pristine Savage #4mk1*.

On the butt socket on the left side will be some numbers. Can you post them, and we could ID the manufacturer and the date of manufacture for you. It looks like it has potential though. Let me know if you need some pics of a finished rifle, and the differences between the #1mkIII and the #4mk1.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Pictures clearly show that the barrel hasn't been cut.

 

[mokin]

I don't have any advice to add. Even in sporterized condition, that's a pretty .303 Lee-Enfield and ought to be a fine shooter.

 

[jpwilly]

Nice looking rifle...keep oiling it and rust will come off. Just don't get impatient. I like the previous advise about keeping an eye out for the original furniture. Either way shoot it and enjoy.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Use a bronze brush instead of steel wool.

 

[Riss]

Yup. Steel wool will take off the bluing. Bronze wool and oil will not take off the bluing as it is softer than steel.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

0000 steel wool will not harm the bluing as long as it is oiled. I've used 4-0 steel wool and WD-40 for many years to clean up surface rust with no adverse effect on bluing. I also use it to buff newly blued gun parts. Keep the wool wet with oil and you won't have a problem.

 

[Kernel]

+1 Bronze wool. You can get it from Brownells and probably lots of other places. Then redo the hardware and any thin spots on the barrel with with some cold blue. If it's still original, the reciever should be factory-painted and not likely to rust.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

I've seen much worse. Try and get an original magazine as the aftermarket ones by Promag are absolute junk. Make sure your chamber is bone dry prior to shooting.

 

[Sport45]

thanks for the reply, and hahah, he's a fool I agree.

If he was a fool he would have sold it years ago for $50 or so. Instead, he kept it so someone could shoot it again some day. You should appreciate that he hung on to it.

Ace Hardware has bronze wool on their website and will ship it to your local store for free.

 

[BBroadside]

I'm no rifle smith either, but my one piece of advice is, look for milled adjustable rear sights. It looks like your rifle has the wartime-expedient rear sight, completely unadjustable, which flips between 100 and 300 yards. The milled sights are adjustable in elevation. I was able to put a milled rear on my Lee-Enfield all by my clumsy self.

Or go the whole hog and get a Parker-Hale target sight, fully adjustable.

Lee-Enfields are enviably cheap but take a little bit of attention to get shootable. Or put it this way:
A Lee-Enfield is like a good woman: she doesn't demand you spend a lot of money on her but she does need love.

 

[Quiet]

On the butt socket on the left side will be some numbers. Can you post them, and we could ID the manufacturer and the date of manufacture for you. It looks like it has potential though.

What he said.


Looks like you'll end up with a nice sporterized SMLE.

I believe Sportsmans Guide sells an aftermarket SMLE .303British 10 round magazine that will work in both the No1MkIII and No4Mk1.

 

[MrFox]

Thats a No. 4. If you gave me some more info on the markings, I could tell you more accurately who made it.

As for the sights, the flip peep sights are fine. Its not a target rifle. You can, however, do a clean swap with no modification to the milled rear sight with the click adjustments. If you do this, I would recommend finding a rear sight for a No. 5 because the clicks are 1/8th MOA, if I remember correctly. The difference between them is that a No. 5 sight only goes to 800 yards. A No. 4 sight goes to 1300.

The bayonet lug has been cut. You can put it back into the full length issue stock, but it will look funky without the lug.

http://ssporters.com/ <-they will have everything you could use, need, and want.

I just tried to swap magazines with my No. 1s and No. 4s, and none worked. But, all No. 4s swapped between each other. My No. 5s will swap with the 4s, but not with the No. 1s. Confused? Stick with the right magazine for the gun. Get a No. 4 magazine for it.

If you want to put it back into a wood stock, you could cut down the stock right in front of the sling swivel. It will give you a look similar to a L42A1. Or, you could go for a No. 5 look.

I've got a cut down No. 4 Longbranch that I've been planning on turning into a L42A1 knockoff, but haven't gotten around to it.

Well, that was longer than I planned.