you've made a good choice, irregardless of what some boardmembers will tell you about the enfield's gas handling capabilities (which are superb), and how they're supposedly inferior to a mauser because of that.
the enfield is a fine rifle, and a decent combat arm.
VERY good. Your rifle was made at Canada's Longbranch arsenal, and is one of the best Lee-Enfields ever made. My dad (Ron in PA here on THR) has one that is extremely accuracte with good ammo.
Stay away from UK-made .303 ammo, unless it's marked "MK VIIz" or "MK VIIIz". The "z" indicates that it is loaded with nitrocellulose powder, rather than Cordite. Cordite burns very hot and is erosive to your bore. Save Mk. VII or VIII ammo for collecting.
Sellier & Bellot .303 is good, not too expensive, non-corrosive, and accurate in my rifles.
the "longbranch" is very good, with only the "savage" being more desirable...excluding the "T" models which are in a class by themselves.
i consider the enfield #4 mk 1 and 2 the best bolt action battle rifle made. it offers superior sights, 10rd mag and the fastest bolt action from the war.
i'm still working my way though a case of .303 from PMP (south african). it is box primered and brass cased...it even comes boxed in their commercial ammo packaging.
Andrew: It has a flip up sight with a circle you look thru when it's down. The part that slides up and down came with the gun but its in pieces. There's not enough there to put it back together. I guess I can shoot it with the sight flipped down. Where can I get a replacement sight set up for it?
Andrew: Those sights look really good but they're not like what's on mine. I have the flip up part but there's only a square shaped piece of metal on it with a little spring-loaded lever that holds it where you want it. Well if it was all there that's what it would look like. It doesn't have the dial on it like the one on e-gunparts. Will this effect the value if I change it?
the one that originally came on my rifle was the L flip, which i replaced with the milled sight.
i don't think it will harm the value much, if any if you change the rear sight. i'd replace it with the milled sight and keep the current sight parts, just in case.
I have a 1950 Longbranch. I reload a lot, but for this rifle I got a little Lee hand loader which just neck sizes the brass. Then I use 174 grain Sierra match bullets with match primers and RL15 powder. Will shoot into 1" at 100yds when I do my part.
I've got a #1 Mk3 and a #4 Mk1. Both are great fun to shoot and my #4 got me a deer this year. In fact in my large group of modern firearmed hunters, this guy with the old milsurp was the only one to get a deer! They are fine firearms - ya done good!
Thanks guys. Keep it coming! I was going to go shoot it yesterday but only found one place in my area with .303 ammo in stock! It was $20 for a box of 20!! I bought a box so I could at least try it out till I can order some ammo but then didn't get to go at all. I'm really looking forward to shooting this rifle!
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