Every time I take my gun out to shoot, I am reminded of how blessed we are in the USA to have the 2nd Amendment. It's such a shame that other countries don't feel the same about firearm ownership. I was gun shopping with a friend of mine about mid September last year as he was looking for a Mauser and I was along for the ride. He ended up with a 91/30 Mosin Nagant and I fell in love with a fairly nice looking Lee Enfield. The steel is in excellent shape and the wood just needed a little TLC. I have always liked the Lee Enfields ever since I first encountered one while playing COD 3. I love old military rifles in general so it was the perfect opportunity to get exactly what I wanted and as a bonus, it was a project and an investment so it was a smart purchase.
The day I bought it:
It is a 1943 No4 Mk1 Serial #13696. It was manufactured in the Royal Ordinance Factory in Maltby, South Yorkshire, England. The bolt and receiver are numbers matching, as for the rest of the gun, I'm not sure. This one had clearly never been cleaned since before it had been dipped in cosmoline so I stripped it to the bare bones and scrubbed out as much as I could get.
The difference between the old oil/cosmoline finish and bare wood:
Reproduction sling:
The finished product! I think it still needs another coat or two of boiled linseed oil:
My Enfield and my friend's 91/30:
I later found out that the Parker Hale company in England produced rear peep sights for these and many other rifles in the 50's and 60's when sporterizing old surplus rifles was popular for shooting competitions and hunting. I found a PH5C on ebay which I ordered and probably paid too much for but at this point, these old sights are collectible so another investment was how I justified the purchase. I might try and find an original eyepiece for it but they came with all kinds so I'll probably stick with this one for the time being. It's a very well made sight. It weighs quite a bit for its size and both dovetails are still very tight.
Pardon the blurry photo, shaky hands.
In all, it turned out pretty slick! I haven't had a chance to zero in the sight yet but hopefully I'll get out this weekend and make an afternoon out of it. I absolutely love this rifle! It shoots spot on, and despite being 74 years old, still kicks like a horse. I've got to hand it to the British, they sure knew how to make a kick-ass rifle!
The day I bought it:
It is a 1943 No4 Mk1 Serial #13696. It was manufactured in the Royal Ordinance Factory in Maltby, South Yorkshire, England. The bolt and receiver are numbers matching, as for the rest of the gun, I'm not sure. This one had clearly never been cleaned since before it had been dipped in cosmoline so I stripped it to the bare bones and scrubbed out as much as I could get.
The difference between the old oil/cosmoline finish and bare wood:
Reproduction sling:
The finished product! I think it still needs another coat or two of boiled linseed oil:
My Enfield and my friend's 91/30:
I later found out that the Parker Hale company in England produced rear peep sights for these and many other rifles in the 50's and 60's when sporterizing old surplus rifles was popular for shooting competitions and hunting. I found a PH5C on ebay which I ordered and probably paid too much for but at this point, these old sights are collectible so another investment was how I justified the purchase. I might try and find an original eyepiece for it but they came with all kinds so I'll probably stick with this one for the time being. It's a very well made sight. It weighs quite a bit for its size and both dovetails are still very tight.
Pardon the blurry photo, shaky hands.
In all, it turned out pretty slick! I haven't had a chance to zero in the sight yet but hopefully I'll get out this weekend and make an afternoon out of it. I absolutely love this rifle! It shoots spot on, and despite being 74 years old, still kicks like a horse. I've got to hand it to the British, they sure knew how to make a kick-ass rifle!
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