Posted on 11/04/2009 2:08:16 PM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran
Anybody have info on 1916 MK111 Enfield rifle in good condition.
(Excerpt) Read more at swicoauctions.com ...
Who made it? If you can get it for less than $200, buy it. They’re GREAT guns. I have like four, a No 1 MkIII, a .22 trainer, a No. 5 MkI (.308 caliber made at the Indian Ishipore arsenal in the 1960’s), and a No. 4 Mk 1 from WWII. I LOVE them all. Good, sturdy, fast shooting ten round magazine bolt action rifles. Love ‘em, love ‘em, love ‘em. Ammunition is very available, even some old WWII surplus (clean extremely well after shooting). And they’re priced right, too.
Best bolt action battle rifle ever made. Watched a Brit outshoot the Gunny on TV (w/an ‘03) with a No.1 Mk III.
Is that a 2A or a 2A1? I got a 2A last November.
Sorry, I should have looked more closely at your post. I saw the pictures - it looks to be in Very Good condition. Buy it, you’ll be happy. They’re slightly less powerful ballistically than a .308. They make pretty good deer rifles, but I like them as they come from the factory. Remember too that a 1916 build date rifle was probably used in WWII. If it has the marking FTR stamped on it somewhere that means Factory Thorough Repair, which is the Brits’ way of saying they rebuilt it after use and put it in storage. Which means it’s not original, but it’s typically a real pretty shooter.
Sorry, I have a No. 4 Mk.I. Good rifle.
I'm not sure whether mine is a 2A or 2A1. It has the black painted metal, with what I believe is a teak wood stock, and an aluminum butt plate, if that helps.
Surplus ammo is hard to find; some Pakistani stuff is still available but it's corrosive.
Sellier & Bellot and Wolf Gold make target ammo that's not hideously expensive (but it ain't cheap); all the usual suspects make expensive hunting ammo.
If you choose to reload, watch for berdan primers even in brass milsurp cases. Remember that it uses a .311 inch bullet, not .308. Hornady and Sierra both make good boat-tailed 174gr target bullets, as well as hunting bullets.
I like Enfields. I liked them better when cheap surplus ammo was available.
I will try to buy it.
Six days left on auction and already up to $80.
http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/Prvi_Partizan_.303Brit_174grn_FMJ.html
Get the Boxer primed and reload yourself.
Once you learn the trick of working the bolt, you can fire almost as fast as a semi-auto. The Brits had something called the "mad minute" where they put as many rounds in a 100 yard target as possible in 60 secs. A trained infantryman could really put the lead out.
A Brit made Gunny Ermey look slow and clumsy with an '03 Springfield . . . of course the gunny got him back with the Garand, but it just goes to show how fast the rifle will shoot.
Ballistically it's about the same as a .30-40 Krag, a little less powerful than a .308.
One thing you want to do if you're going to shoot it is run it by a gunsmith and check the headspace. Since the lugs lock at the rear that measurement is critical, and if somebody's replaced the bolt along the way they can be dangerous.
The only difference is the rear sight on the 2A is calibrated to 2,000 meters, and the 2A1 is calibrated for 800m.
I’m just totally NOT surprised that you like Enfields.
I had read that what made the SMLE rifle so fast-firing was that the bolt rotates only seventy degrees, and the cock-on-closing action actually speeds up the reload cycle.
It was said that in 1914, when the British infantry consisted of seasoned veterans, their rate of fire was so fast that the Germans thought they were equipped with self-loading rifles, and called this “contemptible” and unfair.
So the “Old Contemptibles” they became, wielders of the dealy Enfield. But the trench warfare that followed decimated their ranks, and the raw recruits who took their place could not replicate that murderous rate of fire.
Small price break for 10 boxes of 20 each.
We caught them, and we shot them, under Rule 303, SIR!
Prvi, Wolf, and S&B FMJ should be available on-line for $14-$18 per box of 20. Your local gunshop may be able to order that sort for you, if you don't want to do the on-line ordering yourself.
Other than that ... roll your own.
I think mine is a 2A1. I probably would have noticed if it were calibrated for something as “optimistic” as 2,000 meters.
Good rugged rifle. If you want to reload, however, the rear locking bolt is hard on brass, a couple of reloads is all the case will stand.
It was a great bolt action but had a striking similarity to the Mauser which was superior I believe.
Yeah, when the Indians initially made the the SMLE’s chambered in 7.62 NATO, then didn’t change the original sites for the .303 SMLE.
Then describe the similarities of the Mauser K98 and the US M1903 Springfield.
I believe you will find that one of these is not like the others ...
;'}
I have owned several of the various models of the Enfield. A fine rifle tho I would personally rather have a Mauser or a Springfield.
They are not quite as well finished as the Mausers and not quite as accurate but still accurate and generally well made.
The British sniper versions are real gems from what I have read and heard but also hard to find.
Once you learn the trick of working the bolt, you can fire almost as fast as a semi-auto. The Brits had something called the "mad minute" where they put as many rounds in a 100 yard target as possible in 60 secs. A trained infantryman could really put the lead out.
A Brit made Gunny Ermey look slow and clumsy with an '03 Springfield . . . of course the gunny got him back with the Garand, but it just goes to show how fast the rifle will shoot.
Ballistically it's about the same as a .30-40 Krag, a little less powerful than a .308.
One thing you want to do if you're going to shoot it is run it by a gunsmith and check the headspace. Since the lugs lock at the rear that measurement is critical, and if somebody's replaced the bolt along the way they can be dangerous.
It's reasonably accurate but not minute of angle. Scope is original, old and dim. It's still fun to shoot.
Of course the cock-on-lock feature means it's that much faster!
You can see the stripper clip in use in the first minute or so.
Mad Minute. Got a fairly good rate of fire going there, but not like the Old Contemptibles.
A sweet-shooting rifle and easy to handle. It's also a cinch to reload.
Oh, and they both have triggers.
Neck size die is a cheap investment, only downside is you have to keep your brass separated if you have more than one rifle.
They're both sweet shooters and the bolt is as slick as anything I've ever fired.
L
Very fast and smooth bolt action rifle. It should be able to shoot 3 inch groups at 100 yds right off the shelf. It cocks on closing and is able to maintain the sight picture better than the Mauser that cocks on opening. The 303 cartridge is powerful enough for most North American game and there are many different loads available for the reloader. The avg. price for a VG cond. Enfield is $200-$300. I got mine 10 years ago for $75 at a department store. It’s not politically correct, but I prefer it to the 98 Mauser and the M1 Springfield.
I have actually never even fired one of the sniper versions. I am surprised the scope is dim as I have read that the Ross made ones are considered even a bit better than the German Zeiss and the Zeiss is great.
I suspect that Holland & Holland assembled the outfit but did not manufacture the basic rifle.
I did have one Enfield which jammed regularly. The fix was simple, I just ordered another magazine. They are really easy to change out.
I know the British made them work OK but the combination of rimmed cartridge and ten rounds just can’t be as inherently reliable as the Mauser system.
Good vids...
I was neck sizing in a simple Lee Loader, 36 grains of IMR 3031 behind a 150 gr PSP, still getting seperations.
In my experience they're wicked good shooters.
Did you check your headspace? I use 40 gr of IMR 4895 behind a 150 gr Speer soft point, no problems. I have plenty of brass, but some of them I’ve reloaded 3-4 times. I occasionally get a cracked neck, but no head separations in my reloads . . . I HAVE gotten some head cracks on first firing of some old Greek surplus ammo . . . it’s from around the time of the Cyprus conflict so it’s probably just old and tired. Boxer primed though.
It was such a deal though.
As I understand it the sniper rifles were manufactured by the usual suspects but accurized by Holland and Holland and other British makers.
Do yourself a favor and turn the volume up! :-)
Sniping standard for awhile also.
Bolt action record: In 1914 Sergeant Instructor Snoxall put 38 hits onto a 12" target at 300 yards in 1 minute.
"Almost" is a relative term, but if you saw the Brit make Gunny Ermey look embarassed, you'd know what I mean.
He probably could have beaten Ermey in spite of the Garand.
The fastest and smoothest bolt action rifle every made. The Enfield was a great rifle. If it is in good condition and the person doesn’t want an arm and a leg, they are good buys. The action was so easy to work and the British soldiers of WWI received certain training on using the action that in some instances when the Germans went against British troops they thought they were facing machine gun fire when in reality they were up against bolt action rifles. A great classic and worth 200 or so dollars if in good shape.
WARNING! I bought one of these back in the late ‘50’s as my second deer rifle, used it for a few years, and found out that quite a number of them were shipped into this country with the rifles in one crate and the bolts in another. When they were re-assembled, they did not match them, just grabbed a bolt, and stuck it in a rifle. If you buy one of these, take it to a gunsmith and have him check the headspace. Some of these weapons have excessive headspace in the chamber because of the mismatching, and can cause big problems extracting fired cases, not to mention the danger from possible blowouts. It’s a good strong action, but the headspace needs to be checked on all of them. Good luck with it. A good gunshop should have a headspace gauge.
Obviously Ermey was successful in allowing the Brit to frame what many consider to the be pinnacle of British firearm technology. ;-)
I think the SMLE could in some sense be called an American invention. James Paris Lee was born in Scotland but became an American and was American when he designed the original rifle.
Although the design went through a lot of development, one has only to look at one of the American Lee Navy rifles to see that it was basically the same gun from the very start.
BTW, the U.S. Marines used them very effectively in the Boxer conflict when the embassies of the European nations plus Japan were besieged in Peking.
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