doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Sporter bbl in anything but .303 for No.4 action

Well, lessee, old-catalog-correct choices would be the aforementioned .375 2-1/2" Flanged and the ever-popular 8x50R Mannlicher. With that out of the way should you want to try a 7mm on the std .303 case I have a once-used reamer I'd be happy to give you along with a stack of WW 303 brass, maybe even throw in a '92 Mannlicher sporter redone to 7-303 as well.

Other odder (!) choices might be one of the x57R rounds, most of which have modern available brass these days though the factory ammo might be too warm for comfort in a No.4 action.

You asked, though, not for caliber suggestions but for a barrel. Dang.

Another impracticality altho a perfect hunting cartridge for anything in N. AMerica except big bear would be 6.5x53r, the Dutch/Rumanian Mannlicher. At a guess no alteration needed. The Brits did not barrel Lees for this because military Mannlichers were cheap.

On the .375 caliber, the .375 Flanged nitro express 2.5" is supposed to work great in the Lee Enfield. See this link --
http://www.lee-enfieldrifles.com/nitro.html
Brass is available from Bertram and loaded ammo from Kynoch

Steve,

Lots of nice choices there.

The No 4 is good for 42,000CUP. Several writers on the old Enfield boards i used to frequent felt the figure is very conservative. That elusive German gunsmith chambered them in all sorts of non-mag modern calibers, stating that the action is much stronger than given credit. He had regular 7x57, 6.5x55, .444, .45-70, ass't Rimmed and some other Euro's among the selection.

Weeeel, I do have a '0' bolthead to start with. And what with me lapping in the lugs, a 'smith can bbl it pretty tight. But, I'm happy with 42,000, Only want to do this once, even if JIC I do have a '1' & '2' in the parts bin.

Were I to go with a .303-based rimmed wildcat, the .257 Roberts or 6.5 Rimmed something and a long enough bbl for good balance would work well. The .375 2 1/2 is pure classic, as a source is mentioned in a following contributor's post. E-mail sent to that 'smith.

Also checking with a correspondent in Oz, tho I understand permissions to export are hideous to obtain. A New Zealand fellow puts out a very nice practically-stocked .35/.303, and he also is unable to export a bbl or the stock set.

And, too true, i had hoped to find an already 'rolled', low-milage bbl. However, as is usual for this resource here, there are plenty of possible suggestions. I suspect the final choice will pretty much be what I find, rather than made to order. However, one never knows.

Thanks, J.

KVN,

Thanks, I'm on it and awaiting reply.

MKB,

Very nice round. Have played around with friend's Dutch-Romanian MILsurps and a commercial Euro sporto'd version at a long range pistol plate shoot. Those long bullets are fun, and with better sights[eyes!?] I wouldn't mind owning that caliber. The mono-bloc clip, not so much.

An early contributor here, in fact, shot deer commercially in Oz and was a great Enfield fan. He had an action re-barreled and chambered for the 6.5/.256 Dutch-Rom here in the States. Might even have a chambering reamer, IIRC.

OK, as long as barrels are being discussed, I'm really out of the loop on modern makers. It would be safe to say that I don't see much point in putting a benchrest-grade tube to this purpose, tho' a Gilded Lily is always kinda fun with which to drop a name at the range.

Since I like cast bullets for plinking, the type of rifling may be an issue, [cut rifled vs button -- or is it?]. For whitetail I'll stick to modern copper unless it's a .45 bore or so.

At any rate, referrals for barrel makers suitable to the project are welcome.

I'd look for another #4 bbl, condition of bore unimportant.
Then send it off and have it rebored.

I have a LeeSpeed that was already rebored to 35 on the 303 case when I bought it. Beautiful work but I don't know who did it.
I had JES Reboreing do the same to a Martini Sporter built by Watson Bros, that had a bad 303 bore.

I think there's enough mat'l to go to .375 in the #4 bbl. if you want a bigger bore.

JES charges $250 includes return shipping of bbl. last I knew.
I noticed his website shows .359 as groove dia for 35cal but mine is .358. Might be a typo.
Turnaround was a couple of weeks.
http://www.35caliber.com/index.html
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444Marlin may be another option for a rebarrel. Seems someone used to sell a replacement bbl for the conversion (Numrich?) so maybe there's one floating around. Some mag conversion work would be needed though to a single stack style IIRC.

If you were to use a No1 action, you could rebbl with a LongLee bbl for a slightly heavier and longer (cut to length) barrel. Threads are the same, extractor slot sometimes needs a bit of touching up. They index the same.
Not that L/Lee bbls are found lying about in quantity, but a poor boor specimen could perhaps be located and sent for rebore.

I don't know if a L/Lee bbl will fit the #4 action thread.
Too modern for me!

Good luck on your project...

Kutter,

Thanks for the tip. Looked 'em up and am checking them out with some of the leveraction guys. In the meantime, tracking down a donor No 4 bbl.

Also tried the Canadian .375 2 1/2" guys again, but no reply as of yet.

While this gun does have sentiment, it's ownership is not cast in stone with me. One of my all time fave rifles is the longer 24" bbl'd .35 Rem, 1/2 magazine Marlins with cut rifling. Well balanced for me, very nice offhand and love cast bullets. And currently not owning one, again. One of the long range pistol guys had to have it after, I made a few lucky longish shots on some plates.

So, should the project mount up to a whole lot more than a good vintage Marlin as described, it may just get a surp rebarrel, the commecial sporter stock refinished, and sent off to an Enfield board.

Still and all, I sure do like those No 1 & 4's. Ran a bushel basket or two of MILsurpammo thru them over the past decades. One of nicest was a Golden States Arms true sporter, in a slender old-style.. Also, there was a Golden States Arms SNIPER sporter. Yup, they took original "T" barreled actions, had reproduction "T" sniper scope mounts made, and did them up as a telescopic 60's California style, with new wood.

In the pantheon of Enfields tho, I still think the slim and simple No. 1's and Lee-Speeds in .256 and .303 are essence of the Enfield sporter.

Anyone ever tried 307 or 356 Winchester; 308 Marlin Express, or 338 Marlin Express? Rimmed cases for lever action rifles.

Bruce