doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Enfield

Thanks Frank ,I have one 5 rnd mag and a few 10 rnd mags kicking around ...I'll probably cut a 10 round down ,but thanks for the tip ...I'll check them out.

The gun is on the back burner for a while now ,till I get caught up on my real work

I am surprised no one has mentioned the sporterized enfields by E.J. Churchill. They were converted from military rifles to sporter spec for the uk forestry commission for culling deer i think. Very nice rifles and not expensive, but a good model to try and replicate imho.

here are a couple of dealer pictures of a Churchill #4 conversion I bought.

Thanks guys again for all the tips and leads ,Buckbrush I did a quick search for a Churchill conversion but came up empty ,thanks again ...the rifle was originally a Parker Hale conversion similar to yours ,but I wanted something a little different...I'm throwing around some ideas for a QD scope mount and its getting close,I'm starting to now lean towards a Silvers style pad for the butt, anyone have any thoughts on this ?

A Silvers Pad looks about as nice as any you could choose IMO.
If not a hard kicker Kaliber I'd stick with a steel contoured butt plate like the originals. It doesn't have to be a trap style, some didn't have that feature.
Smooth faced, nicely contoured to avoid any bulky look and finished w/a touch of engraving around a border line cut is nice.

I've recycled orphaned, rusted and abused Winchester checkered steel butt plates for such. They are plenty thick to belt grind and file the checkering (and pitting) off. They have a 'peak' at the top and you can re-work the contour very easily when they are at red-heat.
There must be other new mfg 'in the white' steel butt plates around for the custom rifle mfg crowd that would work well. Or something that is adaptable by re-working it.

Check some of the M/Ldr parts dealers. They often have butt plate repros for early cartridge guns or something that can be of use.
Track of the Wolf has this Winchester 1885 Shotgun steel butt plate repro (cast) that may be workable as an example.
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/700/1/BP-WIN-85-SH-I


Nice looking Enfield project rifle!

Scopes and mts I can't be of much help I'm afraid..

Track of the wolf is the ticket for steel buttplates that can be re-shaped. when I needed to make a trapdoor buttplate for a project that required a two diameter peak I bought one of their plates that was well oversized. cost was 20 bucks + shipping.

Thanks guys I was heading that route ,and I've been looking at the Neidner style from Sunny Hill (I believe ) at Brownell's ...the rifle is turning out much lighter than its original configuration so it will kick a little I guess but honestly recoil is not an issue for me,and with the through bolt design of the Enfield a trapdoor would allow instant access if it needed tightening or maintenance .

I may have to get back to this sooner than later

Newton 1131 check your PM's

The trap door on the Enfield design was originally for Military maint/replacement,,something surely needed quickly in their situation and for the storage of the oiler and pull-thru.

It's a neat little detail, but again I wouldn't get hung up over it. How many times do thru bolt stocks on other common sporting fireams need to be instantly accessed.

On the Enfield, the butt stock is the last thing to come off anyway.
The entire rifle can be serviced with the butt stock in place.

On the original Metford/Enfield design set up,,and the earlier SMLE , the forend has to be removed before the stock thru-bolt is even turned. If you don't follow the sequence, you crack the forend.

The square shape of the end of the thru bolt locked into the square hole in the back end of a plate in the forend.

A thick, tight fitting leather washer pushed down on top of the thightened thru-bolt in the stock made for blocking un-authorized attempts at mucking up the fit-up.
It also acted as a dampener when dropping in the brass oiler in the pocket.

You could always carry your hunting license in there, or an extra cell phone battery. I guess a dime or quarter for the pay phone is somewhat outdated,,

A well made trap door butt plate, or grip cap does have a special look to it.
Like most things custom, I guess we really don't need a reason.

Nice work Newton 1131!

I got you Kutter ,but I'm fond of the idea of a couple extra rounds in the butt ,in case I leave the mag behind ;),I'm also aware of the square end on the bolt and the proper take down procedure ...I am a Newfoundlander after all ,there's a SMLE behind almost every Newf's door

besides with that stock bolt tip ground proper there's an opportunity for somewhat of a take-down system ,I have an idea for that too ,but it won't be on this rifle ...this one belonged to my Da who passed last year ,it's pretty special to me and I don't want to butcher it up to work out a prototype ..there's plenty of scrapped actions up here to try that as time go's on .

Thanks guys ,
Chris