Enfielditus

[brainard]

My Enfielditus had been in remission but wouldn't ya know it IT'S BACK! Enfielditus: an addictive love for the Lee Enfield family of bolt action rifles their many varieties and insane amount of Historical value and background.

Is anybody else out there on AW infected, or am I alone?

Also please note the Enfield buying bug is back! I am now actively in search of any Enfield in the $100 range. (I prefer the beat up war dog) They are so much fun to research and restore!

[Herr Walther]

Re: Enfielditus

I have a variant of that disease called Falitis, and its related affliction StGism.

[jefferson101]

Re: Enfielditus

I had a case of it from about 1972 until about 1990, but when I was looking for parts, there were none. I had Enfields, and they needed parts.

The only way I could fix them was to buy a different one of the same model and break it up for parts. That only worked until I needed the same extractor about three times. I gave up on them.

I've still got an Ishapore in .308, but that's the only one I kept. I hate that in some respects, because they are probably the best bolt actions ever made. But if I can't fix them when the break, other than by buying another of them, there is a problem that I can't cure going on.

We won't even talk about ammunition, which is another long and sad story of nothing available at less than full retail.



Yeah. I can still reload the stuff. But I don't shoot it. It got too delicate for me, given that I shoot more than 20 rounds/year from my rifles....(Usually. Or at least from that caliber...)

[Herr Walther]

Re: Enfielditus

After the initial equipment and supply outlay, what does it cost to reload .308 per round these days?

[brainard]

Re: Enfielditus

Jeff,

I have never had the 308. It is on my list to acquire. Parts are available you just gotta know where to look. For example Afghanistan and Pakistan are swimming in surplus Enfields. Importers buy them hundreds at a time strip the less fortunate for parts and sell the rest as surplus complete guns.

[kARL]

Re: Enfielditus

"Also please note the Enfield buying bug is back! I am now actively in search of any Enfield in the $100 range. (I prefer the beat up war dog) They are so much fun to research and restore!"


More like $300 these days. Ammo almost a buck a round..if you reload make that .50 cents till the base rips off the brass.

I miss the 90's.

karl

[Steve Marshall]

Re: Enfielditus

Aim Surplus for one sells a box of PRVI for under $14.00.

[brainard]

Re: Enfielditus

I have yet to spend over $117 on an Enfield. That includes the one I got the day I started this thread. I don't mind spending good money on a gun. I mind spending too much money.

[jefferson101]

Re: Enfielditus

Aim Surplus for one sells a box of PRVI for under $14.00.

Which is $0.70/round, before shipping. Figure $0.75 minimum per, delivered.

I can roll my own for around $0.50, give or take, depending on how cheaply I can get .311 dia bullets. But I use those for 7.62x54R, too, so I know that they are usually right around two bits per, best case.

Powder, and primer, and you are right around a half buck a round. That in itself doesn't stop me. I shoot 7.5 Swiss regularly that costs me at least that much. But my Smelly's kept breaking parts that I couldn't find for less than about a third of what I paid for the whole rifle.

Yeah. I kept the Ishapore. I couldn't let go of that action, in .308, which I have enough of to keep me shooting for ten or fifteen years even if I don't load any more. The bullets are substantially cheaper....or were. I've got that part covered up too.



If I plan on actually being used to a rifle, or a caliber of rifle, and shooting it regularly, I'm not going to be too happy about going out and spending $75 or more per range session. If I'm not ready to toss a hundred rounds of it downrange, I don't need to have it.

But ammo was the secondary consideration. I got hung up on the whole parts thing. If I have to spend a wad to keep the Ishy up, I will probably do it, but it's way newer than any other Enfield I ever had, too. (1965 date on the receiver.)

[brainard]

Re: Enfielditus

I have some parts. If you find yourself in need just let me know.

No I don't have any intention of blowing a zillion rounds through any old bolt action. They are more of a historical collection than anything else. My oldest Enfield was built in 1916.

[Roughneck Jase]

Re: Enfielditus

I have a Lee-Enfield No.4 Mk1/3 bolt-action rifle to my name and I enjoy the living Hell out of it when I take it to the local rifle range

I would love to get myself a few more Lee-Enfields for my gun collection, but that's in the near future when I've got some money stashed away from my new job .

[MikeG]

Re: Enfielditus

I've got four Enfields.
An Ishapore No1 Mk3* that's wire wrapped for grenade launching
3 N0 4 Mk1s from various places, one from S. Africa, one from Turkey and one I think is from India or Pakistan.

outstanding rifles.

[brainard]

Re: Enfielditus

I was recently visited by a fellow Enfield nut who traded bought my parts gun (No 1) and an Ishapore No 4 for get this: $100 (which is what I had in the pair) and a Colt M4 barrel, a stripped AR upper, a knights armament quad rail with handguards, a Matech rear rail sight, three titanium firing pins, a flat top carry handle, and a bag of misc parts. ... I sold that mess in less that 6 hours for $400!

[Roughneck Jase]

Re: Enfielditus

I'm planning on getting myself a Lithgow No1 MkIII* SMLE in the not-to-distant future

[brainard]

Re: Enfielditus

Does anybody have for sale a Lee Enfield "no gunsmithing" scope mount that will fit a No1?