L39A1

I've started looking for a L39A1 target rifle; just seen an advert for a Deactivated one! who the he!! deactivates a target rifle! and they only made about 1250 of them Disapprove

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice!

Hoplophobics

Can it be saved?

The way rifles are deactivated nowadays there is no way to resurrect them. They are dead horses. Reminds me of the Nepalese No 1 Enfields imported by IMA. Rather than try and import them intact they just deactivated these scarce rifles and utterly destroyed them. Because of that I refuse to do business with that company ever again.

Zed, I can thoroughly support your quest for an L39A1. The 7.62mm conversions are my favorite shooting rifles. Where I have an option, I seldom use anything else. To my experience, their accuracy is superior to the good old .303. The best of luck to you!

i once had a charnwood i got from BDL , it was a really nice shooting conversion , sterling also did some , as did canada , these are attainable here in working order , i highly recomend that choice , its an easy option considering that deacs are worthless wall clutter for shooters ,

Here is No.678, manufactured in 1970 and shipped to Donnington on 10.02.1972.

Zed: the vast majority of surplus .308/7.62x51 Brass is boxer primed. However I have seen some Commie bloc ammo that had Berdan Primers in them. stay with NATO ammo and you should be fine.

Standard M80 Ball ammo which uses a 147 gr FMJBT bullet is loaded to about 2800 fps from a 24" bbl. for use in M14's, machine guns and M24 (Rem 700) bolt action rifles. All of which are stronger than an Enfield action.

I load these same bullets which I buy as recycled surplus from companies that buy and break down Govt ammo which has exceeded it's shelf life.

I run 45 gr of IMR 4895. with these bullets. It is my standard and only .308 load and groups inside 7/8" at 100 yards without fail from my Ruger Scout with a 16" bbl. It is also a much stronger gun than any Enfield.

The other powder that is the mainstay of .308 loading is Winchester 748,, AKA Hodgdons BLC/2. The vast majority of M80 ball ammo is loaded with this powder.

In the Enfield action I would be looking to load the .308 down to about 2600 fps, or slightly below M80 ball ammo.

Velocity is directly proportional to pressure. .303 Enfield ammo with 150 gr bullets is generally loaded in the 2600-2650 fps range. Therefore a .308 loaded with the same bullets at the same speed will have the same pressure behind it. I'm thinking starting out around 42 gr of 4895 or similar load for BLC/2 would get you in the ball park. Consult several loading manuals for exact info, as I am only suggesting a place to start your research.

Accuracy will always be peculiar to any given rifle, and the velocity that it produces the best accuracy for that rifle must be found. However once I get a satisfactory level of accuracy I generally quit right there.

This is why I have only shot one bullet and one powder charge in my Scout Rifle. I got it right the very first time.(better to be lucky than good!) I would like to tell you exactly how Bitchin' I really am ,,, but the .308 is a pretty easy round to get good results from so it really wouldn't mean much.:>)

You'll figure it out quickly.

Randy

It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,, It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do.