Range Day with the Sporterized Enfield's
Printed From: Enfield-Rifles.com
Category: Enfields
Forum Name: After Market Enfields
Forum Description: What have you done to that Enfield??
URL: http://www.enfield-rifles.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=11853
Printed Date: March 26 2026 at 4:31pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.07 - https://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Range Day with the Sporterized Enfield's
Posted By: Goosic
Subject: Range Day with the Sporterized Enfield's
Date Posted: January 24 2022 at 4:41pm
I took the Faux L8A5T and Faux PH Custom No4 to the range today. 28°, sunny, winds @ 0 mph. The intresting thing noticed today after the zeroing in was done was that, the 303B out-performed the 308 by a factor of 1/2" in both the elevation and the horizontal. Both bullets are made by Sierra and both are BTHP. The only difference is the weight and diameter. I shot each rifle out to 200 yards and the 303B with a ten shot group was under 2.0 MOA whereas the 308 was 2.0+ MOA. Here's the rub for some of you. Both barrels are free floated with everything from the breech back, bedded as it should be. The top rifle is the No4Mk1/2 chambered for the 303B and the bottom rifle is chambered for the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge. It should also be noted that both rifles also have fully adjustable triggers by Huber Concepts...  
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Replies:
Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: January 24 2022 at 5:11pm
| looks to have been a success to me , |
Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: January 24 2022 at 6:57pm
| It was actually quite fun to say the least. I brought along my .308 Ruger Gunsite Scout and my .243 Weatherby Vanguard as well. The Weatherby is spooky accurate in that a horse fly landed on the target just as I was squeezing the trigger. Two of his legs and a bit of wing was all that was left. |
Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: January 25 2022 at 4:18am
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I think this is very good for a sporter with a free floating barrel. Quite satisfactory for sporting purposes. The full military stocked fore-end with muzzle bearing significantly dampens barrel vibration, and as you have experienced, will hold the X ring on the SR target with ten shot groups down in the 1 MOA range.
My DCRA 7.62 shot off the bench with a scope is sub-MOA, the barrel bearing is at the sling swivel band with 12 -15 lbs up pressure and free floating forward of the bearing. This was how the DCRA 7.62 rifles were set up for SR(b) competition. Although individual competitors experimented with different bedding methods, this was considered the best and was used for the 1967 Palma long range matches. |
Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: January 25 2022 at 4:42am
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I do not believe you are seeing the bigger picture here britrifles. I should have also mentioned that, I did not shoot off the bench. I shot prone with no additional support other than myself. Which is why every shot went to the left of center. If I had shot from the bench with the rifles supported fore and aft, every shot would have been in the X. As it stands however, every shot was still in the ten ring of a SR-1 target from a distance of 600+ feet all while I layed down on un-level granite. As a sidenote: After I did the target part of my shooting using the 155grn Palma Match bullet, I set up the chronograph 8 ft in front of the muzzle. The round itself used 47.0grns of IMR4064 and was primed with a WLRM primer. The OAL was 2.775". The fastest fps was 2971 and the slowest being 2895 with an average fps of 2912.
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Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: January 25 2022 at 6:53am
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That load you used would be supersonic to 1000 yards. I’ve not had a chance to range test my 155 gr Sierra Palma Match load with 45.0 gr. Varget. I’m estimating 2800 fps at around 45,000 CUP IIRC. |
Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: January 25 2022 at 7:10am
| I went to Berger's 1000 yard range Saturday and hit a ten inch metal gong 7 out of 10 shots. My issue had to do with two different wind directions and heat from the barrel fouling the sight picture. Other than that, the shots that did contact the plate left definitive bullet impact marks... |
Posted By: shiloh
Date Posted: January 25 2022 at 9:36am
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Excellent results with you sporters. Im dying to get my heavy barreled No4 Churchill out and run it through its paces to see how it really does. Similar set up properly bedded free floated and mounted with a very nice Nikkon Monarch target scope. Just waiting to get(some day) real bullets to load. Still non available, though I`m on the waiting list at Ellwood Epps.
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Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: January 25 2022 at 11:18am
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I’d say you have yourself a competitive F-Class match rifle set up right there. 10 inches is the size of the NRA High Power Rifle Long Range Target X ring and the F-Class Target 10 ring. It seems that a fully floated light barrel is just as good, or better, than heavy match grade barrels being used in F-Class competition. Goosic, you really need to compete. Would be a real eye opener to see a sporterized Lee Enfield beat out all those F-Class shooters at 1000 yards. I’ll be happy if I can hold all the shots in the 44 inch 8 ring of the NRA Long Range Target at 1000 yards with my No. 4 DCRA, a real challenge in changing wind conditions. My goal will be to hold the 20 inch 10 ring, but I have to be realistic with what my rifle, ammo and I are capable of. |
Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: January 25 2022 at 12:30pm
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I did not purposely free float the barrel. The bedding around the reciever is as it should be, the barrel channel has just enough of a relief that you can slide a piece of paper under the barrel all the way back to the reciever ring. The barrel is a 5 groove Fazackerly No4 that has HV stamped on the knox form. The only thing I did was to cut 2.5" off the barrel back to the taper and recrowned it.
One thing I know for certain now because I accidentally ran six of the D166 200grn .3105" rebated boattail rounds through it when I was sighting it in yesterday is that those bullets can group very well from an Enfield with a five groove barrel...
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