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.303 to .762x51

Printed From: Enfield-Rifles.com
Category: Enfields
Forum Name: 7.62 Enfield
Forum Description: All things to do with the 7.62 Enfield
URL: http://www.enfield-rifles.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12845
Printed Date: March 26 2026 at 2:51pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.07 - https://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: .303 to .762x51
Posted By: Moosm14
Subject: .303 to .762x51
Date Posted: September 15 2023 at 3:25pm
Many thanks to all here for guidance and to Tim Copeland at Copeland Gunsmithing in Estacada. OR for his expertise🦊

Before FAZ No4 MK1 .303 sporter

And after conversion to .762x51 with Parker Hale rear sight and Parker hale front tunnel sight (visit ESS and removable Faux L39a1 / L42a1 

Photo shows mock-up on sported barrel not new .762x51 
Will forward completion and range accuracy report



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There is room for all of gods creatures ... right next to the mashed potatoes



Replies:
Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: September 15 2023 at 5:19pm
Sweet!
Keep us posted.



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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)


Posted By: Honkytonk
Date Posted: September 16 2023 at 11:14am
That is a really cool looking rifle!


Posted By: Moosm14
Date Posted: September 16 2023 at 11:55am
Thank you gentlemen for your appreciation!
It has been a work in progress spanning 57 years🦊

I am hopeful as to how accurately it will shoot …


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There is room for all of gods creatures ... right next to the mashed potatoes


Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: September 18 2023 at 8:21pm
interesting transition , looks real nice 


Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: September 19 2023 at 7:42am
Will this get a 2A1 7.62 NATO chambered full length barrel or the heavier L39/L42 barrel?  

Please let us know how it shoots.  

I've seen a few rifles now with the No. 4 (T) cheek piece on the butt stock.  Not sure how well that will work with iron sights which are nominally only 1 inch above the bore.  On PH5C sighted rifles, I don't need any additional height on the stock for getting good sight alignment until reaching the 800 yard sight setting.  I have perhaps an unusual shooting position, my head is well forward on the stock and my cheekbone sits right on the base of my right thumb.  My eye is about an inch behind the aperture which allows me to close it down quite small to improve depth of focus and reduce sighting errors.   You might think recoil would push the rear sight into my eye, but nope.  I wonder if anyone else uses this type of hold/head position?



Posted By: Moosm14
Date Posted: September 19 2023 at 9:18am
Brit,

Thank you for relaying your experience sighting and accordingly your cheek weld position sir!
For myself it is a personal preference as to what ergonomics seems to “fit” and how well it works.
In my experience the riser is equally suitable for both iron PH target sights as scoped.

This “Frankenstein-rifle” (for those “bloke on the range fans) is hoped to be a convertible from both faux L39a1 to faux L42a1 in spirit as the tunnel front sight can be readily removed from the barrel mount dovetail and the PH rear site swapped for a no drill scope and mount

Horror of horrors perhaps, but hopefully as much fun as accurate and at hopefully capable of at least as much  accuracy as I amSmile

As my search for a heavy barrel was futile I resigned to the best I could find Ishapore 2a1 barrel
According to the Prestgious Wood Stocks website the cheek riser sent was not a No 4T but a “ MK4, L-42A1, Pattern 14 Cheek Riser”.(Not that I could discern a differenceSmile)


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There is room for all of gods creatures ... right next to the mashed potatoes


Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: September 19 2023 at 9:43am
Yes, it all depends on your own "style" of holding the rifle to get eye/sight alignment.  The PH5C will take up the same sight alignment as the original rear sight, unless you are using a much taller front sight (which I've never found necessary to obtain a 100 yd or 200 yd zero with the PH5C as it can attain a lower setting than the Mk 1 rear sight).  

The L42 is of course the 7.62 sniper rifle converted from the No. 4 Mk I(T) which used the No. 32 scope, so the cheek piece is quite necessary.  I'm not sure how high above the bore the No. 32 scope is, I would guess at least 2 inches vs the nominal 1 inch above the bore with the PH5C (or original Mk 1 rear sight) with the standard blade front sight. 

The tunnel type front sight you have added might be higher above the bore than the standard blade.  I've got a A.J. Parker "matchmaker" tunnel type forsight fitted to my No. 4 DCRA 7.62 conversion, and it's a bit lower than the original blade foresight (mostly because the ring aperture insert uses a target center hold vs a blade which uses a 6 O'Clock hold on the target), I had to lower the rear sight by about 3 to 4 MOA with the tunnel front sight fitted. For me, it would be impossible to get eye alignment with the rear sight set at 200 yds with the cheek piece, YMMV.  



Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: September 19 2023 at 11:54am
Geoff. Even though mine is a reproduction scope mount, it is identical in every way to the original. The centerline to centerline of the scope and bore is 1.55"...


Posted By: Moosm14
Date Posted: September 19 2023 at 1:35pm
My Fultons of Bisley no Gunsmithing scope mount appears to be the same height as my PH rear sight and my PH tunnel front sight with dovetail barrel mount co-witnesses the exact same height as my existing No 4 front sight Smile

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There is room for all of gods creatures ... right next to the mashed potatoes


Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: September 19 2023 at 1:42pm
Moosm14. Just some advice on scope rings.  Get the lowest profile rings you can find for that Fultons scope mount and stick with a scope that has a 40mm objective or smaller. That setup will keep the centerline to centerline of the scope and bore very close to 1.5" and will give you an excellent head position and cheek weld on the cheek riser...


Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: September 19 2023 at 2:00pm
Originally posted by Moosm14 Moosm14 wrote:

My Fultons of Bisley no Gunsmithing scope mount appears to be the same height as my PH rear sight and my PH tunnel front sight with dovetail barrel mount co-witnesses the exact same height as my existing No 4 front sight Smile

It’s not the height of the mount that matters, it’s the height of the mount plus scope rings and diameter of the scope tube.  The critical dimension is from bore centerline to scope tube centerline.  It’s really not possible that a scoped rifle to have the same height above bore as the original irons which are based on a nominal 1 inch height above the bore centerline. 




Posted By: Moosm14
Date Posted: September 19 2023 at 7:07pm
Brit / Goosic,

As always your direction as to my best route forward is much appreciated 
Thank you gentlemen!


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There is room for all of gods creatures ... right next to the mashed potatoes


Posted By: Zed
Date Posted: September 20 2023 at 11:07am
Here's a photo of my L39A1 alongside the No8 .22's and the No1MkIII*. Not a great photo unfortunately; but you can see that the heavy barrel is quite long compared to the SMLE. Also the fore end is shorter than the No8.
I regret not having the No4Mk1 in the same photo.
I would pont out that the gloss varnish is not standard and has since been removed and replaced with linseed oil! 
The Cheek riser is not standard on the L39; but this rifle came with it. I don't have an issue with it when using the dioptre rear sight.
I have a Schmitt Bender scope for this rifle, (which is currently on one of the No8's) but haven't got around to fitting it yet.




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


Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: September 20 2023 at 11:34am
It might well be possible with target/match sights. Probably not with the original issue though.
You'd have to have a QD for the irons to use the scope though.

My lithgow SMLE with the Central No4 rear-sight & the rather fat Gehmann dioptric diaphragm eyepiece has to be raised quite a bit to clear the bolt handle. Not really a problem as it has a lot of adjustment & is re-zeroable. But I do have to use an off market tall "shark Fin" front sight blade to get it to zero. That conveniently raises the LOS above the issue open irons so much I don't have to remove the blade as its no longer co-witnessed.

Then there's the "Fashionable" shooting posture of the day, as well as personal preferences. Back when these rifles were Issue the shooting posture of the body was far more upright than that popular today, that changes all the user /rifle geometry & so weld options.
Confused





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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)


Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: September 20 2023 at 2:17pm
I suspect the larger diameter barrel on the L39 might result in a higher line of sight above the bore with the tunnel type foresight, hence the occasional appearance of the cheek piece on the butt stock.  I recall seeing a photo of the “new” No. 4 Target Rifle (1969) with a lace on leather cheek pad that probably gave a slightly higher head position. 

Much of this is your own preference and what you were taught. I do know I’ve seen other shooters and photos in training books on the LE’s showing fairly steep angles between the body and rifle (30 deg or so) with a well forward head position, cheek on right thumb, in the prone position. 




Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: September 20 2023 at 9:04pm
Yep.
Even the shooting sports have fads!


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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)


Posted By: Moosm14
Date Posted: August 05 2024 at 7:55am
Depending whether inclement weather affords me the opportunity to resume gunsmithing in of doors at my work bench - I hope to complete the above pictured conversion from .303 to 762x51

In regard to the discussion of sight / scope heights and the use of a cheek riser I found this period photo of a target shooter appearing to utilize a cheek riser with his iron sights;




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There is room for all of gods creatures ... right next to the mashed potatoes


Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: August 05 2024 at 9:59am
Yes, and notice the front sight.  This looks to be a L39 rifle which likely has the front tunnel sight significantly higher than 1.0 inches above bore centerline (standard front blade on a No. 4) which in turn raises the rear aperture sight.  

I don't have a L39, but looks to me that the front sight might be around 1.5 inches above the bore centerline (center of front sight insert to center of bore). 






Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: August 05 2024 at 11:28am
That tallies with my 1.404" for the Central sight & raised front sight blade.


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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)


Posted By: Moosm14
Date Posted: August 15 2024 at 11:41am
Completion photos (w/o scopeand accuracy test;










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There is room for all of gods creatures ... right next to the mashed potatoes


Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: August 15 2024 at 2:00pm
Looks very promising. What does a 10 shot group look like?




Posted By: Honkytonk
Date Posted: August 15 2024 at 3:32pm
That's a nice group! Rifle seems like it's gonna be a shooter!


Posted By: Moosm14
Date Posted: August 15 2024 at 5:03pm
Thank you sir!
Now that it is sighted in i will have to return soon, as time allows to shoot some extended strings -


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There is room for all of gods creatures ... right next to the mashed potatoes


Posted By: Rossfield
Date Posted: April 01 2025 at 11:45pm
I'm finishing off a similar one myself on a Mk.2 action.  The barrel is a DCRA conversion which came with about 3.5" hacksawed off the muzzle.  I even got the chunk he'd sawed off.   Cut it to No.5 length, mostly so the No.5 sight would collimate.   I'm also planning on a hand guard, a SILE Monte Carlo butt and probably a band off a No.5.  A hacked up No.5 flash hider to finish.

Would like to find another L8/L42 mag as have the right extractor.


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Treason doth never prosper;
what's the reason?
Why if it prosper,
none dare call it treason.



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