7.62 Enfield - Notes on the No. 4 Mk 2 DCRA 7.62

The barrel also looks exceptionally good, no pitting at all, no indication of any firecracking in the throat. As good as any modern match grade barrel I have seen.

I also have his notebook and PH service rifle score book from the 1940’s thru 1960’s. Norm was an officer in the Royal Canadian Artillery in WWII and a very accomplished Service Rifle shooter having shot with the DCRA for many years. He shot with the Canadian team to Bisley numerous times. His notebook contains an impressive list of trophies and medals.

He was one of the early DCRA members who attempted to get the 7.62 conversions to shoot. His No. 4 has some interesting forend bedding modifications (allowed by the DCRA at that time). Reading his notes from 1966/67, the last configuration he worked on before he passed away was with the barrel nearly entirely bedded in the forend with polyester resin to the muzzle. He never got to shoot it in this final configuration. Going thru his notebook and scorebook, he had only put about 200 rounds thru the barrel.

Eventually, the UK NRA and DCRA figured out the problem with the DCRA conversions was poor quality of 7.62 service ammunition. This was true of UK and Canadian service ball ammunition. With a good match bullet and handloads, these are probably the best shooting No. 4 rifles.

Here is my third 10 shot 200 yard group, shot prone in the sling with my handloads: 168 Sierra MatchKing, 40.0 grains of Varget. First shot was low in the 10 ring, so held a bit higher on the front sight, remaining 9 shots all in the X ring but one, a 10.9. This rifle shoots, no question about it.

At some point, I’ll bring this rifle back to the range and shoot it at 300, 600, 800 and 1000 yds. Curious how the forend bedding does at longer ranges.

Yes, it is. I had to turn the borescope light intensity way town, the bore is so bright it reflected too much light into the camera.

Except for the new CBI .303 barrel I installed on my Fulton 4 Mk I/3 earlier this year, this is the nicest barrel I have on any of my No. 4’s. Looking through my score book plot sheets, I found one 300 yard target I shot a few weeks after the one I posted above. Wished I had taken a photo of it. The group was even tighter, the vertical spread was less than 1 MOA for the ten shots. I’ll need to do some additional shooting with this rifle, I’m very curious how it will do at 600 yds, and perhaps try the 168 gr TMK as well at long range. I wished Dad’s friend Norm could have seen this.

For long range shooting (800 and 1000 yds) with my other (Dad's) DCRA, I've pumped up the load to 44 grains of Varget with the 168 grain Tipped MatchKing. It's a stout load for sure, about equivalent in pressure to the 7.62 NATO loads at the time (and a mid range load per the Hodgdon load tables for .308 Win). The critical variable here with this load is to NOT seat the TMK to magazine length, that will substantially increase pressures, it is a much longer bullet than the 168 grain SMK. I seat the TMK to within 0.020 inches from the lands, 2.95 inches in the Long Branch 7.62 barrel.