What is your favorite WW2 Bolt action?

[Tikirocker]

I think your assertion that Lee Enfields are unreliable in a fight or as a battle rifle because of your own personal experience vs that of dozens of Allied nations having used them in countless battles and two World Wars with no such problems IS indeed pretty absurd. There is no passion here other than incredulity - you're pretty fired up that's for sure.

Again the question ... how do you load your Enfield? - I'll bet you now it is your loading that is the issue ... beyond that you should do one of two things, sell them or buy new magazines.

 

[FirstFreedom]

I think we'll have to agree to disagree, for now. The only thing I can think of to reconcile the difference between its reputation & long service length, and my experience, is that, although it is indeed sensitive to being out of spec, the fact is (or may be) that with the thickness and strength of the magazine feed lips, it is quite difficult to actually knock them out of spec, even with repeated banging/dropping - and it's just the case that I got unlucky and twice got a hold of some really unusually jacked up mags.

Again the question ... how do you load your Enfield?

Sometimes by hand, sometimes by strippers - regardless, the result is the same.

I'll bet you now it is your loading that is the issue

Of course I don't. To the contrary, I know that it's nothing I am doing. As I've said repeatedly, this is a MAGAZINE-related problem.

beyond that you should do one of two things, sell them or buy new magazines.

Well, I've fixed them now, but yes, new magazines are the key. As I said, being in spec is the key to making these rifles work. When everything is in spec, they are indeed very reliable. The question is, how long before they're dropped and thus bent out of spec? Perhaps a long time.....

 

[Gewehr98]

Having owned many Lee-Enfields over the years...

I find FF's magazine failures to be both anecdotal and indicative of something relating to poor treatment or maintenance of his particular rifle. Those symptoms are definitely not something attributable to Lee Enfield rifles as a whole, nor do they reflect on the performance of the entire genre through two world wars and numerous other conflicts.

I had a Canadian Long Branch No4Mk1* that did something similar, and is was due to bent feed lips on the box magazine. Using my No5Mk1 Jungle Carbine's box magazine as a pattern, I tweaked the No4's mag back to spec. No problems feeding ammo afterwards.

Here's the rifle, since sold to somebody who had money burning a hole in their pocket:

 

[Tikirocker]

Well I think you're being more reasonable with your position reworked a tad - yes, any rifle that has a major component in a state of damage or disrepair is not going to work at it's optimum level - indeed you can extrapolate that to almost anything in the world; cars, planes, computers etc etc.

So if you are saying that with damaged or faulty magazines that the Lee Enfield rifle becomes unreliable then should anyone be surprised? We can hardly at that point blame the rifle itself since at this point it 'isn't operating to spec and nor has it then been maintained to spec - does this mean the RIFLE is unreliable? No ... I don't think so. This is the point I was making.

When everything is in spec, they are indeed very reliable. The question is, how long before they're dropped and thus bent out of spec? Perhaps a long time.....

Lee Enfield magazines are never supposed to be removed from the rifles but for minor cleaning and maintenance - there is no reason for them to get dropped or dinged and they are virtually impossible to remove by being simply knocked or bumped - they don't fall out even when deliberately struck. Furthermore Enfield magazines are never supposed to be loaded off the rifle ... the magazine should always be charged whilst attached to the rifle otherwise problems such as those you have described can occur - previous owners may have done such a thing and slapped the loaded mags into the rifle causing damage to the magazine itself - this is a no no and shows ignorance of the charging procedure. If you use charger loading with normal healthy magazines you'll have a totally reliable and rugged Lee Enfield ... the same one that earned that reputation in the hands of dozens of nations for more than 60 years and counting..

It sounds to me as though you got some abused magazines ... the rifle was not at fault, the previous owners were - hence user error.

 

[Tikirocker]

Gerwehr

find FF's magazine failures to be both anecdotal and indicative of something relating to poor treatment or maintenance of his particular rifle. Those symptoms are definitely not something attributable to Lee Enfield rifles as a whole, nor do they reflect on the performance of the entire genre through two world wars and numerous other conflicts.

My point precisely ...

I had a Canadian Long Branch No4Mk1* that did something similar, and is was due to bent feed lips on the box magazine. Using my No5Mk1 Jungle Carbine's box magazine as a pattern, I tweaked the No4's mag back to spec. No problems feeding ammo afterwards.

Most Enfield owners I know are collectors - then there are my still living great uncles in Britain ... one who served as a Spec Forces Commando with the Chindits under Wingate fighting that Japanese behind enemy lines in the Burma for 2 years. He never had any jams in his two years of fighting and blowing up railroads ... there's some anecdotal right there.

 

[FirstFreedom]

never had ONE jam? If that is the case, then you are right - that is contrary anecdotal first-hand!

 

[Tikirocker]

Not contrary at all ... soldiers are trained to maintain their equipment.

Enjoy ,,, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck66O0osLhQ&mode=related&search=

 

[p99guy]

No4MK2 1955 Faz....Beauty

Shot with C3000Z. at 2007-06-23

 

[sneaky pete]

What about the 6.5x55 Swed ?

Old Sneaky here: Although Sweden wasn't a participant in WW II Their rifles did fight during it via Finland. The gevar m41 Sniper was developed from the best of the m96s because of WW II and did fight with the Finns so I guess that it qualifies. I own the /B upgrade and it is sooooo sweet to shoot and accurate also. In my opinion, based on the info that I get fron the ballistics tables, the 6.5 bullet is ballistically more accurate than any of the other cartridges of WW II. The 139gr fmjbt has a BC of 0.616 and the 144 gr fmjbt has a BC of 0.636 these were issue mil-surp rounds where as the BCs of the .308(30-06) is around 0.488+/- and at the loadings for the M2 ball it is SUB_sonic at 1000. Accuracy, reliablity with VERY mild recoil, what else would you want. And their bayonets are really cool also. THANX--SNEAKY

 

[Dannyboy303]

Id have to go for the lee-enfield. apart from the lipped cartridge being i think its only downfall in the magazine it'd have to be the most reliable rifle ive fired