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smle or no4

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lee sugarfree View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lee sugarfree Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: smle or no4
    Posted: April 02 2011 at 6:52am
hello to everyone on this forum having got a k98 the some time ago i feel the need to buy a lee enfield to relive the great times i had watching my grandad shooting his i was wondering your thoughts on from a shooting point of view which shoots better a smle or a no4
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote White Rhino Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 02 2011 at 7:02am
Well Thats a Personal preference ... Every one has a favorite ....  You will have to find some one with both and shoot them to see which one You prefer !!!
"White Rhino"

"Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer." --W. C. Fields
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote A square 10 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 02 2011 at 11:40am
personally i prefer the "feel" of an SMLE [might be because its the first enfield i shot and owned-psychologically?] but my old eyes do not work with iron sights as well as they did in my teens and such , the no4s peep is better for me these days ,

but actually a scope makes things workable
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fazakerley Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 17 2011 at 5:38am
I would second using the No. 4 rifle as the one for shooting. Better sights for most of us, a heavier free floating barrel, mostly better trigger pull, esp. if you buy a MK 2. If your field is open, I'd go for an inter-war 1 Mk III or a postwar (WWII that is) MK 2 or MK1/3 as they are built with somewhat tighter chambers and weren't built under wartime pressure.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bophi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 11 2012 at 11:04am
what is the difference in the smle and the no. 4,
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 11 2012 at 9:46pm
S.M.L.E was the #1 Mk III (& III*) the differences are largely internal, but as a shooter you'll notice the sights are very different.
The S.M.L.E. has a open notch part way down the barrel, the #4 has a rear-mounted receiver peep sight.
Handling is very different. The S.M.L.E. has a noticeably nicer balance, but for a shooter I'd go with a No4.
If it makes any difference the muzzle is very different & they take different bayonets as well. (Just in case a target really annoys you)Clown

You can get target sights for both models, but that's a different discussion.



Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bophi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2012 at 8:11am
thanks, shamu. my no4 MKl is just like the pictures in color, i had seen another picture of a no4MKl with a different bolt it had a ball looking thing on the rear.. my bolt is not the org. as it has a different sn. etched on it. was the smle a 10 round mag.  bophi
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 12 2012 at 10:05pm
Yes the SMLE was a 10-rounder. AS for the bolt looking "odd" there were several versions of the rear of the cocking piece. One of them was a round "disk" at the rear, designed to make it easy to re-cock after a FTF in muddy trench conditions of WW1. This was replaced with the flat one with serrations shown on both rifles in the pics above. It could be "right" with either depending on when it was made. 
Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote A square 10 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2012 at 7:03am
in the end  you will want both , they are addicting
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