Looks good!  

One has the forend barrel bearing at the sling swivel band, the other was an experimental bedding method, the entire barrel channel is glass filled.  It was done in attempt to make it shoot well with crappy Canadian 7.62 Ball ammo before the DCRA and UK NRA realized all their troubles with the 7.62 conversions were because of poor quality ammo. 

Both shoot exceptionally good with 168 gr SMKs, 40 gr Varget.   I’ve got a picture somewhere with ten shots at 300 yards prone on the SR target all in the 10 ring with most shots (I think 8/10) in the 1 MOA X-ring. Very respectable for a SR(b) Service Rifle. 

Both rifles are Mk 2 actions with Beech furniture.  And I think they were both unissued No. 4 Mk 2 rifles, original wood.  The finish does seem to be some type of varnish or urethane, don’t know what.  

Wish I could find a proper 7.62 magazine. 

Have you tried to measure the pressure on the bearings from the barrel?  

Do you have ejection of the empty case?  I tried using a 7.62 extractor and was able to get a very weak ejection, but gave up on it and I remove the empty case with my fingers. 

Mine has shown sub moa groups with careful handloads. 

 I have postive ejection and excellent feeding. The key is a adding a tab on the mag lip to eject rounds..The shorter rimless 7.62 case will not eject with receiver friction. I have found that adding too much extractor pressure trying to increase friction at receiver wall will cause feeding issues. So set up the extractor to grip the case without jamming on feed cycle and tig a little tab on the mag lip to eject the case.

I could have misread this but, if I infact did read it correctly,  the only contact the barrel should have with the forend is at the muzzle. I have setup my No4Mk1* LB this way and have zero issues with accuracy.  The only contact the action has is where it sits in the forend and where the trigger guard contacts the wood with a solid connection with the king screw spacer. I know there are numerous written articles about accurizing the Enfield rifle but find the original bedding information from Enfield to be satisfactory. 

It wasn’t until competitive service rifle shooting resumed after WWII that considerable experimentation took place to find ways to improve the accuracy of the No. 4 rifle for target shooting purposes.   Some of this is described in E.G.B. Reynolds book, and in later articles he wrote.  My mid band bedded 7.62 conversion is my most accurate No. 4 closely followed by my “Center” bedded Fulton Regulated No.4.  The advantage these bedding methods give is much less influence from changing temperature and humidity conditions as the barrel free floats forward of the barrel bearing.  Imagine laying out in the hot sun shooting prone, then it starts to rain, then the sun comes out again (typical English summer weather), the forend warps and pushes the barrel off to one side or up/down at the muzzle bearing of a standard bedded rifle.  Even laying the rifle down on its side would change the zero, sun on one side, damp cool grass on the other.  These guys knew what they were doing…

My rifle was converted by myself using a Savage receiver. I found the barrel online still in a wax wrap.  It is one of the experimental barrels for the L8 series project and made of chromium molybdenum alloy with a hard chromium plated chamber. It has been proofed to 22.3 tons. My chosen handload using 41.5grns of IMR4064 is well under the established 45,000 CUP of the 303B...

The CA stamp is just below the woodline. It is dated 61 and has a 6 groove right hand twist rifling. The barrel was full length when I recieved it and it retained the bayonet lugs like the the 303 counterpart and no, there are/where no other stamps on or around the muzzle area.

By the way old dust - which no drill scope mount did you use on this?

I’ve collected numerous articles written by Maj E.G.B Reynolds on the work done by the UK NRA on development of the 7.62 Conversion rifles in the late 1950’s thru 1960’s which eventually became the Target Rifle (TR) Class.  Many experiments were conducted on forend bedding and also by brazing a reinforcing strap to the action body to add stiffness.   SQN LDR Dave Reynolds (RCAF), DCRA Armourer also wrote about this subject and collected shooting results data from various bedding methods from the DCRA team sent to Bisley.  

This work eventually resulted in the 4 lb heavy barrel allowed in the TR Class and installed on the L39, L42, Enforcer, etc.

My conclusion was that it was really the ammunition that was causing the problem, poor quality made in worn out WWII machinery. 

My own experiments with DA 59, 60, 61 and 62 ball ammunition that was used at the time confirms the problem was ammunition, particularly the poor control of charge weights which varied by as much as 4 grains between cartridges in the same lot.  This translated into significant vertical dispersion on the target.  Bullet quantity was surprising good as pulled bullets from this ammunition reloaded in re-metered charges and with my own match load with 40.0 gr Varget shot very good. 

Olddust, 

Nice rifle, sadly there are very few genuine DCRA No.4's in the UK although there are some No.4's with Canadian barrels less bayonet lugs.  

Geoff, I think I posted once before that until some Raufoss 7.62mm was gifted to some UK shooters they didn't realise just how bad the offering from Radway Green was! 

During the 1980's RG had improved considerably with Green Spot and Black Spot, I managed my first ever "possible" with Black Spot at 800 yards on a windless morning at Bisley however, I digress from the point of my reply which is actually the difference in parlance between our two countries sport of historic competition shooting.

In the UK when we talk of rifle classifications the term SR"b" only refers to .303 target rifles, when the era of 7.62mm descended on Bisley everything became TR (Target Rifle) although in the world of historic shooting there had to be some term dividing various rifle conversions for the purpose of competition.

The NRA (UK) denotes a converted rifle to take the "new" 7.62mm calibre is known over here as Transitional, this applies to any Enfield be it a target rifle or sniper rifle like the L42A1, the term would also apply to say an Israeli K98 converted to 7.62mm. 

One of the competitions that the HBSA (Historical Breechloading Smallarms Association) put on over here is called the Green Spot for Transitional target rifles giving a nod to the period of changeover.   

  

My Dad shot in SR(b) matches in the 1960’s, prior to the new TR class being introduced, where both .303 and 7.62 conversions.  Reynolds also wrote about this, so I believe there was a transition where SR(b) matches were shot with .303 and 7.62 conversions with service length and service weight barrels and full length forends.  

The 28 inch long Kongsberg 4 lb heavy barrel appeared about at the time the new TR rules were adopted (late 1967) which now allowed a maximum rifle weight of 13.5 lbs w/o the sling.  Canada adopted essentially the same TR Rules in 1968, which was right after my Dad got out of DCRA competitive shooting.  This new TR rifle would not be eligible for SR(b) events for obvious reasons.  

Today we wonder why target shooters did not try handloads in the No. 4 7.62 conversions but at the time, ammunition was provided at the matches and handloads would have been prohibited. 

The other thing Geoff is that handloading wasn't a widely accepted concept in the UK; during the inter-war years the Match Rifle fraternity made up of high-ranking army officers and the titled aristocracy did a number of experiments at long range, (think 1200 yards shot in the supine position) which led to the further development of the MkVII .303 round. 

All of their handloading was done with the help of both ICI (Imperial Chemicals Industary) and Kynock using a variety of home grown products and imported propellants from the USA. 

It wasn't until the early 1960/70's that reloading materials and presses became more commonplace over here.

A few years ago, the NRA (UK) published a notice saying that the use of 155gr ammunition was dangerous in No.4 actions unless they had been re-proofed to 20tons.

The outcry and demands for proof were very loud indeed leading to the NRA issuing a statement saying that L39's, Envoys etc were exempt and that the statement was "advisory". 

The damage had been done though and LERA decided that we should not use 155gr ammunition in club owned rifles.

At the time I was TR Captain and decided to work up a load using the 150gr SMK which was quite successful up to 600 yards (I rarely shot it at 900 or 1000) imagine my surprise when I found out that the 44gr's of N140 I was using was the same load developed in the 1970's by many Bisley shooters in search of more accuracy from their Enfield's. 

Major Reynolds name keeps cropping up so let me tell you I named one of our LERA SR"b" matches after him and leave you with this little bit of trivia; I found Major Reynolds name in the 1930 Bisley prize list in which he won £2 in the second stage of the Kings Prize, he's described as Corporal EGB Reynolds late of the 11th battalion Rifle Brigade! 

   

I know you know (and were involved) but I guess many here won't know anything about the arguments.

The 'revised' instructions / warnings ended up as :

NRA Safety Notice re No 4 7.62mm Conversions

This is the current stance of the NRA safety warning which first appeared in the Summer NRA Journal:

Safety Notice
Enfield No 4 Rifle Conversions to 7.62mm

A safety warning concerning the use of Enfield No 4 Rifle actions converted to 7.62mm was published in the Summer 2010 Journal.

After further consideration of all factors influencing safety of these conversions and consultation with the Birmingham Proof Master, the following advice must be adhered to in respect of the use of Enfield No 4 conversions:

• Owners of Enfield No 4 actioned rifles converted to 7.62mm currently proofed to 19 tons per square inch are strongly advised to have them re-proofed to the current CIP standard (requiring a minimum mean proof pressure of 5190 bar) which allows the use of CIP approved ammunition with a Maximum Average Working Pressure (MAWP) of 4150 Bar.

• Conversions retaining their original Enfield barrel or a replacement barrel as manufactured by RSAF Enfield are safe to use with commercial CIP approved ammunition, which complies with a MAWP of 4150 bar, loaded with any weight of bullet, providing they carry a valid proof mark, and are still in the same condition as when submitted for proof.

• Conversions fitted with any other make of barrel (such as Ferlach, Maddco, Krieger etc) should be checked by a competent gunsmith to determine the throat diameter of the chamber/barrel fitted before use.

• Conversions where the throat diameter is less than the CIP specification of 0.311” but not smaller than 0.3085” must not be used with ammunition which exceeds 3650 Bar MAWP when fired in a SAAMI/CIP pressure barrel.

• Conversions which have been checked and found to comply with Rule 150 may safely be used with any ammunition supplied by the NRA including the 155 grain Radway Green Cartridge, 155 grain RUAG Cartridge or any other commercial CIP Approved cartridges loaded with bullets of any weight provided that the ammunition pressure does not exceed 3650 Bar when measured in a CIP standard barrel.

• Owners of Enfield No 4 actioned rifles converted to 7.62mm who are uncertain as to the proof status of the rifle should have it checked by a competent gunsmith.

• Owners of Enfield No 4 actioned rifles in any calibre are strongly advised not to use them in wet weather or without removing all traces of oil from action and chamber prior to shooting.

• Enfield No 4 rifles which are fitted with a barrel which has a throat diameter less than 0.3085” must not be used on Bisley Ranges.

• Ammunition loaded with bullets of any weight which are of greater diameter than the throat diameter of the barrel must not under any circumstances be used on Bisley Ranges in any rifle or barrel of any manufacture.

 

***** The NRA seem to forget that the Lee Enfield spent many years of active use in varying conditions thru' Mud, Snow, Rain and Sand - but suddenly they can no longer be used in wet weather.

Mick, interesting discovery on Corporal Reynolds.  He published numerous articles in the American Rifleman (US NRA Journal) on the 7.62 conversions and development of the TR.  

Armourer, I agree with the comment about shooting in the rain, wet/oily chambers.  Although I do believe keeping it clean and free from oil is good practice to minimize bolt thrust loads.

I just looked at the thread info & its already in the 7.62 sub forum!

This was after umpteen people had gone into the range office at Bisley demanding to know who had written the first draft that appeared in the NRA Journal.

We had our suspicions who was responsible, and we believe he didn't have the authority to write it in the first place!   

I don’t really have any worries over shooting my 7.62 conversions because I handload mild charges.  Now, having said that, I’ve loaded up some 155 and 175 Matchkings to moderately high .308 Win velocities (not max) in an attempt to get the electronic targets at 1000 yards to register hits (requires supersonic velocities) but this will be a very limited set of tests with less than 50 rounds, so not worried. 

"This was after umpteen people had gone into the range office at Bisley demanding to know who had written the first draft that appeared in the NRA Journal.We had our suspicions who was responsible, and we believe he didn't have the authority to write it in the first place! "

Oh that sounds just SO familiar.