Any SMLE guys out there?

Received good news today, my #4 MKI is on its way back to Texas and is now a like new scout rifle.





This rifle came to me as a partial trade as an owner butchered sporter. It had spent its life as a truck gun/hog killer on a Texas ranch. Once I got all the gunk out of the barrel, I suspect it had never been cleaned, it was an incredible shooter.

It has been gone a year and a half but will be worth the wait as Robert Bose has always delivered a fine product. The work was:

• Manganese parkerize metal
• Cut & crown barrel
• Install ramped front sight regulated for the SMLE flip peep sights
• Install XS SMLE scout scope mount
• Fit ATI synthetic stock
• Fiberglass buttstock for recoil pad mount (stock is hollow).
• Install Decelerator recoil pad
• Mount scope & boresight

Awesome rifle.

Looks like a rifle buile for you RD. I know you are a scout rifle fan.
Something tells me a few hogs are going to meet its wrath soon.

Thanks for your comments fellows! Hog medicine!

that pill should really mess up hogs day.

VERY NICE!!

Well done!

Great looking gun. Best sporterized SMLE I ever seen!

Thanks, guys. My intent was to match my two Savage 10FCM Scouts in this work. Think it worked out well.

It does!

I've also shot the Woodleigh 215-grain round nose of tiger killing fame, and it is crazy what they do to a large hog. It will pick them up and dump them several feet downrange. I had it do that to a large hog and kill another large hog that was back in the brush 40 yards, that I didn't see. Before it killed that hog, the Woodleigh killed a mesquite 10 yards in front of the distant hog. The first hog was at 70 yards and the second out of sight hog was at 110 yards. All three, including the mesquite (cut it clean off the stump), where DRT.

The cast bullet isn't a slouch in this regard either. I'm casting with a 60/40 linotype/wheel-weight alloy that I water quench which settles in at 29 BHN. I had a hog enter a feeder pen and at the shot, the 31-210H hit the tee-post (70-yards) but held together and remained stable hitting the hog at POA. It picked the hog up and dumped it dead.





I never really "got" the 303 British until I bought one and did a chamber cast for cast bullets. It has a very long throat to accommodate heavy, for caliber, bullets. It is a super cast bullet rifle as it's max chamber pressure matches what a gas checked, water quenched bullet can work with.

That Woodleigh is a near a buck each, the cast bullet less than a nickel.

I have a sporterized No.4 Mk 1 that was built by Savage for the Lend-Lease program. I picked it up last year and put a Leupold scope on it to use as a backup rifle for my New Mexico black bear hunt (primary rifle was a sporter Springfield 1903) and I'm looking forward to shooting some deer with it this fall.

That is a very nice looking SMLE Harrier. I have two other SMLEs, both sporters; a No. 5 that was a gunsmith school project rifle back in the '60s and a Gibbs Summit.

The school project rifle was sporterized to look like a Rem 600, to include the rib. I figured only a 600 lover would like it, so I bought cheaper than any rifle I've ever bought. It had a nice Hawke scope on it, so I sold that and ended up being into the rifle for about $65. I mounted an old Weaver base to the steel rib, and it is now a scout rifle. It is butt ugly but delivers. It has become my foul weather hunting rifle when it is so foul that I don't want to take any of my other rifles out into the weaver. He is a friend of mine shooting it offhand.



It is goofy looking but whoever built it did very good work. The rib has a deep "V" in it and incorporated open sights; a threaded rear sight that raised and lower with a turn and a dovetail front sight. The open aft end of the SMLE reciever had been professional bridged with steel so a standard set of short scope bases can be mount directly on the receiver, over the bore. I don't use the sights because of my scout mount, I removed then an placed a blank in the muzzle dovetail. I ran across a retired gunsmith school instructor that said: "hey, one of my students built that rifle in the '60s".

The Gibbs Summit is a remanufactured No 4 MkI that they rebarreled and chambered for the 45-70 Govt. It is a very impressive rifle but will soon be on its way to NE so that the fellow who worked on my SMLE Scout can mill a scout base for it. That's all I'm going to have him do to this rifle.

Nice rifle Ranch Dog!

You already know the story on this guy, first deer rifle stolen and recovered many years later. I have since passed it down to my youngest son.

Not very good pic. Here's my 1947 SMLE #4.

Nice rifles and to have those prices again!

I have always wanted one of those enfields chambered in 45-70

I really enjoy mine, easy to reload, fun gun to shoot, haven't had chance to used it hunting. Used Addley Precision Scope Mounts so no modifications were needed

really nice scout rifle ranch dog!

I've always wanted a No4 MK1 or 2 but haven't had a chance to pick one up yet. I was lucky enough to get a Ishapore 2A1 last year from a friend of mine. somebody had drilled and tapped it for a scope mount so for a while I gave some thought to turning it into a scout rifle but ended up making a cheek piece for it and then added an old steel tube 2 power scope.

sort of going for the No4 Mk1 T sniper rifle look.

I got an ATI mount and had my gunsmith install it. It required removal of the rear sight, but I kept it because I may go back to iron sights. Here's a shot of it with the scope on it.

Some really nice looking rifles on here -- great thread!

Didn't get a chance to take the rifle out until Saturday. I had a few rounds that I had loaded with for my sporterized No. 5, about the only thing I can get that rifle to shoot, so I grabbed them and went up to the range. Didn't take long to sight in the No. 4 at 100 yards.



The first round was the high hole, I just turned a "handful" of negative elevation and shot another, which is the hole about 2" low. I was like "sweet," so I counted the positive clicks up. The third shot was a bullseye, so I raised the POI an inch and put three through the same hole one-inch high. I had a couple of old hard drives hanging on a wire and sent a hole through them. That left me with two rounds, which I thought I ought to save just in case I could find a hog to shoot. Here is the load.



Took the rifle out this morning. Had some hogs come to a feeder while it was still dark, just black silhouettes against the gold grass, about 80 yards out. Put the crosshairs on one, at the shot the sounder went into the heavy brush. I thought I would wait about an hour to see if a doe would come out as I have some managed land permits and one round of ammo left, an important ingredient in a hog/venison sausage recipe mix! A couple of bucks came out and would stare at the brushline the hogs had moved into, so I knew he was down. I waited about an hour, and just inside the brushline, I figured out what the bucks had been looking at. The coyotes had eaten half my hog, rookie mistake on my part. I never heard them.

Awesome shooting. It's good to know you're getting results with the Prvi Partisan bullets.