How should I unsportized my Mk4?

[u/Jack_inboxx]

I never posted here before, but considering the issue I'm facing and the people in this group, this is the perfect opportunity.

I just bought my first firearm with my PAL! Got it for 260 at a local gun show in my province, it's a Lee Endfield Mk4 if I'm not wrong and I'm trying to figure out how to unsportize it and bring it back to it's original glory, any help is greatly appreciated

[u/s13silvia]

I’m not an Enfield expert, but I know enough to be dangerous.
You have a No4 Lee Enfield. Since it has the flip rear sight I believe that’s a Mk2 or later change.

It looks like the barrel has been shortened, but I can’t tell by how much. No4s should have a bayonet lug on the barrel, and yours is missing it. Depending on how much barrel has been removed will determine how expensive it will be to restore to military configuration.

[u/Jack_inboxx → u/s13silvia]

The vendor informed me during the sale that the barrel isn't original unfortunately

[u/s13silvia → u/Jack_inboxx]

That makes sense. If it’s long enough, you may be able to make it work. You won’t be able to mount a bayonet though. Otherwise your option is to re-barrel with an unmodified one.

[u/Jack_inboxx → u/s13silvia]

Would it be an issue for the forestock?

[u/s13silvia → u/Jack_inboxx]

Possibly. Financially speaking, your best bet is to buy an unsporterized one. Enfields are over designed, and there is a lot of work that needs to go into making them as accurate as they can be. If you want a project and are willing to spend more time and money to get one that may be as accurate as an unmolested one, then go for it.

If I was in your shoes I would keep this one as is and pick up an unmodified one.

I recommend buying the book on a milsurp first. You learn a lot and can buy with a lot of knowledge.

[u/Q-Ball7 → u/Jack_inboxx]

Just stop.

Don't bother rebarreling or restocking this. It is not worth your money or your time. All you should be doing at this point is making sure the draws are intact and not cracked, because the wood on these things are 80 years old and that part's actually important. If they are, either buy a new stock set from Boyd's (or some no-name synthetic stock) or do something to seal them up.

Then, just put a bunch of rounds through it.

Internet gun people get butthurt about muh sporterization but the truth is that shortening these guns actually does improve them somewhat (these things were always a bit too long for what they are- a holdover from the pre-WW1 days where guns were essentially spears with miniature cannons attached to them), and that use is just as much a part of its history as its military provenance was.

And provided you're buying online, there really isn't that much of a price premium for .303 compared to .308. Yeah, you pay (at worst) 10 bucks more for a box of 20, but you also got the gun for 200 dollars less than a Savage Axis usually costs (this thing is more fragile, has a worse trigger, and is less accurate... but it's also smoother, holds 10 rounds, and actually comes with sights), so you'd have to buy 400 rounds of .303 for the total cost of ownership on the Axis (and its cheaper ammunition) to balance out.

400 rounds is quite a few range trips for a rifle like this- that's more than enough time for you to figure out what you actually want, even if that is indeed just a heavier and longer version of this for 3x the price.

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