E.A.L. Enfield at the cabin

[u/a_shifty_tomato]

Feeling very Canadian this week so I felt the need to share my own piece of a small and often unknown corner of Longbranch Enfield rifle production!

The last Lee-Enfield variant produced in Canada, the EAL rifle appears to be a quasi-joint venture by the crown corporation CAL (Canadian Arsenals Limited) and a private company/retailer EAL (Essential Agencies Limited). The history is rather convoluted and is better summarized here:

https://sites.google.com/site/essentialagenciesltd/home

...however the TL;DR is that these rifles were built from the spare parts Longbranch had lying around after military orders for Lee-Enfield rifles dried up. The guns were sold to the RCAF as survival rifles for aircrew and on the civilian market as hunting rifles through Eaton's and other retailers.

EAL rifles are often confused for aftermarket sporterized Enfield rifles, but each EAL gun was built from the ground up in this configuration and in my opinion should not be considered sporterized.

My example is what is known in collector circles as a late-model Type B, distinguished by its two-position flip rear sight and layout of markings on the left side of the receiver. A distinctive mark of all EAL rifles is that the charger bridge (for feeding stripper clips or "chargers" in British English) has been completely machined off and a factory recoil-pad installed.

Shooting-wise it feels just like a standard No.4 Lee-Enfield... because it pretty much is... but in excellent condition as they were manufactured and sold as brand new rifles in the late 1940s and 1950s. I've had excellent accuracy with mine and it handles very well. The original Jostam "Anti-Flinch" recoil pad is miraculously still soft and works well to dampen hot .303 loads. Overall, a certified Canadian classic with vintage Lee-Enfield and civilian sporting vibes!

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