First post, guys.

I turned 18 a few months ago and decided, since I'm legally old enough, to start getting into rifles. I've been fascinated my whole life, but now I wanna shoot by myself. I don't currently own any rifles, but my father does, and never uses them so he doesn't care what I do with them. I've shot them all at some point in my life, but my favorite would have to be his 2 Lee Enfields. I plan on taking them out to Calverton, NY this summer, but I have a few questions.

They're Lee Enfield Mk. IV, No. 1, and Mk. IV No. 2 (I know that matters). I currently only have the magazines they came with, but I'm wondering if there are any more magazines I can purchase. I looked everywhere and can only find old, rare ones for about $50+. Are there any newer ones, commercially available, that will fit in the Mk IV? I heard the Mk IV can take Mk II and III magazines or something. Can someone fill me in on the differences on all the marks and numbers?

I'm really looking to hit the range this summer and put these and the rest of the rifles to good use, since my father is too busy to shoot anymore. Also, which ammunition should I use? For the Garands, my father and I used Federal boat-tail or something (I forgot the exact specs). Does Federal make good ammunition I can use? And How much will it be per round/box? I don't wanna get to the range and come up short for ammunition.

Thanks for answers in advance. This is the only rifle I haven't fully comprehended yet.

don't worry about the magazines, just get some stripper clips and reload that way.

however, promag makes some magazines, if you want original mags they run about 60 bucks each.

While Lee may have intended his design to use quick change magazines, the accounting boffins of the British Army were not going to pay for more than 1 magazine per soldier. The Brits still put up a damn high rate of fire in 1914, so much so that some German units reported being engaged by machine guns when they were facing regular (well-trained) British infantry. As usual, Wikipedia is a good starting place:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Enfield

According to Numrich, the magazines are NOT interchangeable btwn the No 1 Mk 3 & the No 4 Mk 1 & 2:

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Detail.aspx?pid=1139360A&catid=11952

On the Lee Enfields, it's always a good idea to check headspace.

Gig 'em,

backbencher

ETA - Added the word NOT above once I actually READ the Numrich advert.

Nice vids thanks for sharing.

Iirc the mags were only removable to make maintainence easier

Heh. I know Mr. Archer personally (though not exactly close friends). I can assuredly state that he was slightly peeved and slightly amused at some of Gunny Ermey's lines there, and that he's a good guy, a funny bastard, and a real hardass (sometimes all at once) in real life.

Also a vet of the British Army during the Troubles. Knows his shit.

For all intents and purposes there is no surplus .303 brit. There is a good selection of commercial ammo for it and some is fairly affordable. .313" is a common groove diamter for enfields. They generally range from .310" to .314". If you're going to be shooting these rifles regularly i suggest you start reloading.

Advntrjnky

You do realize that .303 is the land to land measurement? I'm pretty sure his rifles would measure pretty close to that. FYI that is why americans call their rifles that shoot .308" bullets .30 caliber......the land to land measurement is .300". The brits measure their barrels the same way, they just reference a different part of the bore than we do.

Advntrjnky