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The Lee Enfield Rifle
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Updated Jul 05

    I plan on displaying pictures that I have collected (and I am still taking submissions) Of chopped up sporterized Enfields and pictures of other uses of enfield parts, such as lamps, paper weights, cribboards, etc... made of Enfield bits.
    First who is bubba? Bubba is anyone who takes an original Military configuration rifle and proceeds to take hacksaw and file to it in order to improve it, or to make it a handier deer hunting rifle. Now why would anyone want to do that? Well I surmise that after the last big war (WWII) almost all militaries were replacing bolt action rifles with lighter self loading, or semi auto rifles. The market was suddenly flooded with cheap military surplus rifles, chambered in a variety of fairly powerful .30 calibers, 7mm and 8mm military rounds. These rifles did not look like the sporting rifles of the day, so when Bubba, looking for a great deal, bought these rifles he wanted to make them look and feel like a modern hunting rifle So with a few simple tools the conversion took place in the garage. Normally this involved removing the full wood stock, cutting off the last few inches of barrel to remove the bayonet lugs or foresite, then add new sights or tap and drill for a scope, and you have a sporterized military rifle.
    These bubba'ed rifles should not be confused with the Parker Hale or BSA.Co production of sporterized rifles. (both companies now a meer shadow or their former industrial might, confined by draconian British gun laws to produce air rifles, and shooting accessories for local markets, and left unable to compete in the global firearms markets) There were a few other companies that also bought large lots of surplus rifles and left over rifle parts and made conversions, GLOBCO, Navy Arms, Golden State Arms (Santa Fee), Gibbs Rifle Company, just to name a few,and I suppose I will have to include Essential Agencies Ltd. (EAL) in this group as well. All these companies did a fair job for the most part, so these rifles are not really bubba creations, but many were improved later by bubba. There is nothing sadder then finding a nice Parker Hale or BSA target rifle that has been reduced to junk value by someone with a hacksaw, or the EAL that was drilled and tapped 2 or 3 times for different scope mounts and then had the stock lightened. Some of the companies ended up with a bad reputation for selling off replica No5 Jungle Carbines, Tanker Carbines, and other creations, passing them off as rare experimental rifles or hard to find versions. So I will group these rifles together, Parker Hale, BSA.Co and other fine (British) rifles in one catagory, and all the others here. (just plain old snobbery)
    So would I take my tools to an Enfield? That all depends on the shape that it is in when I get it. If the metal is unmolested, and it’s just missing parts (wood and metal) then its an ideal candidate for full restoration. Lets look at the GLOBCO sporterized Savage, wood is cut, barrel is shortened and the charger bridge and upper part of the receiver milled away. No chance of restoring this rifle, parts gun, or project gun. Next is the Savage with the over stamped serial number, wood is cut and barrel shortened, many parts mismatched. Restoration is possible, with a replacement barrel but costly, and the rifle is already a collection of parts, so also a candidate for the machine shop. I figure if you have to replace the barrel you might as well get something interesting. The BSA.Co Target rifle however is a restorable rifle, missing wood and metal parts but the barrel and receiver are uncut, serial numbers and stampings all visible and matching.

Some viewers may find the following content disturbing.

No4 Mk1* GLOBCO sporterized Savage Receiver was scrubbed of almost all of the markings but retains a US flaming bomb proof mark, the bolt retains a Savage serial number	My original thoughts for this rifle was to use it as a parts rifle or to take the bubba process to the next level, re-barrel to 45-70. When I cleaned it up the bore was so sharp and shiny, and it shoots nice groups, so I decided to use it as a truck gun
No4 MkI* I recently bought another sporterized Savage, pictures to follow.	The rifle is a collection of parts, the receiver is a Savage, but all the other parts are a mix from the various British factories. The serial number is another odd feature, it was originally a Savage xxCxxxx, but the C was over struck with a 6, changing the serial number. The Savage 'square S' was also struck out on the receiver. It has a 2 groove barrel that had been cut short and poorly crowned. I fixed the crown on the lathe, but the barrel is not in great shape, dark bore and slightly off center, (~.010") perhaps this will be the rifle that gets converted to 45-70 or 444 marlin or some other interesting large bore. As an added feature it has a no gunsmith S&K scope mount.
No1 Configuration BSA.Co Comercial target rifle pictures to follow.	Why is this here, well It was a target rifle but someone decided to improve it by removing a significant part of the forestock, and other wood bits, and getting rid of that ridiculously big clunky micrometer adjustable peep site. This is one of those sad cases that I mentioned above, but I only paid $25 for it so why not. I will be looking for original parts to restore this rifle
Long Lee	I had a 1901 LE I* that had the barrel cut to 18" but I sold it, I may still have pictures, so perhaps this will be another page in the future
Others	I have a few No1 MkIII and III* that I will be linking here as well from my main Enfield Rifle page. Many of them have, over the better part of the century, suffered at the hands of bubba. Most only the wood was savaged and metal bits lost, some have suffered worse fates and have had metal removed from barrels and receivers, a horrible fate worse then death.