enfield no5 jungle carbine

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milsurp man
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Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 2:04 pm

enfield no5 jungle carbine

Post by milsurp man » Fri Feb 25, 2005 3:14 pm

I have heard rumor of a wandering zero, whatever that is supposed to mean. Is there any alteration to the stock bedding or do I not need to even bother if by some chance I experience sporadic shots at the range? Oh yeah, can this be converted to 308 win or should I search for another rifle?
milsurp man

Villimus Rex

No5 mkI

Post by Villimus Rex » Sun Mar 06, 2005 10:01 am

"Wandering zero" refers to the rifle tendency to not hold a zero. This is not so much that it will move about while you are in the midst of a shooting session, rather if you zero you rifle today, when you go shootong next week it may be printing its groups in a different place on the target. The Brits never really nailed down the problem and in 1946 the No5 carbine was declared obsolete it the British Army. The best reason they could come up with for the problem relates to the lightening cuts in the reciever and barrel. These made for a very flexible (relatively) reciever and barrel assy.The stock being wood, swells and shrinks with changes in weather and this in turn flexes (minutely) the barrel and reciever thus effecting the zero.
That is what the Brits say and it makes sense to me. There are No5 clones made on cut down No4 rifles. As a group these do not suffer from the above ailment and are good shooters assuming the rifle is in good condition and the conversion was carried out with care.
As for converting to .308, I'd pass on that. It is possible but can be expensive and frought with problems. The Brits and Candians did convert some No4s to .308: new bolt headand extractor, ejector, barrel, recalibrated sights and if it was to be used as a repeater, a new magazine. Many of those parts are hard to find. Better, I think to get one of the Indian 2A1s that Gibbs Rifle has converted to carbine configuration. The 2A1 is made from the ground up as a .308 and is not a conversion from .303. They are generally very good shooters.

milsurp man
Newbie
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 2:04 pm

Post by milsurp man » Tue Mar 29, 2005 7:19 pm

Thank You for the wealth of information Mr. V Rex. I see you are retired military, good for you. I seem to be doing just fine with my no5. I also have a swiss model 31 and an M1 carbine I like to kill hogs and coyote with. The Swiss is by far the best Milsurp I have ever shot.
milsurp man

Villimus Rex

Post by Villimus Rex » Mon Apr 04, 2005 8:15 am

Yes sir, I would agree with you on the Swiss K31. After selling a few of them I decided to get one and try it out. They have very smooth triggers averaging about 3-3.5 lbs and are a delight to shoot. Also their design and quality of fabrication is a marvel. I only wish I have convenient access to an outdoor range. Any range I have access to is half a tank of gas away. Untill gas goes back down, my shooting is confined to indoor ranges.

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