Replica L42A1 from a commercially targetised No4 Mk1 7.62

[SW583]

Usually my projects involve making useful stock bits for my metal stocks that I use for smallbore and fullbore, but have recently gone down a bit of a rabbit hole in older stuff.

I recently acquired a decent commercially targetised No4 and converted to 7.62 with the full magazine well modifications. It has a genuine hammerforged barrel and was essentially a L39 clone. It is Fazakerley made and was FTRd at some point - somebody tells me it was FTRd in NZ.

Very little has been done so far as I am awaiting parts for it, but I was very lucky to find a Fazakerley marked Mk1 rearsight in a parts bin which I modified by removing the battlesight and re-blacked over the exposed steel. I have compared it against genuine examples online and it looks the part. Just needs M stamped on the ladder to indicate "metricisation" but I will probably skip lowering the datum lines by 70 thou as I will likely never use the battlesight anyway. I have since received a correct rearsight retaining pin but have not yet had the chance to fit it.

Repro pads were acquired from Fultons and I have a mix of NOS and repro butt, buttplate, cheekpiece, and 26mm SAS scope mount on their way at the end of the month.

I have yet to decide what method of mounting pads I will follow, but most likely a combination of Peter Laidler's method on another forum for alignment and some of my own ideas, mainly for making a fixture to keep the action true to the mill in relation to the bore axis and rearsight pin hole.

[bradaz11]

you've cut off the battle sight, so I doubt you will use them. Why did they cut off the battle sight though?

[SW583]

you've cut off the battle sight, so I doubt you will use them. Why did they cut off the battle sight though?

Ah yes I realise I’ve called two different things as the battlesight. I meant to say the ladder or the main rearsight - I don’t know what it’s called. Micrometer rearsight?

The battlesights were removed on No4Ts and L42s to allow clearance for the scope.

[SW583]

@Richo - in response to your PM and just some additional general comments out of boredom.

I have had a look through your post history and it sounds like you had previously acquired a similar Enfield to mine: a No4 commercially converted into a 7.62 target rifle. I am sure you know more than me, but these are common as muck and anyone who says your rifle is a L39 are wrong. There were hundreds of commercially converted and targetised No4s. I see no problem with creating a clone for oneself to enjoy without wearing out a genuine L42; a genuine L42 even without full CES fetches north of £10,000 - only really worth pursuing as a hobby/headache/moneypit to hunt down the full CES. I suspect most conversions were based around the L39 and later the Envoys. It is fairly obvious why that would have been done, namely the fact that barrels would become free-floated and this is just my conjecture, but there was probably a surplus of shortened No4 forend woodwork or short-as-new forends from Colin Moon, as well as slightly longer No8 forends. The only non-L39 marked 7.62 Enfield target rifles that are worth preserving are 7.62 CONVs which are in the same serial number range as L39s and are the same thing for all intents and purposes, Envoys, and Palma Envoys.

I don't know how to tell genuine pads from repros, but any genuine pads sold loose are never as good as the originals fitted to a rifle, as far as I can gather. I have yet to track down an affordable copy of Peter Laidler's An Armourers Perspective book, which I think outlines the Holland&Holland method of installing pads, but I am fairly certain the key mounting features on the pads were finished on a slave mill set up purely for repeating this particular process, upon affixing to the action. Mounting repro pads and armourer's repair methods require aligning the bore and scope with a reference point about a mile away or thorough indicating on the mill, while filing the flat surfaces on the pads until alignment is achieved.

If you require repairs done to your No32 scope, there is one big name who is usually the recommended person, but I know another private individual who may take on the job as he repairs all of his own.

Now to the point:
I couldn't really care for an accurate L42 in terms of the accoutrements, so I have chosen to mount one of my 26mm Schmidt & Bender sniper scopes, albeit an incorrect one. I do have a green one and had two at one point, but that goes on my other toy. Fulton's sell the best replica mounts on the market currently, supposedly anyway. The 26mm mount I got is one of theirs, but I went straight to the original manufacturer. If I had a way to contact you privately, I could give you contact details. I believe they also do 30mm and 1" versions, or another manufacturer - these are also available from Fulton's.