Sporterized Lee Enfields, more commonly known in Canada as “303s”, are still plentiful and cheap. At around $200, you can get a really decent sporterized shooter. But what if you want that original full wood stock, military look? Well, then you’re going to have to de-sporterize your 303. Some people call this restoring, restoration, or re-wooding project.
Note: Your de-sporterized, “full wood” Lee Enfield will not be as valuable as an original rifle with all matching parts.
Good candidate rifles
Not every Lee Enfield is going to be a great candidate for de-sporterizing. Obviously, you’ll want one in good working order, with decent rifling, little rust, and most importantly: a non-chopped barrel. If the barrel has been cut shorter, it’s going to be a bastard to fit forend parts and it might not be worthwhile. Similarly if it’s missing a pile of parts, keep in mind that they add up. $5 here and $40 there quickly adds up to hundreds of dollars of mail ordered surplus rifle parts.
I’m starting with a No4Mk1, ROF(F) 42 or 43 for the action, the bolt is C broad arrow marked, the mag I think is Indian.
Wood bits
The most critical part of a Lee Enfield re-build/de-sporterization is getting back that full forend wood. Most buttstocks are unmolested, but most sporterized Lee’s are missing the top handguard, lower, and the stock is usually chopped short too. Here, you have options:
- Just get the wood stock pieces you’re missing, refinish the whole shebang and hope that the finish colors match. ($100-150)
- Replace all the wood with used, but kinda matching ($100-200)
- Get a drill rifle, refinish the wood, then, use that.
- Replace all the wood with new reproduction wood. ($400-500)
Another option could be to stain the wood to get the color matching. Using old stock wood is cheaper because they’ll come with all the metal bits as well as being significantly cheaper to get a set.
I had little faith that I could match colors, so I opted for a matching new reproduction wood stock set from Prestigious wood stocks in Canada. I’d still have to do final fit and finish, but I felt that was doable and thought I’d enjoy a bit of woodwork.
Wood bits you will need:
- Buttstock (or reuse the one that came with your rifle
- New full length forestock
- New rear upper handguard
- New front upper handguard
Metal bits
Next, you have to figure out what’s missing from your gun. Numrich has a handy parts diagram that makes it easy to see what’s missing.
No4 Mk1 bits:
- Stock band – rear
- Stock band & handguard band – middle, plus sling swivel and screw
- Stock band – front, plus stacking swivel and screw
You’ll also need some metal bits that fit to your wood stock parts. You might be able to scavenge some of these off your old stock.
- Likely to scavenge off your existing stock set: buttplate & screws, buttstock sling swivel & screws, rear stock tie plate and rivet
- Will likely need to find: forestock end cap & pins, handguard liners/clips (x2), upper handguard cap
- To get some of the fiddly bits for the upper handguards, you might want to just buy a set and strip em.
I bought most of my metal parts from Numrich (GunPartsCorp.com) and some others from gun shows.
Fitting Wood
Fitting the wood stock to the parts is actually a decent sized job and is where a lot of the final quality is going to come from. The buttstock is oversized for the buttplate, so you’ll need to shape it, the forend will need final inletting for the action, etc. You’ll need a few chisels, a dremel, etc.
Finishing wood & metal
Here, you’ll have to decide on what you want to do. Refinish the wood in tung or boiled Linseed oil? Polish and re-blue the metal or leave the metal with a bit of finish worn off?
For myself, I chose to:
- Sand and finish the wood using boiled linseed oil
- Refinish some of the really badly worn metal parts
Costs:
Sporterized rifle: $200
Wood stock set: $446
Metal bits: $190
I’ve added the front clamp on (and bolt) since taking this photo. Now complete.
