Enfield 2A1mid band advice?

[hal9000]

A few months ago, my stepson received a sporterized (with synthetic stock)1966 Enfield 2A1 as a gift from a family member as his first hunting rifle. The rifle shoots fine all considering, and I realize they don't exactly have a reputation as tack drivers. But I also know that the Brits build stuff that only works right after you spend the requisite time tinkering with it (Learned this decades ago when my father had his MG). And they can definitely do better than the 2.5 moa or so that this one shoots.

I've done a little research and I realize these rifles benefit from a bit of upward pressure on the barrel. But all of the info I've found is focused on the original wood furniture. This rifle has a bit of gap between the mid barrel band and barrel (maybe .010) which I'm assuming indicates no upward pressure. ... What I'd like to find out is if anyone has any advice for tightening the barrel band and bedding/floating or otherwise fitting a synthetic Sporter stock on a 2A1, or if I should just try to adapt what I've found that's intended for the full dress wood furniture?

Thanks all!

[44 AMP]

And they can definitely do better than the 2.5 moa or so that this one shoots.

Just curious, what makes you so certain??

The rifle, the sights, the trigger, the shooter and the ammo used all play a part and even a 2.5MOA rifle will put big game in the freezer well enough.

You can glass bed the rifle and add shims in the barrel channel as pressure points and experiment to see what, if any difference it makes. Along with inspecting the barrel, rifling, crown, getting it slugged to check bore diameter, and working up tailored handloads, which may improve the accuracy. OR it may not. Remember, you're looking at an old service rifle, that somebody slapped a synthetic stock on, and it may not ever shoot significantly better.

Potential is there, but there's no guarantees.

Also, just curious, what ammo were you shooting?? Ammo isn't all equal.

There is an old story about a guy in the Philippines, who got a Steyr SSG (noted for being an accurate sniper rifle) but was disgusted with it, as he could only get 6-8" groups.

Until someone got him to stop shooting Philippine surplus ammo and try some commercial match quality stuff, and bingo, instant MOA performance....

[tangolima]

2A1 is Indian made and it chambers .308 Win, instead of .303 British. The design is based on the British Lee Enfield #1. 2.5MOA is pretty good, probably within the top tier of all the 2A1s. I would put my efforts on something else.

Probably not a good idea to shoot warm loads with the rifle. The design (rear lugs) tends to stretch the action. Coping with the higher pressure .308 win is already quite a handful. The sometimes questionable Indian steel doesn't help either.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[moose fat]

I have an Ishapore 2A,( same as a 2A1 only the rear ladder sights have different gradations) chambered for 7.62. I reload and use Hogdon's reloading data for 7.62, they are lower pressure/lower fps than .308. The loadings are for gas guns M1A etc. I found my 2A likes 165 gr. Rem Core Lokt w/H4895 right in the middle between start loads and max loads.

Mine is a tack driver. I got it when AIM Surplus brought in a batch of them, over twenty years ago. this rifle caused me turn into a Milsurp'oholic.
I just cleaned all the black, crappy paint they had slathered all over everything, off. If I remember there is a spring in the nose cap putting upward pressure on the barrel. The rifle looked to have never been fired, very good chamber and pristine bore.

Cheers

[hal9000]

Hey thanks guys and sorry for the slow response... I live on toddler time these days.

2.5moa is certainly acceptable, but I have to say that my experience has always been that most older "unfiddled-with" rifles can be improved dramatically with minimal effort. Ive taken a number of supposedly worn out rifles from the 2-3moa category to the </= 1moa category with not much more than a weekend worth of shade tree gunsmithing. ... Not saying I'm gods gift, but I've had enough luck with guns that were considered, or were truly shot out to think I can do some good.

The only wild card for me here is not having a great knowledge base because it seems like the old Enfield enthusiasts all accurize them with the full dress furniture, which 1) is apparently considered essential to the accuracy by many, and 2) I don't have.

I definitely don't mind experimenting, but was hoping that someone who had already walked this path with a sporterized Enfield would chime in.

Regarding ammo, the rifle is new to us so we haven't tried much to date.... Some Winchester white box "target" ammo, and some Winchester deer season hunting ammo. Similar results with both. 2.5(ish) moa with the occasional flier in a random direction. I may reload for it someday, but it's gonna be a couple years before I have time for that again.

The front band isn't a tight fit, but is close enough I'm 100% sure the barrel contacts it with every shot, plus I've heard barrel resonance is an issue on these rifles (hence the desire for upward pressure from the stock I assume). I'm contemplating shimming the barrel band to tighten it and then bedding the stock near the band (which would be the mid band on the OE furniture) for the pressure point. Beyond that I need to do some serious trigger work as well, but haven't researched that part yet.

It sounds good at least... Hopefully it will look good on paper (pun intended) as well.

[moose fat]

HA HA toddler time, see how long you can go without saying no.

Check out http://www.milsurps.com

This is a Canadian Forum, there are some extremely knowledgeable gentlemen on all things Enfield.

Cheers