Category: I WANT ONE ASAP!!!
The No. 4 Lee-Enfield rifle carried Commonwealth troops
through World War II. It was rugged, accurate, and fast.
They say that the first step toward freeing oneself from addiction is admitting you have a problem. I do formally announce such today in this venue. By way of explanation, I offer the following anecdote:
Collectors are drawn to firearms for a wide variety of reasons. Just like some might favor blondes while others are inexplicably partial to brunettes or redheads, gun nerds typically have a favorite genre. Mine is classic military weapons.
Little gets my blood pumping faster than some cool vintage martial firearm. The weirder and more obscure, the better. The only way to improve on that is for the gun in question to manifest some cool story as well. As such, I am ever on the prowl.
The best of the lot might sport the actual stigmata of combat. Military weapons used by troops in action carry an almost holy ambience. At some point, some young man clutched such a trinket amidst the most intense of human experiences. The fear, anger and exhilaration associated with combat are unparalleled in the human experience. The weapons used in such action carry just a little bit of that secret sauce back with them to more peaceful spaces.
This particular No. 4 Lee-Enfield was, at some point in its service life, blown up. Despites its being objectively worthless, I just had to have it.
Back Story
The rifle in question was a GunBroker find. For those of you who might not have had the pleasure, GunBroker.com is a 24/7 coast-to-coast gun show. If you cannot find it on GunBroker, you really don’t need it.
GunBroker itself has a fascinating history. Just before the turn of the millennium, eBay decided to do some virtue signaling and prohibited the sale of firearms on their website. In response, Steven Urvan started GunBroker, a dedicated auction site catering to firearm enthusiasts. GunBroker has never sold a gun; They just connect legal sellers and buyers across the country and around the world. Their business model turned out to be fairly sound.
Today, GunBroker.com has six million registered users and averages seven million visitors per month. They list about a million guns and gun-related items at any given time. They used to have a dedicated iPhone app before Apple kicked them off the App Store. Now, you have to access GunBroker on your phone via web browser.
With literally billions in cumulative sales, GunBroker.com is the third-largest auction site on the internet, right after eBay and eBay Motors. It’s counted among the top 400 most popular websites ever. In retrospect, perhaps eBay and Apple just don’t like money.
Whatever struck this thing, a piece of shrapnel from an artillery round most likely, did a serious job on the barrel and forearm.
A Certifiable Piece of Junk
Anyway, the gun in question was a nice British No. 4 Lee-Enfield. The No. 4 was a World War II vintage evolutionary development of the previous Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE). British Tommies affectionately referred to the SMLE as the Smelly. Both guns remained in production throughout WWII. At a glance, you can differentiate between the two rifles by the muzzle. That of the Smelly is flat, while the No. 4 muzzle sports a stubby bit of barrel.
The No. 4 was a bit cheaper and faster to make and saw service with Commonwealth troops in all theaters of war. This particular example had a nice action and a well-preserved finish. It had also been blown up.
At some point in its military service, this particular rifle had been subjected to the kinetic effects of some kind of fragmenting weapon. The wooden forearm was shattered, and the barrel cocked off at a jaunty angle. There were deep gouges in the steel. The action still worked fine, but firing this weapon would have transformed the rifle into a bomb. The old vintage gun was a certifiable piece of junk, yet I absolutely had to have it.
In my defense, there aren’t a whole lot of idiots like me wandering the world. Therefore, I got the derelict old gun cheap. It transferred in painlessly via my C&R FFL and now resides comfortably in the corner of my man space. I pawed over the shattered implement of destruction, mentally cataloged its many battle scars, and let my mind wander as to the specifics of their origin. The seller had found the gun in an estate sale and had no idea of its story. I had to fill in the details myself. Fortunately, I have a vivid imagination.
It’s quite possibly the most worthless gun thing that I own. While I could theoretically re-barrel the rifle and source a fresh stock, that would be stupid. That onerous chore would require some special tools and special talent. The restoration project would cost far more than a comparable original rifle in good shape might be. It would also further ruin this already ruined rifle. The intrinsic value of this beat-up old gun stems from its many mechanical warts.
If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m still glad I threw a couple of hundred bucks away on this battered old combat veteran rifle. It has absolutely no practical utility, but it looks cool in a quirky sort of way. As my sunset years approach, I might just aspire to something similar myself.
The best thing to shoot at SHOT Show 2023 Range Day wasn’t even a firearm…
Umarex, who is well known for its precision and hunting air rifles had the best thing on the firing line: an airsoft anti-tank replica that fired a 2 ½ inch plastic ball filled with airsoft pellets.
When fired, the projectile opened up, raining hundreds of airsoft pellets downrange on the target. It would literally pelt a group of advancing attackers in an airsoft game.
The rear-loaded airsoft AT replica was named the “Carl Gustaf.”
Capsule separating and releasing airsoft pellets.The onboard air cylinder is housed in the removable cartridge and has to be charged with green gas to ~110.
The cylinder is loaded in the shell housing and put on “safe.” The two-piece plastic projectile is filled with airsoft pellets and inserted in the top of the round.
Cylinder installed in shell housingThe round is loaded into the rear and locked in place. The shooter shoulders the unit and utilizes the side-mounted sights and pistol grip to aim the weapon. Then, the shooter takes it off “safe” and presses the trigger to launch the ball of pellets downrange.
Pellet filled capsule installed in top of shell.About 15-20 yards down range the two halves separate and all the pellets shower the target. Awesome!
Rear loading port, but there is no back blast on this one.Unfortunately, Umarex was not able to give an actual release date or price for the Carl Gustaf. But check back for updates.
For more information on Umarex products and the Carl Gustaf keep click HERE.
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Very Clever!
Akkar started making automotive and gun parts in 1985 in Istanbul, Turkey, and it has been one of the leaders in the current rise of Turkish gunmaking. The company started with pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns, then moved into over-unders and side-by-sides. The latest of the latter is a classically styled bird gun, the Model 512, and it is imported by European American Armory under the Churchill name.
A full line of guns from .410 bore through 12 gauge—all with scaled receivers—is offered, but our sample was a 512 chambered for 3″, 12-ga. shotshells with 28″ barrels. There is a coach gun with extended choke tubes and 18½” barrels offered as well.
Barrel selection is made via a button centrally mounted in the safety on the tang (l.). A brass bead (r., top) is found at the muzzle, and an Anson-style push rod retains the beavertail fore-end (r.).
A boxlock, the Churchill starts off with a nickel-plated steel receiver with graceful lines and a businesslike appearance. The balls that match up to the barrels’ chambers are not rounded at the rear and have been scalloped to save weight and give the gun a more modern look. Adding to that look is a void in the top tang’s lever.
Barrels are cold-blued and sleeved into a monobloc with the joint covered by a thin line of engraving. The design is repeated at the barrels’ rear. Internal diameter was 0.729″ for the right barrel and 0.728″ for the left. The gun comes with five interchangeable choke tubes: skeet, improved cylinder, modified, improved modified and full. Interestingly, the ungrooved, untapered 0.31″-wide top rib is concave on its upper surface and forms a trough with the brass bead near the muzzle at its terminus.
Opening the Churchill 512’s action presses the extractor’s front against a lug on the receiver that pushes it to the rear, allowing either the hulls or live shells to be removed.
Top locking is by way of a 0.15″-tall, single sliding bolt that retracts when the top lever is pushed to the right. This locks into a 0.702″-long recess in the rear face of the monobloc. Side-to-side locking is provided by the fit of two underlugs into their recesses machined into the receiver, both on the sides and on the top of the receiver’s interior. The front lug’s face rotates on the hinge pin that runs transversely through the receiver’s front.
The trigger is a non-automatic, single-selective mechanical unit, and the blade is gold-plated. Barrel selection is via a button centrally mounted in the safety on the tang, and it could not be simpler, as there is an “L” and an “R” engraved on the tang. The grooved button is proud enough that it is possible to choose the desired barrel—and choke—with minimal fumbling. A red dot on the tang is revealed when the safety is disengaged. The trigger guard is large and round, allowing for gloved fingers.
The EAA Churchill 512 comes with a set of five choke tubes (skeet, improved cylinder, modified, improved modified and full) and a wrench for their installation.
The stock is of straight-grained Turkish walnut with a fairly open pistol grip and a slight palm swell that favors right-handed shooters—and it is slightly cast off as well. There are bordered point-checkering panels on both sides of the wrist and the fore-end. Machine cut, it is fairly well-executed although not terribly aggressive. Topping the butt is a black spacer followed by a fairly thin—0.31″ to 0.45″—rubber recoil pad. Its texture is such that it did not snag on clothing while mounting the gun. The fore-end is of the beavertail style, wide but not cartoonishly so. It is retained by a plain Anson-style push rod at its front.
With the Churchill, you need to remove the shells yourself as there are no ejectors; this is an extractor-only gun. Opening the action presses the extractor’s front against a lug on the receiver that pushes the single extractor to the rear, allowing the shooter to remove either the hulls or live shells.
The Churchill 512 was patterned at 40 yards with Winchester Xpert steel No. 6s and fired at both skeet and sporting clays for function. Of the 450 rounds fired—a mixed bag of 2¾” target loads from Federal, Fiocchi, Remington and Winchester in shot sizes ranging from Nos. 7½ to 9—there were no malfunctions. The gun pointed well, right where two of our evaluators were looking. It swung well, too, especially on fast crossers—there’s nothing like having two barrels out front to help with follow-through.
High marks—especially for a gun in this price class—were given to the stock, which, due to its open and thin-wristed grip, made the gun feel lively in the hands. Even though this is a fixed-breech gun weighing only 6 lbs., 4 ozs., recoil, even during 100-round sessions, did not seem to be punishing. Most empties slid out easily, and we were grateful to simply drop them in the vest pocket rather than play hull hunters at each station.
While not as popular on the target circuit as semi-automatics or over-unders, there is still a simple joy in old-school side-by-sides, be it afield or at the range. And the EAA Churchill is a well-executed and affordable rendition for those willing to give it a try.
