Part 2 is up for your enjoyment.....................

Editing a short drop about flash hider effectiveness, how it groups, and necessary sight moves. The gun runs well, groups about 3 inches @100 yds, and the customer is ready to use it as the tool he needs. 99 other Mk4's are gone now due to a total lack of maintenance.

As an Australian ...these sorts of modified No4's and SMLEs are very common..... accuracy well minute of pig as about what most do

"because if you're watching this video, you believe in doing maintenance" - That's true Mark, and we love watching your work!

“It’s got a poplar bottom on it.” I knew a girl like that once.

If anyone's gonna do this to a gun I'm glad it's you. You actually give a hoot about making it look nice and almost-could-be-official

According to the book "Lee Enfield", during the panic production of the second world war, it was found that providing the leade (throat) at the barrel breech was of the correct diameter and length, and the last six inches and crowning were as well, then the bit in the middle had little effect on accuracy. The gauges were changed , and only those dimensions were checked. Savage even made barrels with two groove rifling.

Such a shame. I’m pretty sure that gun belonged to Sir Laurence of Arabia and it was used during the battle of the Alamo. It should’ve been in a museum and now all is lost. Just kidding. You’ve made a beautiful truck gun from a heap of garbage and I’m happy for the owner. 👍

Finally someone who actually has the talent to repair, modify and teach. I have found a website that I can not only enjoy but also learn. Love your candidness and matter of fact approach. I can spend my time catching up on all your videos I have missed. OUTSTANDING

As a Scotsman living in Texas.......... waaaant it!

Your description of its 11° crown got a genuine snicker out of me.

If the gun is already "destroyed" then why not modify to your heart's content? I'd like a no.4 with a no.1 nose cap.

Love these videos Mark! really makes one appreciate the art and engineering behind gunsmithing work

I like this project for a few reasons: It involves a really cool WWII era gun. It recycles old, clapped-out components. And it makes an awesome, one-of-a-kind gun that didn't sacrifice an entirely matching piece of history. Good stuff, man. I've fallen down the rabbit hole and you've got yourself a new subscriber.

I have a No. 4 Mk I that was sporterized in the 1960's or 70's and I spent years (beginning in 1985) acquiring parts to restore it. So, when you first started describing what you were going to do, my heart skipped a beat and my mind started racing with images of Alfred Hitchcock and Stephen King movies. I was horrified! Then, after you described how the barrel was going to be shortened, I watched the threads being cut and how you took a saw to the upper hand guards and then the lower, I nearly cried. OH, THE HUMANITY! When I recovered from nearly fainting and saw the aftermath, I had to rub my eyes to make sure I was seeing what was on my screen. Once you spliced the upper hand guards together and put the receiver in the lower fore-end, I finally saw what you wanted to convey to us earlier, a tanker...A TANKER SMLE! I liked what I saw. Now, I can't wait to see how she turns out. I'm gonna need popcorn....maybe some candy....oh and a Coke, can't forget the Coke.

I am loving this evolution Mark! I'm all pins and needles to see the final product.

40:33 he's got three hands

Stunning stuff as always! Eagerly awaiting the next installment!

Bubble Heads and Tankers have “Bumps and Scrapes” in common, comes from living in Steel boxes

Great video Mark. This one has really captured my interest. Looking forward to Part 2.

Seems like there's a lot of people out there that missed the comment about there being more than one way to get something done, that haven't actually tried doing anything worth mentioning. Thanks for the motivation to get my own work done.

I can't wait for the next episode on this. These kinds of projects really interest me because I like to tinker around with things but have no shop or tools with which to do projects that require machining or a lathe. I'm pretty much limited to hand tools and a drill press and the crappy shot out junkers that I can find on gunbroker. But something like this project I could do almost all of it myself plus the keeping it looking like it was a factory modification is one of my things as well. It reminds me of an M14 tanker version.

It's a pleasure to find a gunsmith who knows what he doing. Your bench and shop shows that you are busy and competent...

Cool Video ! Those of us in Canada that own number 5 Jungle Carbines use them for moose and bear. My personal jungle carbine was my first center fire rifle. I got it at a woolco store when i was 14 for 32 dollars. 1968 . My mother was the adult that bought the gun ,20 dollars was my own hard earned money. As an adult I used that rifle daily for 30 years on a North Coast BC Canada trap line. It now lives mostly in a safe .and every once in a while it comes out to harvest a bear.

A gunsmith I know has been doing this mod for many years. As we're in Canada, he calls them Tundra Carbines. FWIW, he also makes a very nice takedown No. 4 and does the nicest trigger job on them that I've ever experienced. 50 years ago in Canada, stores used to stock them muzzle down in 55 gal. barrels for under $10.

Can't wait to see the finished product, looks like it's gonna be pretty rad. e: I sent you an email a little while back about a 10A to 10 Trench Conversion, been a while since I sent it, was wondering if you saw it? Thanks.

A fantastic channel and a fantastic engineering mind, I could watch for hours

Thats looking good. I am looking forward to seeing the final product.

That's going to be a quick and dirty truck gun . Thirty hrs in the shop and most likely many happy years in the truck gonna be a good dear gun in the end

That flash suppressor looks like it came off of no5 jungle carbine. Great vid as always, keep the creative juices flowing.

The poor lathe guy is like "why did you have to film today" lol outstanding word Jarod

Really looking forward to how this comes out. I have a No 5 that someone put into an ebony tipped Reinhardt Fajen forestock and a matching monte carlo buttstock with a poly finish. It's hideous but a decent foundation for a forestock project like this. Thanks for sharing !

Great work as always Mark.

Awesome project! Can't wait to see it finished! I wanted to do one of these years ago, and never got around to it. Ended up selling the rifle I had planned on using. Now my interest is rekindled. Time to dig up another Enfield.

I wish I could spend a few years learning more from you !!!! You are truly gifted with gunsmithing thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us ..

As a retired gunsmith of 40+ years it was fun to watch your ideas. Just a thought I would have used a live center when cutting the threads on the barrel. Anything that you can do to a Smile will help it.

new to this channel. gotta say i like the snarky attitude (with taste) combined with the overwhelming knowledge. thanks ole kid. ill be back

One thing about using a SMLE for a truck gun is the detachable magazine. Many states don't allow a gun with ammo in it while in a motor vehicle and magazine makes it fast to load.

Brilliant. Where art meets skill & free thinking takes over. Great stuff, keep on keeping on. :-)

Wow fun project. Can’t wait to see the final product.

I love watching a maker / engineer create. Glad YT suggested this.

Mark, I love your work. Probably be a fun shop to work in! That said, I think I'd have dial indicated the chamber of the barrel to dead nuts. Then performed a static tram to insure that the steady rest is perfectly aligned 😁👍

Really fun project, im excited for the next episode

Can’t get enough of your videos. Like a fly on the wall.

how can u quote atf? they cant even quote their own rules.

It’s gonna be cool. Looking foreword to the next part.

I love watching this guy. Most entertaining and educational on KZfaq. If you ever do a spinoff on anything from cooking to dog barbering, I'll subscribe.

I did this to my first No4, back in 1964. I don't remember who made the rifle was but I recall it was nice. Your 2 vids got me to open the LE safe and dig a few out.

I love your approach to everything

As always, amazing work. I’d love to get to your level of knowledge alone.

Very interesting always nice to see a skilled craftsman at work. Great video thanks for sharing.

(psst,,,,,saw all the way around so that the last part to be cut is in the middle,,,,). LOVING the videos!!

Preparation, measurement....preparation, measurement.....90% of the work! Thank you for the excellent tutorial!

I love it when marks 3rd hand appears

Hey! Mark, thanks for the answer. I'll keep watching.

The ATF needs to go away and never come back.

As Always Mark, Outstanding!

Slick on the fly, sort of, engineering. Creating a nice creation of someone's perceived dream. Thank you. Insightful

The original front furniture is beech , as was commonly used by the poms for most rifles after WW1 ( ran out of walnut haha . Definitely don't want to shorten a 303 too much , muzzle flash and blast is considerable .The 'woop ' in that barrel haha

That's going to be so awesome! Great engineering!

Though one wonders why he didn’t just buy a $500 slightly trashed #5 or a Santa Fe fake #5, would be cheaper I think?

40:10 in... bang! “miss me!” as Mark hand saws the front stock and doesn’t miss a beat. LMAO 🤣

Looking forward to the next installment.

I'm not a machinist and usually can't get my fingers to do what my eyes want but it's fascinating to just watch what a master can do. Thx. for your vids.

Keep the great video’s and work coming 👍

You were thinking of a cut down (or sawn off) Mosin Nagant--called an "Obrez."

Hey Mark, for the type of service that this carbine is going to see, I think the accuracy will be more than adequate. Gonna be a sharp looking, fast handling little gun, nice work!

Your attitude towards machining practices makes me thing you and my professor would get along great. He is all about getting us to consider the easier way to get the same results.

First, Take the barrel out of the receiver with the Correct Barrel/Receiver wrenches. Then center barrel with 4-jaw and then center muzzle with Steady. Then all the Crowning and Threading With a concentric bore, for correct threading for muzzle brake/flash-hider. Also easier in the first instance to cut the barrel down to Carbine lenght. Doc AV

Canadian Rangers retired their No4 mk 1s in 2018, 77 years after it was first put in to service.

Just found your channel and enjoy it. I grew up with an old .303 infield hanging on the gun rack in our basement. My dad finally traded it with money for a Remington model 1100 12ga. Wish we still had the old 303, but glad my dad finally got himself an automatic. I know projects have certain time and financial constraints - seems you might have used a hydraulic press to straighten the barrel. In any case, I’m enjoying the remake of this old rifle!!!

Looking forward to part 2

Can hardly wait to see the finished piece 👍👍👍👍

Just to put this out there as to why the barrel wobbles so much. I was listening to a podcast or Q&A (i forget where) that had Bloke on the Range. He said what the British discovered was that you only had to have the last 6 inches of the barrel perfectly straight for it to be accurate. It made gauging and production of the barrels much faster since they didn't have to straighten the whole thing.

I really enjoyed that, thanks and cheers!

Beautiful work, you are like a Rembrandt of firearms.

Awesome work! I'm really stoked for the end result A little taste goes along way with a conversion, I've found. It's not hard, it just takes time. Perusing the RIA catalog, there are some actually decent sporters out there. There's a whole lot more crap, though. I've been searching for a 1917 of adequate lack of quality to convert to a Chinese short rifle, and stripped receivers for those seem to have utterly disappeared, so a 308 sporter project I have all the other metal for (including a barrel and magazine assembly) is also on indefinite hold. I guess it gives the chunks of ebony I got time to dry out a bit more.

This guys work is amazing.

This reminds me that I want to find a Gibbs N07 or extreme quest carbine. In practical terms, those Mossberg MVP patrol rifles are pretty compelling.

I shot this weapon type as a cadet from the age of 14, hell of a weapon and accurate enough.

Good for shooting around corners!

There are so many bubba’d “lost cause” Mauser 98 actions out there that could be turned into truck guns, not sure why the guy sent you an Enfield lol

And now begins the 72 page long waiting list for all of us that have the parts laying around and pray that Mark makes these regularly... :-)

I have a genuine matching jungle carbine and it’s a great little gun, it shoots amazing

Plenty of "gunsmiths" can install aftermarket parts and build AR's. How many can make something entirely new and make it look like this?

wow, that wobble is crazy, from a machinists view, but, i bet its accurracy would surprise you. love to watch.

Mark that's a brilliant job Sir! I think I would have turned up a .304 pin with a larger end then put a centre into it and fitted it until it was snug in the barrel bore then pulled the tail stock up with a revolving centre and set the steady rest to fit. If it didn't then turn a 1/2" wide or whatever suits the steady rest band concentric with the bore. Then I would have screw cut the thread, and ensured it was concentric. Then the woodwork I'd have done the same as you propose.

If there ever was a No. 4 Mk1 to sporterize, this was probably it.

My buddy who's a machinist did the same for a sporter no4 I had with a bulged barrel, though we didn't have a flash hider. He basically he chopped off and bored out the old muzzle and replaced did. It's a fire breather but atleast I have bayonet lugs, though wish I had the stock!

I'm currently doing a No4Mk1 Sporter (was pre sporterised by Parker Hale) in 303/375, should be a hoot :D

Bubba, stand down. This is how it's done, and what it's done on.

Thanks again Chief!

Recoil? Indeed. Blast? Oh yes.

Mark?? You making a truck gun is like Michelangelo painting someone’s bike.

any machinist would have had a stroke watching the lathe portion LOL.

Can't wait for part 2.

Mark, Man-o-man, love what you are doing! I'm really looking forward to the second (and third?) half of this project. Please if you can, as you are doing the wood work on this stock, be sure to let us know about the waxes and oils you will be using on the wood to make it all look right. Thanks again for your expertise in the matter of these weapons. Later, Guy!

The last MK 3’s left Lithgow in the mid 50’s, even after they’d made the first L1A1 SLR’s. Problem with short Lee Enfields is they are very loud and concussive. In India they still issue them to certain police units.

Did a project like this a looooong time ago with a No.1 MkIII*, retaining the nosecap. Neat looking when it was done, but a sight radius about as long as a gnat's pecker