Lee Enfield No. 4-Based, WW2 and L42A1 Sniper Rifles

Enfield No. 4-Based Sniper Rifles, WW2 Siper Rifle and L42A1 Sniper Rifle

The Enfield No. 4 Mk 1T is a sniping version of the standard No.4 Mk 1, with a scope mount and a wooden cheek rest screwed to the stock. In addition, the rear sight has been replaced with a tangent sight. It was used by the British during World War II and can still be found in former Commonwealth countries. The Enfield Enforcer is an evolutionary advancement of the No. 4 Mk 1T, designed when the British Army started passing on their old No. 4 Mk 1T’s to the police in favor of the then-new L-42A1. The police felt their “new” No.4 Mk 1T’s were a bit too beaten up from service use, and they also wanted a weapon that fired the 7.62 NATO cartridge, which was cheaper, and even in Britain, easier to obtain than the .303 British round. In addition to the conversion to 7.62 NATO caliber, the barrel of the basic No 4 rifle is lengthened, stiffened, and given more weight.

Though the iron sights are altered to better suit the new cartridge, the primary sighting method is through the Pecar 4-10x telescopic sight. These weapons were later replaced with more modern ones. The L-42A1 is basically an Enfield No 4 Mk 1 or Mk 1(T) brought up to (then) modern standards, primarily by a conversion to 7.62mm NATO and the ability to mount more modern telescopic sights and night vision equipment. Most of the other modifications are to suit the change in caliber. The Enforcer is a police version of the same weapon. The L-42A1 is long out of service with British units, but many former British Commonwealth nations are still equipped with it.

Enfield No. 4-Based Sniper Rifles, WW2 Siper Rifle and L4A1 Sniper Rifle

The purpose of the L-39A1 was to provide a satisfactory rifle for military shooting competitions. The British military tried an accurized and scoped version of the L-1A1, but this proved unsatisfactory to competition shooters. Old Enfield No. 4s were refurbished and rechambered for 7.62mm NATO ammunition; improvements included new sight mounts and new, cold-forged, heavy barrel. It should be noted that the L-39A1 was never intended to be a sniper weapon (though it is sometimes used in the training of snipers), and thus lacks a lot of the refinements that dedicated sniping weapons have, such as adjustable stocks, fully adjustable triggers (though it does have a set trigger), and suchlike.

Like many countries at the time, Britain issued sniping weapons to its troops which were essentially little-modified versions of their standard military small arms. Usually, these weapons were rifles which had come off of standard production lines, but had shown themselves to be unusually well-made or for whatever reason shot better than the usual example of the standard service rifle. Britain used a version of the Enfield No. 4 Mk 1 for this purpose. Enfield Enforcers were used to equip some Territorial militias loyal to the Crown. About 40,000 L-42A1s were supplied to China in one of the largest secret arms sales ever. Though the L-39A1 was not designed to be a sniper’s weapon, it was used in just a manner, particularly by home guard and militia units in the British Isles.

Enfield Enforcers were dumped on the international arms market late in the 20th century. The L-42A1 started
showing up in most Central American and South American countries starting in 2002, though only Belize and El Salvador are officially listed as having been sold the L-42A1.