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SPECIAL 303 PARATROOPER GUN?

bjsgear@hotmail.combjsgear@hotmail.com Member Posts: 126 ✭✭
edited November 2001 in Ask the Experts
HI, GOT ME A 303 ENFIELD WITH A 9 INCH BARREL,LOOKS LIKE IT WAS CUSTOM MADE BACK DURING THE WAR. BROUGHT BACK BY A VET. FELL OUT OF HIS CLOSET THIS WEEK AND I'VE NEVER SEEN ONE BEFORE IS THERE ANY BOOKS ON THIS TYPE OF RIFLE,thanks, bryan.

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    hackerhacker Member Posts: 162 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    a 9" barrel would fall under nfa rules and require federal licensing as a "sawed off rifle" to be legal. i am not aware of any such guns being original, and i suspect that someone cut the barrel down. as it is, it is illegal.
    i never make misteakes.
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    kaboomkaboom Member Posts: 75 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I hope the 9" barrel is a typo and that you really meant to say 19". If it is a 9" barrel rifle I guess you know it is classed as a "short barrel rifle" by the feds, and it comes under the NFA regulations. If so, it is illegal for you to possess it unless it's registered under the NFA rules and the transfer tax has been paid. Assuming it is a 19" bbl it's probably what is usually called a "jungle carbine", which is basically a cut-down No.4 rifle with a flash hider installed. The Brits made a batch of those for use in the southeast Asian jumgles during WWII. They had a problem with what they called "wandering zero", which meant that as the barrel got hotter as it was fired repeatedly, it began to shoot groups that resembled buckshot patterns from a shotgun. I bought one many years ago because it looked really neat, but on firing it I discovered it had the wandering zero problem in spades. In the course of firing a 10 round magazine the point of impact would "walk" up the target about 18" or more. There's loads of information out there on these rifles. Do a Google search on "Lee-Enfield" and you will probably find a site dedicated just to them.
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    kaboomkaboom Member Posts: 75 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm not very good at posting links, but you may want to try this one to learn more about your rifle. HERE Click on the "History of the Lee-Enfield" button and go to the bottom of the page for the jungle carbine story. If the link doesn't work try entering www.geocities.com/lee_enfield_rifles/History.html on your address bar.
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