Jungle Carbine

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MissouriCrowinMass

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My favorite gun store got in a new shipment of Milsurps last week. I got a post War M39 Mosin. I have one but the Finn's are just sweet rifles and this one was in great condition......

I have a .30 Carbine, three Mosins now and a two K-31's. But.......I was looking at a Lee Enfield Jungle Carbine. I don't own a Lee Enfield. It wasn't in great shape and it was $150 more than the M39 but I really liked it. It's got to be the coolest looking bolt-action rifle of the era and it fits me nice. The price of .303 ammo is rediculous. I reload the .30, 7.62x54 and 7.5x55 so I'd have to add .303 to the mix....

Do any of you own a Jungle Carbine? THey say they kick hard but to me as long as you hold onto a rifle and seat it firm in your shoulder.....the only recoil that's ever bothered me is 1 oz. slugs from 16 ga 870.

I enjoy shooting my Milsurps. Are the Jungle Carbines fun to shoot? Pretty accurate? I read their Story in one of my rifle books.....sounds like they may have gotten a bum rap but the "lightening cuts" on the receiver give me concern. Are they tough? Reliable?
 
Everyone need at least one Lee Enfield. The "jungle carbine" is great for hunting. Check out the bore as it's seen corrosive ammo. Even a bad bore can usually be cleaned up well enough to shoot well enough for hunting. I would have a good gunsmith check it out as any milsup gun. They do have more kick than I like, but you can always put a slip on pad. Due to their short barrel they are quite a bit louder than the longer barrel no4 rifles.

All in all they usually make excellent hunting rifles, especially when fitted with a scope. The "wandering zero" is a popular myth. Like most rifles your groups will increase as barrel temp. goes up.

Tough - yes. Relaible - yes.
 
My cousin has one. He loves it. He told me once that when he dies, he wants to be barried with it. At any rate, It has a stout kick and a massive muzzle blast, but it beat the Japs, so it must be good. If you can afford it, I would go for it. They aren't making any more.
Mauserguy
 
Yes. Brought it home about two weeks ago. Make sure that you know what ammo will cost, unless this is not a factor. On G-broker, some old .303 ammo has been .50/round. Samco is completely sold out of surplus.

Having resolved to avoid auction site price/clock/tactical 'games' and unimpressed by the lack of photos in good lighting, I chose "Joesalter.com". Everything is listed with a fixed price and mine is exactly as described. The magazine sometimes misfeeds a bit, but the lips might be adjusted (it is a very old gun).
Not only are the numerous photos well-illuminated, but you call and speak to a real person.
What a customer-friendly invention in the age of detached computer nerds (often with zero 'social skills'), who only believe in e-mail to initiate anything........

The kick is about like the MN 44, but with the J. Carbine's smaller butt area to transmit the recoil, the pad makes it decent.
A good #4 with a really shiny bore could also be just as much fun.
I'm sort of a novice, and suspect that milsurps with shot-out bores are quickly sold by some new owners. My two really good-looking MN 44s produce very wide shot patterns, even with fairly bright bores.
 
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Bought the first about 9 years ago. All matching Fazakerley, manufactured date 8/45 with a (L) long butt stock (talk about getting luckey!). Sweet shooter, but I didn't want to shoot it a lot, as the valus is climbing (my nicest mil-surp by far). So, I bought a "gunsmith special" from SOG, and got a 1946 BSA with heavy rust damage, but a clean bore and matching bolt and reciever. It is now the shooter, and the Fazakerley is the safe queen. The BSA has #4 wood on for now, because the origional wood it came in with is real rough.

Recoil is a bit harder than the #4's, #1's, or the P14. Kinda like a M44, but not bad, especially if you are not shooting from a bench. I reload the .303 to a moderate and accurate level, so ammo is no issue with me.

DSCF0060.jpg

DSCF0057.jpg
 
I recently inherited one of those british .303's. I'm still waiting to go pick it up from my dad, but from what he says it's a beautiful rifle. I'm not sure if it's the jungle version though, I hope it is :evil:
 
There are jungle carbines, and there are remade jungle carbines. The original had the #4 two-position flip sight (iirc). Several importers had regular rifles "remade" into carbines. Some also had converted MK4's (in .308) converted again to jungle carbines. It doesn't make them "bad", in fact it would be bad to shoot a proper original JC as they tend to be rare, but a remade or reconverted JC is a very handy rifle.

Look at .311 diameter 125 grain soft points for 7.62 x 39 reloading as they will also work in a .303 and you can get higher velocities, so flatter trajectory at moderate ranges.

LD
 
#5mk1's had a ladder type rear sight that was graduated to 800 yards, not the 1300 on the #4's. The 300/600 was a Savage/Long Branch #4 design that was adopted by Fazakerley, BSA, and Maltby as war expedient. Most on the British rifles were later changed out to the ladder type.

Aftermarket #5 converted from #4's are usually easy to spot, mainly by the serial number and reciever markings.

The commercial converted 2A1's were called #7mk1, and have no real collector value, but are great shooters in .308 with a 12 round capicity. Nice rifles.
 
There are lots of fake No1 cut downs too.

If you are lucky to find a real No6 from Australia which were made at Lithgow, you probably robbed a museum.

The No5mk1 is a good rifle. It has a little kick to it, but we have to remember the people who were firing it where typically much smaller than they are today.

No one has ever been able to replicate the wandering zero. There two different stories surrounding it now. That the stock was absorbing water in the jungle that warps it and created pressure points so the stock was covered in a polyether finish to stop water penetrating. The other story is that soldiers were annoyed that other countries had semiautomatic rifles and they wanted them too.

On the fakes watch out for the cones being shot across the field when you open fire. Reports like that have happened quite a bit.
 
Uncle Mike, a friend had one and found an origional 12 round mag for the 2A1 that worked like a champ. Just a FYI.
 
I don't know what I have exactly.
It is a .308 #2A with the cone flash hider.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, does it have the short barrel, made to look like a #5 jungle carbine? If so, then you *likely* have a so-called "No. 6 jungle carbine", or more precisely, an altered 2A made to look like the experimental Australian #6 jungle carbine, of which only a very few were made of the real thing. I have one of these commercially altered "No. 6" rifles, in 7.62x51.
 
Ohhh yea, short bbl. It is a R.F.I. 1967 2A1, nothing special. And it IS a 12 round staggered magazine.
Rifle,7.62mm 2A1 R.F.I. 1967 Property of(illegible) on right rear of reciever.

Rear sight: Graduated 2-8. Mareked on top of sight: ICR 1559 R.F.I

Aluminum buttplate.

At one time we were selling these things like free donuts, I kept one for myself.
Used it for years as my hog gun.
Shoots pretty good, It's not going to bring a NRA trophy home, but it will wack a hog! hehehe :D
 
are there " Santa Fe" words on the barrel or the receiver ? if so, they are so called Santa Fe Jungle carbines. Those were made up by the importer some years ago. They are good shooters since they have new crown, but they are not the real thing. If the stamp on the receiver says #5 than it should be the stuff >if it says #1 or #2 than they are fakes. Still nice shooters but not as valuable .
 
Any one make a decent .308 barrel for the jungle carbine and will stock mags and bolt face work?
 
The No7 were aftermarket modifications to Ishapore 2a1 rifles by Gibbs Rifle Company. They stopped being made a while back. Pretty much they just cut the barrel to 20 inches, altered the stock, stuck on a flash hider and a new bayonet lug.

They work fine, though they not worth that much.
 
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