Thread: refurbished 303

There's two of these on trademe. The barrel looks shorter than a jungle carbine, my dad had one before he was issued a SLR and said it kicked like a mule.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/sports/hun...3b1ea1eb36-002

You are confused..........Your Father may well have encountered a Leigh Enfield #5 an example

https://tinyurl.com/yyt48ts5 ( although this listing has a number 4 image mixed in for some odd reason + another disturbing issue)


"before he was issued with a SLR," but I do not expect he ever encountered one of the examples listed on T.M.

They are are post war commercial modifications of the #5.

You’re obviously more familiar with it that dad or I am . He also called his SLR an FN and every variant of the ar platform an Armalite. In all the photos apart from a couple I have of him he’s carrying what he called a Jungle Carbine .

There’s a disclaimer in the ad on trademe about the state of the barrel which is a worry .

Edit ,@Kiwisapper I wasn’t clear in the op . I didn’t mean the rifle in the trademe ad was a number 5 I meant the barrel is even shorter than a rifle that already had a rep for kicking hard.

Belongs in the Bubba file I'm thinking.

I wouldn't use the words 'refurbished' to describe that thing.

Just stick with a nice sporterised 303....good ones are everywhere and usually cheap as chips...some shoot really well too.....

Originally Posted by paremata

You’re obviously more familiar with it that dad or I am . He also called his SLR an FN and every variant of the ar platform an Armalite. In all the photos apart from a couple I have of him he’s carrying what he called a Jungle Carbine .

There’s a disclaimer in the ad on trademe about the state of the barrel which is a worry .

Edit ,@Kiwisapper I wasn’t clear in the op . I didn’t mean the rifle in the trademe ad was a number 5 I meant the barrel is even shorter than a rifle that already had a rep for kicking hard.

My father also used a jungle carbine and also commented on the savage recoil, “the only platoon rifle that the British Army decided needed a recoil pad” was his words. (I noticed the rubber recoil pad was smaller in surface area than a standard butt plate)

My father then went onto using an M1 carbine as his ‘weapon de hour’ in the jungle, commented that it’s lack of knockdown effect was compensated for by its volume of fire plus its lightness and ‘point ability’.

Originally Posted by Finnwolf

My father also used a jungle carbine and also commented on the savage recoil, “the only platoon rifle that the British Army decided needed a recoil pad” was his words. (I noticed the rubber recoil pad was smaller in surface area than a standard butt plate)

My father then went onto using an M1 carbine as his ‘weapon de hour’ in the jungle, commented that it’s lack of knockdown effect was compensated for by its volume of fire plus its lightness and ‘point ability’.

Where was your dad? Mine was in Malaya 1957-59 . As well as the jungle carbine there was a few that carried Sterlings and their lead scout carried a Browning auto shotgun , I think was fairly typical for the kiwis there at the time.

Originally Posted by paremata

Where was your dad? Mine was in Malaya 1957-59 . As well as the jungle carbine there was a few that carried Sterlings and their lead scout carried a Browning auto shotgun , I think was fairly typical for the kiwis there at the time.

No5 Platoon (Jungle Squad) in British Police, there from 1949 to 1963 although he was no longer fighting in the jungle by the late 50’s. Lead scout in his platoon also carried a Browning auto loaded with buckshot, the cases were solid brass as cardboard cases swelled in the humidity and frequently jammed - not something you want in a firefight!
Dad said the initial order for brass 12guage was for a million cartridges!

Sorry a about the thread hijack.

The NZ Jungle Carbine pictured is not an original No 5 / jungle carbine. These NZ JCs are based on the on the stronger No 4 action (No 5's had super lightened actions, some would say too lightened) and thus a bit heavier.

The example pictured has a quite short sight radius the way its foresight is put back to the stock, don't see why anyone would want to do that unless they have the barrel threaded for an over-barrel suppressor. That would be neat. I notice it currently has a muzzle brake which means you'll have to wear quality hearing protection to shoot it.

The genuine No 5's flash hider was actually not a flash hider. It was a "blast forwarder" which reduced the concussion felt by the shooter by directing the muzzle blast forward like a rocket nozzle does... but so also increased felt recoil. At least this rifle has a full No 4 butt stock to spread the recoil.

Originally Posted by Finnwolf

No5 Platoon (Jungle Squad) in British Police, there from 1949 to 1963 although he was no longer fighting in the jungle by the late 50’s. Lead scout in his platoon also carried a Browning auto loaded with buckshot, the cases were solid brass as cardboard cases swelled in the humidity and frequently jammed - not something you want in a firefight!
Dad said the initial order for brass 12guage was for a million cartridges!

Sorry a about the thread hijack.

No worries about the thread Jack . Was that Malaya too? Initially they had plenty of M1 carbines there but not a lot of magazines and a deal was struck with one of the engineering departments of a tin mine to make magazines in exchange for some m1s to give to their security.

The locals would get rewards for giving away the locations of arms caches , not all off the weapons recovered went to the police . My dad said him and his mates had a lot of fun one afternoon shooting up rubber trees with a world war 2 Tommy gun and the ammo they found with it .

Getting back to the no5 carbine isn’t there a saying about how great they are if you want to shoot one man in a room , burn the two guys either side of him and make everyone else in the room deaf?

Originally Posted by paremata

No worries about the thread Jack . Was that Malaya too? Initially they had plenty of M1 carbines there but not a lot of magazines and a deal was struck with one of the engineering departments of a tin mine to make magazines in exchange for some m1s to give to their security.

The locals would get rewards for giving away the locations of arms caches , not all off the weapons recovered went to the police . My dad said him and his mates had a lot of fun one afternoon shooting up rubber trees with a world war 2 Tommy gun and the ammo they found with it .

Getting back to the no5 carbine isn’t there a saying about how great they are if you want to shoot one man in a room , burn the two guys either side of him and make everyone else in the room deaf?

Yeah, it was in Malaya,, while my father was in the Police there his duties involved jungle patrols which in turn resulted in an exchange of bullets and grenades between his platoon and the CTs (Communist Terrorists).
He met a few Kiwis which night have influenced his decision to NZ when the fighting stopped.
He always carried more M1 Carbine mags than the average person but in one incident was down to five rounds left when things ‘settled down‘ at an incident.

Those old guys really lived in a way few of us ever will.