Porter Baldridge Page 11
isn't gummy, it goes on easy, and your rifle will smell like a rifle when
you are done.
For what it is worth, the NO.4 rifle and the STEN gun use the same
bayonets. Why the Brits saw fit to but a bayonet on the STEN is a truly
weird idea that I will not even consider. There are three bayonets for
the NO.4 rifle, the spike, (MKII), the cruciform, (MKI), and the Bowie
style, (NO.9). With the exception of the cruciform style, these
bayonets are dirt cheap, typically $2 to $20 each. The NO.1 MKIII uses
several different bayonets from long to medium length. These are
based on the P-1907 style. The medium ones are called jungle
pattern. All of these are quite expensive, running $35 to $100. The
Jungle Carbine bayonet is fiendishly expensive, though Victorea
Trading Co. has them. They run from $135 to $200.
Typical accuracy on these is phenomenal. A well bedded NO.1 with
a great bore will hold 2" at 100 yards. A NO.4, same shape, will hold
2" to 3" at 100 yards. The sights on these rifles being the limiting
factor, as they are BATTLE SIGHTS. Parker Hale made some nice
receiver sights for these rifles with variable apertures. Victoria Trading
sometimes has them, but they are spendy. The rifle requires no
modification to mount these sights, you do, however, give up the
safety, as the peep sight mounts in the safety holes. As an aside, my
youngest son recently took out a run of the mill Long Branch NO.4
that we are fixing up. It had a lot of miles on it, and the bore looked
moderately ratty. Shiny but ratty. He was able to hit soda cans on the
end at 100 meters 3 times out of 5. This just goes to show, they can
be a heck of a lot better than they look. Incidentally, the Brits
expected these rifles to hold three inches at a hundred yards. A lot of
them were far better. As I said, the forearm bedding is critical on NO.1
rifles. Paper or rubber shims between the barrel and forearm may
improve accuracy, so experimentation is definitely in order. the NO.4
rifles have free floating barrels, and if yours is not, make it so. You
should be able to wiggle the end of the barrel up and down, and from
side to side on a well bedded NO.4. This is not a lot of motion, just a
wiggle to verify the free float. Jungle Carbines are hopeless. They
either shoot well, or they don't, and I have not found bedding to help
them much. Sometimes tinkering with ammo type or loads will help
the NO.5. The Indian 2A's I have fired have been very accurate. I
guess I will have to take back some of what I said about Third World
rifle factories. I do not like to shoot really hot ammo in these 2A's.
The factory hunting ammo is excellent in these. In my opinion, you
take your chances with the military stuff, as it is not required to follow
SAAMI specification. Always remember these are old rifles,
© Porter Baldridge 1996 All rights reserved.