By Jeff John<\/a><\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note: For more about the fascinating history of the L42A1, read Jeff John\u2019s new book\u00a0<\/em>Britain\u2019s L42A1: King of the Enfield Sniper Rifles\u00a0available at\u00a0Amazon.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n N<\/span>othing better than being good\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0lucky. The L42A1 sniper rifle is a case in point. The atomic era began in 1945 with propellor aircraft and bolt-action rifles woefully obsolete overnight and all nations faced with rearming from the top down with atomic missiles, jet aircraft and replacing those antique bolt rifles with full-auto machine rifles. The Soviet Union was racing to do so, was right at free Europe\u2019s door after enslaving Eastern Europe, and hungrily anticipating the rest. Only the United States stood guard until Europe recovered.<\/p>\n In the face of all this, Britain disbanded their Scout\/Snipers so valuable during WWII and Korea. Only the Royal Marines kept the concepts and talents alive while still fielding arguably WWII\u2019s best sniper rifle in the Enfield No. 4 Mk I (T) .303<\/a> alongside their new 7.62\u00d751 L1A1 Self Loading Rifle. The uneasy peace of the Cold War didn\u2019t mean the rest of the world wasn\u2019t smoldering. Troubles began in Ireland in the late 1960s, and an insurgency in Oman became a serious threat.<\/p>\n All of a sudden having a capable man able to deliver a single precise shot instead of a fusillade once again proved a necessity. It takes time to develop a weapon from scratch, time Britain didn\u2019t have. The Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield provided a simple, elegant solution.<\/p>\n Target shooters had plowed the way. Military rifle competition shooting was very popular in England, with most competitors happily shooting Enfield No. 4 rifles in .303. As stocks of surplus ammo began running out in the early 1960s, many \u2014 especially the Army teams \u2014 wanted to compete with the new 7.62\u00d751 NATO service round, preferably in a bolt action.<\/p>\n Easy peasy! In the early 1960s, Enfield had developed a 7.62 conversion package for the No. 4 rifle so Commonwealth countries could easily convert No. 4 rifles in case Britain needed rifles quickly while transitioning to the L1A1 SLR. But those converted rifles didn\u2019t shoot well. Maddeningly, they \u2014 as a rule \u2014 shot better than the .303 out to 200 yards, couldn\u2019t compete from there to 600, and excelled at the longer ranges. There was no easy fix.<\/p>\n Live The Armory Life.<\/strong> The latest content straight to your inbox plus an automatic entry to each of our monthly gun\u00a0giveaways!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n After much experimentation, Enfield\u2019s ingenious solution was to free-float a 27.5-inch long, heavy, hammer-forged 7.62\u00d751 barrel onto the No. 4 with a fore-end shortened to the front swivel. Bingo! These very accurate L39A1 target rifles were made available to the Army teams and the public in the late 1960s \u2014 just as the Army higher-ups realized the need for a sniper rifle, with no time to design one from scratch and the obsolete .303 a poor option.<\/p>\n This was how Britain backed into a best-of-class sniper rifle \u2014 again. The 7.62 L39A1 front end was mated to select No. 4 Mk I (T) rifles still in stores. Some rifles were numbered in the same series as the L39A1, and this is one of those. Oddly, there doesn\u2019t seem to be a pattern to which ones had the old numbers removed, and ones having their original serial numbers retained since they appear with similar dates.<\/p>\n Unlike the exemplary craftsmanship used in scrubbing off the original markings of the L39s, L42s like this one had the original serial numbers crudely ground off, then new ones added. However numbered, all share a new \u201cL42A1\u201d model number on the left side of the receiver, the stylized \u201cED\u201d for Enfield, and the year the conversion was completed. Receivers were modified underneath for the 7.62 magazine, but little else had to be done.<\/p>\n The barrel got a sturdy military-style front sight protected by twin wings. The rear sight was left alone. When the range was read in meters instead of yards, it was deemed close enough to the 7.62\u2019s trajectory to require no modification except one. As originally designed, the rear sight had to be raised to remove the bolt for cleaning. WWII snipers were loath to do so even though the scope would return to zero within 1 MOA or less. Good, but not good enough. Armourers in the field relieved the underneath of the sight so the bolt could be removed without first removing the scope. The L42 rear sights were given this sensible modification.<\/p>\n Optics were a problem. Few scopes in the 1960s were as reliable or as sturdy as the WWII No. 32 aboard the No. 4 (T), but the early scopes were difficult to zero, so only the perfected late war No. 32 Mk III 3X scopes were installed. Those scopes were gone through, had new elevation turrets installed for the 7.62\u2019s trajectory and waterproofed.<\/p>\n Their WWII stock number was lined out and a new NATO Stock Number added. The scope\u2019s serial number was stamped on the top of the stock\u2019s wrist. If the original stock was retained, the WW II Mk I or Mk II scope number was X\u2019d, lined through or filed off. The scope mount was numbered to the rifle.<\/p>\n These rifles were legendary for accuracy and reliability. This one in my collection shoots remarkably well. My best five-shot group was \u215d of an inch at 100 yards with Black Hills ammo topped with 168-gr. Sierra Tipped MatchKing bullets. Anytime match ammo was fired, there would be three or four shots hovering around a \u00bd inch. Standard ball shoots well, with five shots of surplus Winchester-made Lake City ball ammo giving a 1\u215c-inch group and surplus Swiss Saltec a 1\u00bd-inch one.<\/p>\n To shoot this well requires some technique. One detraction of these Enfields is their slippery brass buttplate. To shoot the rifle well, it is important to physically place the butt back into your shoulder pocket after cycling a round. The length-of-pull is a short 13 inches, and it is also important to pull the rifle in tightly to consistently to shoot it well.<\/p>\n These rifles were set up to be shot prone, and the scope is far enough forward to do so. The comb riser is sufficient to give a good cheekweld. The scope is a little too far forward to use from the bench without crawling up on it, but it isn\u2019t too hard.<\/p>\n Only about 1,200 L42A1 rifles were made, but the records are sketchy. The L42 was replaced in mid-1980s by the Accuracy International L96, and it was retired after the first Gulf War. About 640 rifles were imported by Navy Arms in the early 1990s. They were mixed with L39A1s, so the quantities of each are unknown. Many were destroyed, but somebody got the bright idea that some should be preserved as a baseline for accuracy and reliability. Some of those served in Iraq and Afghanistan as late as 2005. Not a bad legacy for a rifle first adopted in 1888!<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note: Please be sure to check out The Armory Life Forum, where you can comment about our daily articles, as well as just talk guns and gear. Click the \u201cGo To Forum Thread\u201d link below to jump in!<\/em><\/p>\n Go to forum thread<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"L42A1](\"https:\/\/www.thearmorylife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/L42A1-Gurkha-rifle.jpg.webp)
\n<\/picture>Fertile Grounds<\/h2>\n
![\"L42A1](\"https:\/\/www.thearmorylife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/L42A1-rifle-based-on-Enfield-No-4-rifle.jpg.webp)
\n<\/picture>![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.thearmorylife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/thearmorylife\/img\/logo-tal-tm-icon.svg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\nOnward and Upward<\/h2>\n
![\"No](\"https:\/\/www.thearmorylife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/No-4-Mk-I-T-rifle-and-L42A1-rifle.jpg.webp)
\n<\/picture>![\"L42A1](\"https:\/\/www.thearmorylife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/L42A1-rifle-and-accessories.jpg.webp)
\n<\/picture>An Eye for Precision?<\/h2>\n
![\"L42A1](\"https:\/\/www.thearmorylife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/L42A1-with-scope-in-the-Falkland-Islands.jpg.webp)
\n<\/picture>Hands-On<\/h2>\n
![\"testing](\"https:\/\/www.thearmorylife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/testing-the-L42A1-with-Black-Hills-Ammunition.jpg.webp)
\n<\/picture>Conclusion<\/h2>\n
Join the Discussion<\/span><\/h5>\n
Featured in this article<\/span><\/h5>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t![\"Britain's](\"https:\/\/www.thearmorylife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/product-britains-l42a1.jpg.webp\"\/)
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<\/p>\nBritain’s L42A1 King of the Enfield Sniper Rifles <\/span><\/h3>\n
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