303 Enfield Speed Shooting and weird trigger finger

[Nick Leduc]

Looks like this is an old video, but it was posted in a C&R group on FB, so it is recent to me.
1st thing I noticed was the 1st round from a magazine is fired with index finger, all other shots seem to be take with ring or middle finger as to not let go of the bolt. Anyone ever try shooting like this?

CRPF INSTRUCTOR FIRING 31 ROUND IN 1 MINUTE HITTING 30 TIME'S ON TARGET BREAKING TAMILNADU'S POLICE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 29 ROUND'S. KUDOS TO PAL SAHAB

 

[Mountain]

Interesting! I'll have to ask a friend who shot an Enfield in the Indian army about this technique. Never seen it before.

A bunch of us shoot old bolt guns in CMP matches. If it could be done accurately, this could save some time in rapid fire stages or at least could be a go-to when you fumble a reload and are short on time. I'll have to see where the bolt sits- I have some tendon damage in my right hand and I'm one bad whack away from needing surgery.

 

[smokey-seven]

Years ago, I knew a guy that would shoot with his little finger and flip the bolt with his thumb. Open and close with thumb, trigger with little finger. I never could do it.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

Watch more videos. This seems to have been common practice with the Enfield. Due to the relation of the trigger and the bolt you could fire with the middle finger without having to reposition your hand for every shot.
Supposedly that’s why the British riflemen were so badass and there were alleged report of Germans claiming that they were going up against machine guns when it was just a bunch of well trained riflemen firing this way.
Look up the Enfield Mad Minute.

That guy in the video cheated anyway. You’re supposed to use stripper clips aka chargers

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SCLT-5pDrKk


Ok I would listen to this dude. Hes pretty serious and seems to have all of his history lined up. Great channel for sure.
Almost like a C&Rsenal for his genre of firearms. Awesome history lesson with reloading and shooting mixed in.

 

[Picton]

This has been known among us Enfield enthusiasts for awhile. Allegedly, it’s how Sgt Snoxall was able to score 38 hits at 300 yards into a 24-inch target in sixty seconds, while reloading.

The Enfield bolt cocks on closing, which supposedly makes it easier to fire this way compared to the Mauser action. I’ve owned many Enfields, and while I’ve tried to use the middle-finger technique, it’s something that would require a lot of training to do well.

 

[mac1911]

Looks like this is an old video, but it was posted in a C&R group on FB, so it is recent to me.
1st thing I noticed was the 1st round from a magazine is fired with index finger, all other shots seem to be take with ring or middle finger as to not let go of the bolt. Anyone ever try shooting like this?

Many years ago we had a gent from the UK visiting a club members family and he came down to one of the 100 yard CMP matches and shot the rapid stages like this. His thumb and forfinger never left the bolt.
Although Magazine changes I dont believe where the norm.

 

[Waher]

The ergonomics of the Enfield allow it to be fired from the shoulder without changing position, making it much easier to fire rapidly than most bolt guns. It bugs me that more commercial rifles weren't derived from the Lee actions. His straight pull and the Metford/Enfield actions are wonderful, but no one else really copied them.

A No4MK2 in composite furniture and chambered in 7.62 NATO or 5.56 would be a really nice rifle.

 

[Picton]

Many years ago we had a gent from the UK visiting a club members family and he came down to one of the 100 yard CMP matches and shot the rapid stages like this. His thumb and forfinger never left the bolt.
Although Magazine changes I dont believe where the norm.

No. Trained Enfield shooters never remove the magazine, other than for cleaning. You reload through the top of the action, from charger clips.

 

[mac1911]

No. Trained Enfield shooters never remove the magazine, other than for cleaning. You reload through the top of the action, from charger clips.

I had to tune my mag to work in my rifle and the “new” GI mag I picked up to have a spare worked in one rifle but not the other. Had to tweak it for the better rifle.

 

[Waher]

When the Lee Metford/Magazine Lee Enfield (the long barrel before the SMLE) was first issued in the 1890s during the Boer Wars they didn't have accommodations for chargers. There was a sliding dust cover over the action and magazine changes were the norm, with the primary magazine chained to the stock to be reloaded removed from the rifle. Top loading in the rifle was only done with use of the magazine cutoff for operation as a single shot rifle. Since there feed lips are fickle and it's a bit difficult to release the magazines, the Brits got mauled by charger loading Mausers and the dust cover was eliminated to introduce a charger bridge. From that point onward magazines were never removed or changed except during cleaning.

 

[not new guy]

I don’t think this is unique to the Enfield.

 

[MJ1]

Some years ago I saw a live demo at Bisley in the UK. I don't remember the starting finger and the clock stopped on the open bolt. It was fast ! Two guys 20 rounds as fast as you can say it.