SIGHTING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE ENFIELD
RIFLE Page 2
ZEROING
The concept of this page is to provide the
necessary information to allow the owner of a Lee Enfield to sight in his/her
own rifle. Dispensing with the sighting doctrine adhered to during the
THE BASICS
It is essential for zeroing, that the
same ammunition be used (manufacturer, weight grain, lot number), for both
commercial and hand loaded ammo. For military surplus shooters, try and use the
same batch/year/headstamp for zeroing .Tools needed for windage adjustments
will be a brass punch, hammer or sight cramp, flat-tip
screwdriver and possibly an inverted flat-tip screwdriver
for loosening the front sight on some No4 models of rifles. The rifle should be
cleaned and the barrel pulled through dry of oil, prior to this range practice.
Two warming shots should be put through the barrel before commencing the
zeroing application. This will ensure that everything is settled into place and
any remaining oil in the barrel has been burnt off.
So, before accurate zeroing can be accomplished, the shooter must make several
decisions:
1) What type of ammunition will normally be used when firing the rifle,
2) What sight (
3) What range to zero from, 25 or 100 yards.
Note: The adjustment details provided
below are based on using the military MkVII Ball round (174-gr FMJ bullet,
muzzle velocity of 2440 fps). Commercial ammunition should provide similar
results, but because of the infinite combinations with regards to handloads. It
would be impossible to say for certain, how specific changes would react.
SIGHT ADJUSTMENT CORRECTIONS (Rifle, No1 & No4, all marks)
Elevation
Zeroing begins with
elevation, the correct height of front sight blade must be found prior to
adjusting for windage. To correct up or down the front sight may have to
be replaced with a different height. It makes no sense to get your windage on,
only to have to replace the front sight to correct for elevation.
Zeroing at 25 yards, using the micrometer sight set for 200 yards, the Mean Point of Impact (MPI) should be 3/4 of an inch (plus or
minus 1/2 inch) above the Point Of Aim
(POA).
Zeroing at 100 yards the MPI should
be 3 inches above the POA.
Remember there are nine sizes of foresight available, each being .015 of an
inch different in height. Note: this height difference was achieved by altering
the front sight’s base not its blade height, so each sight has the same
blade dimensions. The sights will have its height stamped onto the top of its
base. Each change of foresight to the next size, up or down, will change the MPI, up or down, 1/2 inch at 25 yards
and 2 inches at 100 yards. To aid in determining the correct height of front
sight an alternate method can be used for Calculating
Correct Front Sight Height for Zero.
To correct high impact, replace front sight with a taller one, to correct low
impact use shorter blade. Once you know which size of sight is required for a
proper zero, they can be purchased from most gun part retailer’s such as Numrich.
Examples:
If your rifle is fitted with a .0 front sight and firing from 100 yards, it
produces a five round group 4 inches above the center of the bullseye. Then
replacing the sight with a .030 blade will drop the MPI 4 inches, or
Using a rifle fitted with a .075 front sight and firing from 25 yards, it
produces a five round group 1 inch below the center of the bullseye, then
replacing the front sight with a .045 blade sight will raise the MPI 1 inch.
Windage
Now that the rifle has been correctly adjusted for elevation, windage may now
be addressed. Windage adjustments are made by moving the front sight left or
right as required to move the MPI
to dead center of the vertical plane of the target. Moving the front sight .050
of an inch (one blade's width) will move the MPI 6 inches at 100 yards or 1-1/2 inches at 25 yards.
To correct left of center, the front sight must be moved left and right of
center is moved right.
Examples:
After firing at 100 yards, a five round group produces a MPI 6 inches left of center.
The front sight must be drifted or slid over to the left .050 of an inch, this
will move the MPI 6
inches to the right.
Firing at 25 yards, a five round group results in a MPI 3 inches right of
center. The correction would be to drift the front sight 0.1 of an inch to the
right, to bring the group to dead center.
The No5 Rifle (Jungle Carbine)
Zeroing at 25 yards the Mean Point of Impact (MPI) should be 1/2 an inch
above the point of aim (POA).
Zeroing at 100 yards the MPI should
be 3-1/2 inches above the POA.
The method and sequence for correcting elevation and windage on the No5 remain
the same. However, the following differences apply:
Elevation: each blade
height (.015) alters the MPI by
2-1/4 inches at 100 yards and 1/2 inch at 25 yards.
Windage: each blade width
(.050) alters the MPI by 7-1/2
inches at 100 yards and 1-3/4 of an inch at 25 yards.