L42 - the last Lee Enfield based British sniper system
- artiozen
- Apr 30
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 14
Sold in April 2025 to a confidential private collector.
Picking up where the 1950's L8 project left off and re-using the 7.62x51mm NATO extractor and 10 Round Magazine developed for it - the L42 concept was to convert existing stocks of No4mk1T sniper to a platform that see out the latter half of the cold war from 1970 on. Civilian target shooting had demonstrated that a NATO converted No4 rifle could be precise and accurate so these learnings were rolled into the design.
A heavy profile forged barrel from Lothar which was fully floated off the receiver and a significantly bored out front sight mount to match. Heavily relieved and shortened fore wood were developed from No4 stocks, the action and pressure bearing parts reproofed to 19 tons. The remainder are standard parts and features are all No4 / No4T. The rifles carried forward their existing No32 Mk2* and Mk3 scopes or had replacements found from other stock surplussing, - These were rebuilt with Metric range increments and redesignated the "Scope, Sighting Straight L1A1" with the old model and mark struck out. The rear sight had its reticule lune erased and redefined a few thousands of an inch lower - this gave a rough and ready approximation that was good enough for service - these reticules were marked with a small "M" for metric. The rifles were returned to 80% or better service life and finished all over in Suncorite. Some 2000 or so were converted at Enfield Lock over 3 years and sent to Donnington depot for dispatch / delivery to their intended units.
These rifles served in the Front Lines and covert actions of the British Empire until 1992, when their extended life program for replacement parts had them retire to surplus and be replaced with the incoming L95A1 from Accuracy International Several famous photos and stories from the L42s service life include time in the deserts and South Atlantic. One story credits the rifle and user turning a Argentinian Navy Destroyer away from its intended docking location.
