Gibbs Enfield

J

jason79

New member
Ive done a search for this but still have some questions.

Are all the components on the Quest Extreme new or are some origanol WWII date? Does the nickel finish effect the gun in any negative ways? How accurate are they? Im looking at the Quest Extreme II which is in .308 instead of .303. Is this gun strong enough to handle the .308 round?

Thanks,

jason

PS - I want one for a shooter and would like it to be accurate. Not as a collector piece.
 
Got one last week. On another thread I had mentioned that it was chromed which is wrong. It is nickled as you pointed out.

The QEII is basically a hand picked No.7 Enfield (.308WIN) [IIRC, from Ishapor] refurbished/refinished and given a new stock. Not sure how old it is. My sample has all matching numbers. Still have not fired it as it is very cold outside and there is snow on the ground. I hate picking up brass off of the snow. It comes with a Weaver-type scope rail that has a channel that should allow you to see the open sights. I am not absolutely sure about this. I am in the process of grinding away a corner of the front mounting surface of the mount so that it will fit between the bridge and the front part of the receiver, which is where it is suppose to be.

Overall, the finish is above average and the stock is excellent. The wrist of the stock feels a bit odd as compared to a contemporary hunting rifle but isn't anything that would hinder shooting comfortably. It is more straight and angled much like a non-pistol gripped lever action.

The only things I can nit pick about it is that the fine adjustment wheel for the rear sight, which has interupted threads, is difficult to turn. The corse adjustment, which is spring loaded and pushes the fine adjustment wheel away from the sight ladder's threads and allows the sight to slide front/back, is OK. Front sight is only drift adjustable.

The safety was a bit stiff to work when cocked at first but is smoothing out. It can be applied when uncocked. The safety (my guess) merely disengages the trigger from the sear.

The face of the trigger has very deep grooves and the peaks can really be felt. One peak stands out a little more than the others on mine but can be fixed with a little sanding. The trigger has a long travel but is very smooth and light (single stage). The bore appears, at least to me, excellent. I see no wear on the lands or grooves. The magazine in front of the triggergaurd fits very snugly, immovable infact, when in place.

Being a mass produced rifle from a (then) non-industrialized country, it is a bit rough on some metal surfaces. Numerous mill and grinder marks can be readily seen inside and outside of the receiver. The bolt can be uncocked if you get a VERY GOOD grip of the finger extension at the end. The peaks of the grooves in that area, however, are slightly rounded and its a little difficult to grip.

It is not a modern finely built rifle that you can get at a department store or gun shop but for $280 (retail), it is more than I had expected. It had sat at my dealer's shop for 1 day before I could pick it up and someone had offered to buy it from him before I got there. I came sealed in a plastic bag inside of a cardboard box. Included was the scope rail with two allen wrenches, the one sheet (printed front and back) manual which does not tell you how to disassemble the rifle, the (lifetime) warrenty card, and some flyers. My dealer said he could not fine one for less than $270 (without shipping) which is what I bought it at. You also get a little survival kit housed in a trapdoor tube in the butt of the stock. Comes with matches, compass, this little pointy spear looking thing, etc. Comes with nickle QD studs and there is a loop/ring in front of the mag well. Not sure what that is for.

To compare with my SKS (no muzzle brake, 1" butt extension), it is ~3 inches shorter. Slightly lighter. Furniture is considerably better. Machine work on the receiver is considerably worse. Fitment is considerably tighter. Overall, other than the rough machining marks, better than the SKS.

How well my shoulder will hold up to this lightweight I'll have to see in a week or two.
 
Gibbs #7

I bought a Gibbs #7 (.308) about a year ago. Basically the same gun as the extreme. Had trouble ejecting fired cases. Found a burr in the chamber that I removed with emery cloth. Then it ejected fine. Kicks like a mule. I ended up milling the stock and fitting on a original #5 rubber buttplate (bought from springfield sporters for about $8), including the metal. Took some of the pain out of shooting it, but not all. It is very accurate and I think fun to shoot. Not one bit of collector value at all. They are taking ishy guns I think and cutting them down to make the fake jungle guns.
 
Quote: "I came sealed in a plastic bag inside of a cardboard box."

Don't despair, hksigwalther, my mom told me the same thing. I didn't buy it then, and I ain't buying it now.
 
JAFO001 is right; the .308 carbines are cut down from Ishapore-made Mdl. 2A No.1 MkIII rifles. These rifles were made of stronger steel to handle the higher pressures of the .308.

I think all the Ishapore .308s were made in the 1960s. Mine is stamped 1968.
 
hksigwalther- The loop/ring in front of the mag well was to chain the magazine to the rifle so it wouldn't get lost(!).

Great review by the way, I have been thinking about picking up an Enfield of some sort.
 
Rex,

I was thinking that it would probably be used as a place to attach a lanyard from the mag but then I thought, 'Now why would you tether one mag to the rifle? What if you had to reload, then you'd have this empty mag hanging off. Maybe just for ceremonies and guard duty?' Thought it was a bit of a stretch for a reason. Guess not. Thanks.
 
Units with Enfields weren`t issued spare mags for reloading they only got stripper clips,that`s why they didn`t wanna loose the mags. It`s also why Enfield mags,especially .308 ones are pretty scarce. Marcus
 
So, HKSIGWALTHER, would you buy it again? How about the rest of you? I think I'd like to pick one up, but not if they're really rough.
 
Thanks for the explanation Marcus. I noticed the stripper clip cutout on the bridge when I got it but thought it would just be easier to change mags.

For only $170 or $180 you could get the regular No.7, the same as the QEII before the nickling and new stock. I think it's a good deal and would not mind getting another if the one I've got works out OK (have yet to shoot it).

Just got the .308WIN mags from J&G for the No.7/QEII. They are not factory. Overall quality is above average but not as good as the original which came with the gun.

The top of the magazine appears identical but upon closer examination the aftermarket feed lips are a bit farther apart and the bolt cutout in the back is wider. The aftermarket is approximately 5/8" shorter overall but all ten rounds fit in it.

The followers are not excessively different. The aftermarket ones, though, sit higher when the mag is empty (more on this later).

The rear of the factory mag has a substantial metal spine about 1/4" wide with a notch for the mag catch and a small rivited spring towards the bottom to, I suppose, keep the mag under tension and keep it from rattling around and cause potential feed failure. There is a channel in front of the trigger guard which extends into the receiver where the spine would fit into. The spine also covers the seam of the mag. The back of the aftermarkets have three detent bumps and no spine. The top bump, facing down is for the mag catch, the other two, facing up, I guess do what the spring does on the factory mag.

The floorplate of the factory mag is contoured with a round flat button as the floor plate retainer. The rear is held in place by the back of the mag which extends below the floorplate and fold forward securely holding the plate. the aftermarket mag is flat and the part of the mag body the stops the floor plate stops when it is flush with the bottom of the plate instead of folding over. The retainer looks like it was made by MecGar.

There are also two witness or drain holes in the very front of aftermarket mag body.

The aftermarket mag fits just as snuggly as the factory when inserted. Quite a bit of force is necessary to take it out, however. The factory mag practically falls out. The aftermarket mag follwer, as mentioned, sits very high. High enough to prevent or make difficult bolt movement over the mag. I guess it will serve as a bolt stop when you run dry. It does feed the rounds OK though. $30/ea.

Will try to find factory mags.
 
One thing the Gibbs Quest guns have that the std No 5 (303) or No 7 (308) don't, is porting on the barrel. It takes the sharp edge off the recoil. I put 60 fast rounds through my Gibbs Quest Extreme (.303) with no feelings of bruising on shoulder or fatigue.
 
SportsmansGuide has 10rd. .308 Enfield mags for $34.95. The catalog pic is of an original Ishy mag. Now if we could just find some 12rd. Ishy mags for a reasonable price we`d really be in business! :) Marcus
 
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