Now this is a cool looking thing to do with an old Enfield MK-I
Developed for British special forces, the DeLisle Commando Carbine was used to silently dispatch enemy sentries. The carbine was designed with the Lee-Enfield bolt action mated to the barrel of a Thompson submachine gun fitted with a Maxim silencer chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge fed by a Colt M1911A1 magazine. The silencer was of such size to muffle most of the subsonic .45 bullet, and the bolt action was much more silent and accurate than the operation of automatic weapons. The only sound made by a Delisle carbine was the little "ping" of the firing pin as it struck the bullet primer.
A good friend of mine built one of these some years ago. He fabricated a good part of this gun using info obtained from British reference material. The silencer is simulated, of course. When he finally got to handle and photograph an example first hand (museum in the UK) he discovered the real gun is MUCH cruder than the firearm he fabricated! An outfit here in Colorado (SRC) built some of these up years ago (they had real silencers). I spoke to the gunsmith who did a lot of the work. He said cutting the bolts down to the correct length was very hard work as the metal was too hard. He used Australian Lee-Enfield #1 MK III's as the "raw" material.
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Posted: November 19 2006 at 9:26pm | IP Logged
Here is another link... most of the info though is closer to the middle of the page.
Yes, it doesn't look like the type of project that you would take on with a drill press and dremel.... but for those of us lucky enough to have a machine shop a 100 feet from the back door.... well, maybe.
If I take this on (and I am really tempted) it would also only be an "outward" appearance replica. The silencer housing is long enough to house a 16" barrel to keep it legal without changing the look.
Jmatchlock
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Posted: November 19 2006 at 10:08pm | IP Logged
jestism - emailed you PDF from 1979 copy of Vol 2 of P.M.A on the Commando Carbine - Hope it helps - Thank You, Jay
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kendwell
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Posted: December 02 2006 at 11:28am | IP Logged
Jestism. Now, here is a thought: Those mauser 1888's lacking bolt heads and extractors: possible conversion? The lower seems close to .45 mag width, or maybe .40? Bbls are usually pooched anyways, so maybe here is a platform?
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Posted: December 02 2006 at 12:14pm | IP Logged
Anything is possible.... I am planning on building my De Lisle replica from an Enfield MK-I
(2) 1888 commission barrel bores after cleaning with a bore brush and swab.
Guzziman
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Posted: December 02 2006 at 12:40pm | IP Logged
I saw that somewhere, some company had a Enfield Mk4 that was already setup to shoot .45acp with the 1911 mags. I didn't think there was a price in the catalog, you have to call them. I wanted one, but now a can't remember who even had them, I saw them on their website a couple weeks ago.
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weaponeer
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Posted: December 02 2006 at 2:18pm | IP Logged
a while ago we had a group buy on the .45 conversion for the enfield. If there were people interested in another buy on the conversion parts it could be run again.
The conversion didn't look like a De Lisle Carbine, but it would cut down on a lot of the work involved in making one (for those who didn't have a mill)
__________________ While a 9 mm or .40 caliber bullet may or may not expand, it is an undeniable fact that a .45 caliber bullet will never shrink.
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__________________ While a 9 mm or .40 caliber bullet may or may not expand, it is an undeniable fact that a .45 caliber bullet will never shrink.
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weaponeer
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Posted: December 02 2006 at 2:45pm | IP Logged
Now, having refreshed my memory on the conversion, I think it would be better to have a De Lisle Carbine specific build.
All that is required is a barrel (with dummy suppressor shroud) and mag adapter.
If a kit was produced that had a barrel (with dummy suppressor shroud) that was more correct and had a means of mounting the sights correctly, and a better looking mag adapter I don't think it would be a hard build (based on the instructions here: http://www.rhinelandarms.com/Enfield/enfieldinstruc.htm )
The kit should also contain the spanner wrench, and maybe a new made extractor.
An option would be to also offer a new already modified stock, rather than having to re-inlet the old beat up stock.
Based on the above a person could modify a old enfield into a De Lisle Carbine copy without any special machine tools in a couple of hours.
It would be a better copy than the rhinelandarms version, with less work (it would cost more for a better copy, and easier to build).
End result... better looking, quicker build
__________________ While a 9 mm or .40 caliber bullet may or may not expand, it is an undeniable fact that a .45 caliber bullet will never shrink.
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weaponeer
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Posted: December 02 2006 at 3:11pm | IP Logged
They also made a folding stock version (sterling stock)
__________________ While a 9 mm or .40 caliber bullet may or may not expand, it is an undeniable fact that a .45 caliber bullet will never shrink.
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deervalley
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Posted: July 22 2007 at 1:11pm | IP Logged
anyone interested in revisiting this?
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ronsandt
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Posted: July 22 2007 at 9:58pm | IP Logged
i would love to have one.so the kit would be convert bolt , barrel,mag adaptor,shroud/fake silencer? right? i own ever enfeild varient but the .22 trainer and this. cool psst. if you reload you can make it slower and with the longer barrel it would be naturaly silenced!!! right.
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Posted: July 24 2007 at 6:58pm | IP Logged
This would be a cool build, I'd definitely be interested if cost is not exorbitant.
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Inabadhood
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Posted: January 04 2008 at 3:29pm | IP Logged
WOW! That's a NICE project to undertake!
I've always wanted a DeLisle Carbine... The Grand-Daddy of modern combat suppressed weapons, IMHO.
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