The Gibbs Rifle Company is known in the past for their Lee Enfield recreations and modifications. They focus on ’03 Springfields now, but up until 2004 they had an interesting line of Lee Enfields. Val Forgett and his father, Val III, started Gibbs Rifle Company in 1991, and having just bought the Parker Hale concern in England were uniquely situated to produce a modified Lee Enfield line of rifles. They started with surplus rifles and made some cool guns, sadly they build them no more.
Gibbs built their version of the No. 5 Jungle Carbine from a No. 4 barrelled action. A new stock and flash hider with bayonet lug were added to the trimmed down barrel, still in .303. By using the No. 4 receiver they cured the “wandering zero” problem of the original No. 5, which finally was traced to lightening the action a little too much. Their No. 7 Carbine starts with an Enfield 2A barrelled action and is in .308.
They also built 2 Sport Specialty rifles. The first, the Quest II Extreme Carbine, was built on an Enfield 2A action in .308 and had a nickel finish throughout. A flash hider/compensator helped to tame the recoil and included a see through scope mount. A new hardwood stock and a survival kit in the butt made this a weatherproof all around carbine. The last Lee Enfield rifle they turned out is my favorite. Starting out as a No.4, The Summit Carbine is chambered in 45/70, and the blued action is bedded in a new hardwood stock. The mag holds 3 and is perfect for anything on 4 legs in North America. They also had a Frontier Carbine which was similar, but based on a No. 1 Mk. III action. These rifles are an interesting take on the Lee Enfield.
Lots of folks like their Gibb’s rifles. Ron Card discusses the strength of the Enfield 45/70 conversion, which he thinks is ample, and is even entertaining the possibility of converting his 45/70 to 45/90! It looks like they’ll even fit in the mag. Another happy owner, Jamie Mangrum, likens his Summit Frontier carbine to shooting an accurate cannon. Throwing 400 grain bullets brings back the heyday of the British Empire, and let’s not forget the early Lee guns were chambered for 45/70 in the early 1880’s. About the only faults he noted was the trigger could have used some work, and he had some feeding problems with the 3rd round in the mag.
45/70 and the .303