Finish on Jungle Carbine

mkrainc

mkrainc

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I just added a No.5 Jungle Carbine to my collection. The previous owner talked about how he touched it up using Tremclad, which didn't impress me, but I thought, "what the h***, I'll just re-blue it."

Then I saw on a youtube video, that some No.5's were painted. Is this fact, or is this fiction?

This is a numbers matching rifle with only a couple of minor flaws. I want to do it justice by bringing into the best shape I can. Can anybody help me out with the info I need?

Thank you all in advance.
 
Depending on where they went it is quite possible that No1/no4/No5 rifles were painted. Usually beneath the stock line and dark green. I had an Australian Lithgow that was painted below the stock line with a dull yellow paint. I have also had both No4 and No5 rifles that were painted below the stock line but in a pretty hap hazard manner.

I haven't seen any marks of Lee Enfield rifles that were painted all over other than the black paint put on the metal in place of blueing or anodizing. India uses some sort of black paint as well but there are some that feel it's there only for storage purposes as it flakes off easily.

This is very limited and I know there are some real experts here that can explain it in detail
 
bearhunter said:
Depending on where they went it is quite possible that No1/no4/No5 rifles were painted. Usually beneath the stock line and dark green. I had an Australian Lithgow that was painted below the stock line with a dull yellow paint. I have also had both No4 and No5 rifles that were painted below the stock line but in a pretty hap hazard manner.

I haven't seen any marks of Lee Enfield rifles that were painted all over other than the black paint put on the metal in place of blueing or anodizing. India uses some sort of black paint as well but there are some that feel it's there only for storage purposes as it flakes off easily.

This is very limited and I know there are some real experts here that can explain it in detail
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Suncorite if I remember right, was what the Indians used, and some distributors used this or similar black paint (or anodizing much later) BUT this was after they'd been sold into surplus and were worn.

Straight out of factory (or FTR) they'd have been blued.
 
Suncorite was the original finish on British made No.4 and No.5 rifles. And the No.5 was only made in British factories (ROF Fazackerly and one of BSA's, Shirley, I think.)
 
I've had a heck of a time trying to find out what original finishes were used on No. 4 rifles at different times and from different factories. I'm pretty sure that many British rifles were originally blued and that suncorite over parkerizing came later in the war and post war. Long Branch switched from bluing to parkerizing at some point and Savage, I believe, used a finish called Du-lite which, I believe, was some sort of parkerizing?? The Indian black paint is certainly not suncorite and is often very poorly applied and not very tough. I wish someone would pull together definite info on original finishes but it may be the info is lost to history.

milsurpo
 
DT741 said:
Suncorite is the black looking paint finish ?
Click to expand...

It's black and the finish looks like paint, but works much better than any conventional paint. There may still be some around but it's not easy to find and it can make you quite unwell if it's not handled properly.
 
Thank you all again. I have researched the Suncorite and found out it's not available and has been replaced with Bonderite O-PC 528 black RFU.

I'm still trying to find a source for this product.

I'm now leaning towards finishing this rifle in Duracoat.
 
Before Dunkirk British Enfield rifles were completely torn down once per year and under the barrel and receiver repacked with jellied petroleum (Vaseline) after inspection

After Dunkirk the rifles had the jellied petroleum removed were painted below the wood line with primer and only torn down as necessary. (if it ain't broke don't fix it)

Sometime in the late 1940s the painting of Suncorite was started, "BUT" I have a 1950 South African marked No.4 Mk2 that was packed with jellied petroleum and the receiver painted with a semi-gloss black enamel.

This paint started to rub off with orderless paint thinner when cleaning off the jellied petroleum and Suncorite is like a epoxy base paint and will not rub off.

There were two types of finishes on the metal parts, bluing or oil blackening or parkerizing over the bluing as stated in the "Instructions for Armourers" manual. And then painted with hard wearing very tough Suncorite paint.
 
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