Lee Enfield SMLE and No 4 repro Furniture

mitsou

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Happy new year everyone !

I 've recently heard about a gentleman right on Canada who makes Enfield No 1MK III and No 4 repro furniture.

Any leads would be great !

Cheers
 
I'm not that guy, but...
i make the upper hand guards, front mostly, rear seem to be much more commonly available and not worth the time to make, although they are by far the easiest to make.
i`m also taking on my first No 1 Mk III fore end build very soon.
it will be posted on this forum when it happens
 
Middle of last year, I heard of a guy in the Yukon making reproduction No.1 Mk. III wood sets - when I tried to get in touch with him I never got any answers. Seems that lead dried up.
 
i remember that. he may have had a problem getting walnut, but that might have been another guy. I'm waiting for after the holidays are over, so about nowish, to see if my local hardwood purveyor can get the wood i need at the right price. i`ve only a little left from my time in Ontario.

I will see how long it takes, etc and so on before i commit to any amount of production, 90% of my work is done by hand.
 
The gent in the Yukon had serious medical problems, back issues, I believe.
I ordered two SMLE kits from him and the butts were a long time coming, but they did arrive.
The kit contains all the hardware to restore a sporter, as well.
A few of the hardware parts were missing, but he sent them along with no fuss.
He also added a few freebies for my troubles.

I'm sure that with all his problems, it was a big hassle for him, and not worth his efforts.
In the end he had to outsource the butts.

The bottom line is, they weren't cheap, but certainly worth the wait.
He's a righteous fellow.
 
Us Enfield enthusiasts should all chip in on a stock duplicator and make what we all need, get it up and running and find a retired CGNer who wants to happily make Enfield stocks all day as a hobby!
 
Walnut slabs 15 minutes from my house sell for 300-400 bucks approx 30x72x2. I figured 3 full length musket stocks at about $150 each. SMLE stocks would be around $50 or so each.
 
2" is a little thin for enfields and most milsurps. 2 1/4" - 2 3/8" is best. Easier to set up in the duplicator. Otherwise you will get a flat area on the sides.
 
ive a friend who tried making #4 stuff lots of work to get the duplicator to cut right. in the end he sorta got sic and gave up. its not neer as easy as everyone thinks
 
The really tough thing to find are forends.

The really impossible thing to find are original forends, as installed at the factory or military armourer.

Newly made stuff looks nice but will never be original.
 
Duh.

But at least this way it can be shot or carried without worry of damage to the original. I'd still take a restored Enfield or Mauser over a lot of new stuff.

I see M1917/Pattern 14 Enfield stocks are being sold by Numrich for about $199 a pop, Criterion is also making new barrels for the M1917 and No4.
 
Us Enfield enthusiasts should all chip in on a stock duplicator and make what we all need, get it up and running and find a retired CGNer who wants to happily make Enfield stocks all day as a hobby!

I bought a Radarcarve in 2011and have run it very little.
I was planning on doing more with it this winter, but a new hip slowed things down.
If anyone in my neighbourhood wants to give it a try, give me a holler.
We can all learn something.
 
You need something that is solid and the radar carve is not. Way to much flex in them and screwing to plywood base isn’t good enough. Been there done that!

You can build one for about 2g’s that is solid. I know because I built one. Your looking at 3 hours to do a ross length stock. Lee enfield stocks vary in length of time, due to lining pieces up etc. Best to do 2-3 foreends, then change to upper wood pieces, etc. Butts you need a solid base to pre drill the bolt hole before profiling, a lathe is best.

After a stock is done, you will need to do some sanding. Exterior cuts are over sized. Hence having thicker wood to start with. You will have cutter marks no matter how careful you go. Inletting takes time you will have nasty gaps just on the wood flexing if not paying attention. Upper wood especially on the smle’s flex very easy.

Expect a learning curve of 2-3 stocks before you get a hang of it.

Your not going to get rich doing this, your chiropractor will! Lol

That’s my take on it from someone who has done it.
 
I bought a Radarcarve in 2011and have run it very little.
I was planning on doing more with it this winter, but a new hip slowed things down.
If anyone in my neighbourhood wants to give it a try, give me a holler.
We can all learn something.

I would love to give it a try, mabey for the first few try an easier stock then take on the Lee Enfield! Unfortunately you are a quite far away for me.
 
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