Anyone ever see an aluminum SMLE forend?

Walther_PPK

Walther_PPK

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So I was asked to put a scope and a new stock set on a smle sporter a little while ago and when I got the rifle it had a painted (poorly) cast aluminum sporter forend. Well….most of its aluminum…it still has one piece of wood that’s held to it with screws.

I cleaned off all the paint. No markings. It’s either a poorly made commercial product or a well-made home job. Just wondering if anyone has any info.

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Ok that took 20 seconds my google-fu is working today. The milsurp forum has a post about them from 2013. He speaks of the one you have and the sheet metal one that i heard of. I hope this helps. If you have one of these it sounds like they are very rare.
 
That would cost a fortune to make - assuming it's cast, they'd have to make the moulds, which would be pretty big and require a ton of detail and then cast the molten aluminum. I don't see any voids or bubbles, so someone knew what they were doing - it's easier to screw up than get right. There doesn't appear to have been the need for bedding material, so the mating surfaces and dimensions must be pretty close. That's bizarre, really. I'd almost say it looks like a prototype, but why? The bedding surfaces don't show any attempt at accurizing, so not a "match rifle" set up. Either way, that's pretty cool.
 
It would be pretty cold in the hands on a cold winter day without that wood section. I assume others have noticed the robertson screws. Canadian eh. I am quite certain it is cast. We can see the porosity of the pour in several places.
Definitely not something I would want!
 
It’s definitely cast. There are spots where you can see holes from air bubbles.

I would just love to know the “point” of making such a thing.
 
Walther_PPK said:
It’s definitely cast. There are spots where you can see holes from air bubbles.

I would just love to know the “point” of making such a thing.
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Yeah, it really doesn't make much sense - there's no way the government would waste precious aluminum during the war on something as mundane as a rifle stock, and with no attempt to accurize it - no centre bed, full under the Knox, no filling in the main screw area, it's kind of hard to figure out the intent. Probably make a helluva club though.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the French experimented with cast aluminum butt stocks on one of their rifles.

OP, very interesting, thanks for posting.

I just googled ''aluminum stock sets for Lee Enfield" and there are several pictures of a rifle with an aluminum butt stock and fore end. Not much info though.
 
What I find odd is that is for the older no1 and not the no4 (more likely to have post war “improvements”) and that it’s sporter length and not military length. It’s like some aftermarket accessory for a surplus rifle but it’s not made well enough to be a viable commercial product.
 
Those Robertson screws scream civilian (not commercial) and Canadian. I am thinking someone working in a foundry might have done it on his off-time or someone with a home foundry. Whoever did it was not a novice at casting.
 
The screws may not be original. And as you can see with a google search, this isn’t one of a kind. There are a few pics online of similar units but no info.
 
enefgee said:
That would cost a fortune to make - assuming it's cast, they'd have to make the moulds, which would be pretty big and require a ton of detail and then cast the molten aluminum. I don't see any voids or bubbles, so someone knew what they were doing - it's easier to screw up than get right. There doesn't appear to have been the need for bedding material, so the mating surfaces and dimensions must be pretty close. That's bizarre, really. I'd almost say it looks like a prototype, but why? The bedding surfaces don't show any attempt at accurizing, so not a "match rifle" set up. Either way, that's pretty cool.
Click to expand...

Here's a guess about the avoiding the need for a complicated mold:

Stock carved from expanding foam that was sprayed on a prepared barreled action. Then removed and cast using the "lost foam" method.
 
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