Enfield 303 barrel question...

lord-humungous

lord-humungous

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I don't understand the concept of burning out a barrel. I've been shooting an old Enfield. After about 3 or 5 rounds, the barrel is hot. Sometimes I sit it down for a few minutes, sometimes I keep going. It is reasonaby accurate (within my skill level), am I going to kill it? My thinking is that soldiers in the heat of battle weren't letting these devils cool down. I imagine they'd run mag after mag after mag if they needed to.

Can someone give me some advice on how I should be looking after this rifle so that I don't waste it away>??? *(I'd like to see it live longer than I do of course).
 
You would have to rapid fire hot loads for a long time to burn it out. Their early "machine guns" would overheat very quickly which is why they were water cooled or have their barrels easily changed so you can swap them while one cool.

Even in a .22 after some firing the barrel will get hot, just the nature of the game. If you see the wood smoking then I would stop.
 
its mostly subjective...

Barrel damage from gas cutting ahead of the chamber (highest wear area) or 'barrel wear' depends on what you expect. A benchrest shooter may replace a barrel after 700 rounds in a hot cartridge like a 6.5-.284. However a benchrester expects ragged one hole groups as a norm.

A hunter who is happy with an honest 2" group at 100m might put thousands of rounds through a rifle and never see a difference, a rifle lasting generations!

Higher pressure rounds that have a high bore/capacity ratio and burn large powder charges tend to ruin barrels sooner due to the gas-cutting erosion ahead of the chamber.

However, think of this - a .257WBY might have plainly visible erosion after 1000rounds, but might still produce acceptable accuarcy for 300yrd hunting for another thousand. If you shoot 200rnds a year with it thats 10 years of use in a cartridge that is probably one of the worst barrle burners!

Yes, shooting a barrel until it is super hot will accelerate barrel wear, thats why most shooters let the barrel cool between groups or strings of a few shots. I have read of a .257WBY washed out in 300rnds because the guy would shoot long strings with the barrel getting super hot (this may be a myth of course).

Soldiers would of course not worry about this, but they are also not too worried about best accuracy either in a battle!

A .303 is a lower pressure round and a .303 barrel could live for thousands of rounds without change in accuracy!
In fact many old rifles have quite rough looking barrel but still produce acceptable hunting accuracy - I just find my .303 barrel fouls very quickly (due to roughness??). Damage to the crown will probably ruin accuracy before light throat erosion...

Just my 0.02
 
the acceptable group for a enfield barrel was I believe 4" at 100yds

now shooting out an enfield barrel is going to take some doing, its more common to have pitting from corrosive ammo or damage from poor cleaning procedures then to actually have a shot out barrel.

If you concerned shoot it let it cool when it gets hot.
 
Unfortunately your analogy of service users of rifles doesn’t translate to civilian use. With the exception of snipers most military rifle users wouldn’t concern them selves with long string shooting and it’s affect on accuracy. Generally speaking in the day of the Enfield if you were shooting rapid fire you were in a Close Quarters situation, the last step before bayonet fighting. If you survived the battle and suspected an accuracy issue you simple returned your rifle to the unit armorer and got a new one. Going strictly from memory I seem to recall that Enfield barrel life expectancy was on the order of seven to ten thousand rounds. Being a surplus rifle it is possible that it has already fired several hundred to several thousand rounds so there is a good possibility it may actually be properly broken now ;).
If you keep it cool and keep it clean I think the only problem you’ll have burning out your barrel is affording the ammo to do it.
 
I had a 1916 SMLE which i had bought from International Firearms in Montreal ,..approx 1984...this rifle when i dug it out of it paper wrapping looked like crap..the stock and forestock was battered and dirty..the blueing virtually non existant....and i thought the worse for the barrel.......i ran several patches with solvent through the barrel...and the lands and grooves were in great shape...no rust or pitting..this rifle had seen service in both world wars..and maybe in some other small middle east conflicts.



It was a real nice rifle to shoot...the bolt action was "sooo smooooth" and effortless on this old warrior:wave:

T
 
Info on unknown (Lee Enfield butt stock) I think

Hi Gents: I have a nice clean military butt stock that I think is off a Lee Enfield but I don't know the different models of those guns. Looking to sell it on EE. 13 1/2" long, nice brass butt plate with the trap door intact, uses a through bolt attachment, very small rounded pistol grip. The action attachement area is kinda oval shaped but flat across the top. Also has the sling swivel attached. Any ideas without pictures? ballpark values? Thanks for any help.....plese send pm.
Oops,sorry! Think I posted this wrong and hi-jacked someones thread.
 
Willy Tincup said:
Hi Gents: I have a nice clean military butt stock that I think is off a Lee Enfield but I don't know the different models of those guns. Looking to sell it on EE. 13 1/2" long, nice brass butt plate with the trap door intact, uses a through bolt attachment, very small rounded pistol grip. The action attachement area is kinda oval shaped but flat across the top. Also has the sling swivel attached. Any ideas without pictures? ballpark values? Thanks for any help.....plese send pm.
Oops,sorry! Think I posted this wrong and hi-jacked someones thread.
Click to expand...

Wally- If it's sanded down into a sportered profile (as many are), it would be worth like $5. If as new, maybe $20-$50, maybe more if it's for a Long Branch.
 
lord-humungous said:
I don't understand the concept of burning out a barrel. I've been shooting an old Enfield. After about 3 or 5 rounds, the barrel is hot. Sometimes I sit it down for a few minutes, sometimes I keep going. It is reasonaby accurate (within my skill level), am I going to kill it? My thinking is that soldiers in the heat of battle weren't letting these devils cool down. I imagine they'd run mag after mag after mag if they needed to.

Can someone give me some advice on how I should be looking after this rifle so that I don't waste it away>??? *(I'd like to see it live longer than I do of course).
Click to expand...

These old rifles weren't designed to be hard to maintain. At all.

Clean it regularly, lubricate/preserve metal parts with gun oil, wood parts with tung oil, and lube the bolt lighty with multi-purpose grease found at any hardware store. If firing a lot at the range, let the barrel cool every ten rounds or so. Done and done.

I've also shot some enfields with crappy looking bores that shot very well. Don't assume you need a new looking bore in order for your rifle to shoot at least as good as you do.
 
I've only seen one bolt gun with a truly shot out barrel. It was a BSA P17, and was used a LOT for about 40-50 years... the bore is just about smooth. If your enfield is your one and only rifle for shooting every day for the next 50 years, you might want to have a standby barrel so your kids can use it :p
 
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