It was a nice but messy milsurp suprise

Riflechair

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1950 CNo4mk1* arrived yesterday but things didn't feel right.
The trigger pull was very mushy
The muzzle had no foretip pressure or movement of any kind
The action screw was completely siezed

It took some serious persuasion to get that action screw loose.
What I found under the wood was FULL of cosmolene.
It was a pleasant but messy sprise...

This rifle feels and functions a lot better now. I wonder how she shot all gooped up like that?
Boggles the mind.
 
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May I ask the value of the rifle? I have an unfired unissued 1950 LB in mint shape and I am looking for a value. Nice rifle (yours)

I would not accept offers less that $1500 + shipping.
Next week might be different
I see dogs going for $450 on the EE all the time and people are buying them...

This ain't no Dog.
 
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Interestingly, my unissued 1944 BSA No.4MkI's bore has less machining marks than that post-war LB built when the pressure was "off". I suspect that one was through-bored near the end of the tool bit's life.
 
Interestingly, my unissued 1944 BSA No.4MkI's bore has less machining marks than that post-war LB built when the pressure was "off". I suspect that one was through-bored near the end of the tool bit's life.

I've also noticed that the Brit enfields have much less pronounced rifling & shallower grooves than the Cdn variants.
 
I have run into problems with grease like that in some of my rifles. In the cold (and I am talking temps of -10°C and colder) my Boys rifle would often misfire. Once you finally did manage to get a couple rounds through her, it would fire just fine. Turns out the grease in the bolt would almost solidify and cause weak primer strikes. I had a similar problem with one of my Enfields as well.

What seems OK in the middle of the summer is critical when the temps fall.
 
I don't now how people can shoot their guns with that much cosmo in the stock. Can you imagine the leakage when it got warm?

I had a guy on the range last summer with 91/30 MN fresh from mail office.
Of course it was loaded with cosmo but guy did't seem to care-he shot it anyway with greasy hands and huge grin on his face :)
 
I started loading ammo for friends when I was out on Fogo Island.

Friend took 400 rounds of my stuff up to The Front, reported misfires. Primers looked like light strikes.

Turned out he was keeping the rifles on top of the boat's cabin while they broke-in a "lake" to get to a patch of seals.

The rifles were well-oiled, of course, to keep them from rusting in the salt air...... but they were oiled with SAE 50 and they were COLD.

Wiped out ALL of the 50-weight and the home-loaded ammo brought in 800 seals that year.

End of problem.

As to the OP's rifle, the poor thing must have been SO embarrassed! And such a beautiful rifle, too. No way to treat a lady!

Thanks for the great photos.
 
He got a second batch later: 300 more .243W and 300 .222 Rem.

Best he did was 2 seals with 1 round of .243.

Score was his score for that year. He was the Fogo Island high-liner, as was usual.

Fine skipper if a bit of a risk-taker. He used a 50-foot wooden boat for an icebreaker!

It was Greenheart-sheathed, of course, 1-inch stuff which had come off the old F.U. Company trading schooner SWILE.

No way can you run a wooden boat through the ice without Greenheart. Even the SS TERRA NOVA was Greenheart sheathed; Capt. Scott called her "the toughest icebreaker that ever floated".

But 2 with 1 round was his best. Hornady 75HP backed with Ball C-2.
 
It's no small wonder these rifles are so bad for copper fouling.

DSCF5504.jpg

Hehe... I know what causes that! It looks like the operator accidentally shut off or ran out of oil part way through the cut. I've done that before, and funny enough, on an old Pratt and Whitney that came out of the Longbranch factory. Maybe it even drilled out your barrel...
 
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