I traded for a smle that was supposed to have a nice shiny bore but came with a tube as dark as a liberals heart. A Lithgow ftr of a 1908 Mk III with a barrel replaced in 53 & some dingbat shoots corrosive ammo out of it and doesnt bother to clean it. I have shot it and it still shoots decent groups but I can't stand dark bores, esp since I shoot mostly cast these days. I picked up a sporter today with a nice bore but it somehow feels wrong to break up the ftr. So do I swap the good wood on to the rifle with the good bore or just sell the whole lot and get out of the smle game altogether ? I swear every time I get within 10 ft of a No1 something turns to crap & I get hosed. Did I mention I sold my Lithgow HB sporter cause the bore on this rifle was supposed to be so damned good? I should just stick to No4.
Need opinions on an enfield problem
- Thread starter desporterizer
- Start date
Rough bores tend to lead up when you shoot cast & your groups get wider the more you shoot. You need to scrub out the lead with a brush & since the bore is so rough, it gets destroyed before you are done. If you shoot jacketed bullets it not a big deal. My main area of interest is mosins so I am used to rough bores but this one takes the cake. The rifling is like new but has the surface texture of sandpaper. You cant smooth this bad boy up with out losing at least a couple of thou in the rifling.
Any recommendations on a bore polishing compound? How does one perform such a task? What about using a piece of ScotchBrite type material on a pull through? I have a nasty bore that needs some cleaning up also .
Vince
Ouch, that would hurt.
I've used that glass dust "super cleaner" paste that works well on all kinds of cleaning jobs: "power paste", "magic paste", something like that. Used on a 4x2 on a jag it does a great job of cleaning up lands and getting out harder stuff. Can't be any worse than Mottie's Paste etc.
For any old .303 the first treatment in a good brushing followed by lots of hot water down the bore. Then more brushing and more water. It's amazing how the grooves fill with crap sometimes and what looks like a very worn barrel often comes up much better after a good scrub.
I dug a five groove barrelled No4 receiver out of the locker the other night and it looked like it was rusted all the way through. I was amazed when it came up like new with a good brushing and washing. I should have taken a before photo.
I picked up a Lithgow with a truly awful bore, rust patches, worn muzzle, and feeling I had absolutely nothing to lose, I wrapped steel wool around the jag and ran that through several times. Amazing how that sewer pipe came up shiny, has stayed shiny and shoots reasonably well.
I washed my hands of the whole mess. I tried jbbore paste to no avail. That ancient lathe is wating for me to free up so "two hours of set up for ten minutes of maching" time. I did use it to make accessory drive pulleys a while ago.
I though about it but after having a few other negative experiences with the No1, I decided to bail. One day maybe I will have a good one.
