1896 LEC Cavalry carbine Barrel Help

I've made quite a few Cavalry carbine barrels out of long lee barrels, you need to cut the and turn the correct profile but the knox form is correct.

a Smle barrel would need to be cut also turned to a thinner profile and then have the wrong knox form and would stick out like a sore thumb

after being cut to just below 21" the muzzle need to measure 14.1mm to fit the Cavalry carbine nose cap. no factory lee enfield/merford barrel does this other then the carbines

this post (#13) shows some barrels being cut and profiles and also some LEC nose caps being made
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...a-1898-LEC?p=13163437&viewfull=1#post13163437
and this post shows some mle/mlm/ non cavalry carbine nose caps being made
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...a-1898-LEC?p=13198691&viewfull=1#post13198691


this page shows pics of nose caps being made and the process they go though
https://www.enfield-rifles.com/mk1-lec-restoration_topic8030_page2.html



everything above is for the cavalry carbines I'm not sure about the other carbines that used the Rigby nose caps (although I have made the nose caps for them I just used cavalry carbine measurements and never got any complaints.
 
Evanguy said:
I've made quite a few Cavalry carbine barrels out of long lee barrels, you need to cut the and turn the correct profile but the knox form is correct.

a Smle barrel would need to be cut also turned to a thinner profile and then have the wrong knox form and would stick out like a sore thumb

after being cut to just below 21" the muzzle need to measure 14.1mm to fit the Cavalry carbine nose cap. no factory lee enfield/merford barrel does this other then the carbines

this post (#13) shows some barrels being cut and profiles and also some LEC nose caps being made
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...a-1898-LEC?p=13163437&viewfull=1#post13163437
and this post shows some mle/mlm/ non cavalry carbine nose caps being made
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...a-1898-LEC?p=13198691&viewfull=1#post13198691


this page shows pics of nose caps being made and the process they go though
https://www.enfield-rifles.com/mk1-lec-restoration_topic8030_page2.html



everything above is for the cavalry carbines I'm not sure about the other carbines that used the Rigby nose caps (although I have made the nose caps for them I just used cavalry carbine measurements and never got any complaints.
Click to expand...

I know the SMLE barrel is lighter (thinner) than a Long lee barrel but did not know the Carbine barrel was lighter than the SMLE barrel, my concern was channeling the forend to take a heavier barrel & thus make fitting a correct barrel later more difficult if one was found, if both a standard SMLE & a Long lee barrel need to be turned down then i would go with the Long lee.
 
Dave: I have a Commercial CLLE that had a great bore other than right at the muzzle. Heavily pitted on both inside and outside. I counterbored it to a depth that eliminated all the corrosion and it shoots reasonably well. Definitely worth a try before giving up and going to a new barrel (unless the corrosion runs far below the muzzle).

milsurpo
 
I think at least some of these old bores that look okay for most of their length but rifling nonexistant and bore oversize just at muzzle are the result of cord wear from pull throughs.
 
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