AIA Enfield, It’s Bent.

ShekelGoldstein

ShekelGoldstein

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I purchased an AIA Enfield in 308 not long ago and found that the fore stock has bent or warped.

When looking down the sights you can see the wood bend to the left and contact the right side of the barrel. From my research these use the same wood as a No4 and were all free floated. I am certain the damage is from leaning several years in a safe.

Does anyone have any tips to straighten or shim the fore stock to stop barrel contact?

I would upload photos but my account has not made enough posts yet.
 
I have one with exact same issue - but I suspect it is from the wood having not been seasoned well enough - versus leaning on something. I was advised to grind out / scrape out / hollow out the area of concern - make it straight with vice or clamping to work bench - then re-fill area with epoxy - should hold the thing "straight" and still look original from outside of it. Obviously you do not want to grind or scrape through. Or, apparently one can heat appropriate oil to just below flame temp - then dribble it over the wood to warm it up - then use clamps, etc. to pull the thing into the alignment that you want - it should stay there once the wood lignin cools.

I know the hand guard on this one is one piece - unlike the two piece hand guards on the No. 4 - I did not know that the fore-arms were the same. I think the Lee Enfield No. 4 forearms were made from walnut, maple, birch, beech and various other woods - I think the AIA ones are made from teak or something similar.
 
Wood warps. You have some Southeast Asian hardwood. No doubt different humidity here compared to where it was cut, milled, seasoned and machined.
How much pressure is it exerting on the barrel? Could you just relieve it sufficiently to float free?
 
I’m not sure how much pressure it is exerting but it looks awful. The hole at the end is already largish so when looking down the sights the entire rifle appears to be bent badly. I am also considering cutting it down to look like an L42.
 
Made in Vietnam.

Ask a legit stock maker. Changing the cast on a shotgun butt stock by bending is not uncommon.
 
Changing cast of shotgun - was where I saw that done - a Brownell's(?) video - I think the older English gunsmith last name was "ROWE" - is what he did - I think he heated linseed oil - put out multiple flames doing so - but got that stock bent the way that he wanted it.
 
Potashminer said:
I have one with exact same issue - but I suspect it is from the wood having not been seasoned well enough - versus leaning on something. I was advised to grind out / scrape out / hollow out the area of concern - make it straight with vice or clamping to work bench - then re-fill area with epoxy - should hold the thing "straight" and still look original from outside of it. Obviously you do not want to grind or scrape through. Or, apparently one can heat appropriate oil to just below flame temp - then dribble it over the wood to warm it up - then use clamps, etc. to pull the thing into the alignment that you want - it should stay there once the wood lignin cools.

I know the hand guard on this one is one piece - unlike the two piece hand guards on the No. 4 - I did not know that the fore-arms were the same. I think the Lee Enfield No. 4 forearms were made from walnut, maple, birch, beech and various other woods - I think the AIA ones are made from teak or something similar.
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I'm sorry these AIA'a are warping, they were expensive rifles and I long contemplated over them when they came out. I agree 100% it's a seasoning problem, but I would suggest making a steamer and straightening the stock that way. Once steamed and re-bent, it shouldn't move much after.
 
fat tony said:
Imo the wood used for these was teak, or something very like it. I never heard of a WWII era #4 rifle with teak stocks. I am late in my reply.
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I heard/read somewhere that the British/Indians/Australians tried Teak stocks with their SMLE rifles but had trouble securing adequate well seasoned supplies of suitable quantities plus when used it made the rifles too heavy for the smaller Indian troops. It was also said to be very hard on existing tools to cut and machine and this was a major concern for wartime manufacture. Apparently Teak is a very dense hardwood with a very high silica concentration.

Teak is famous for being very highly resistant to rot, pests (timber eating bugs, termites, white ants and worms), and fungi in both land and marine environments. Teak is the premier choice for any requirement in the marine industry, from decks and interior work, to docks.

Teak is naturally water-resistant and physically very strong and durable. It is not prone to significant expansion or contraction with humidity changes. The oils in teak are what make it weather-resistant and it requires basically no care when left outside. Its high silica content gives it non-skid properties as well as durability. This makes teak a great choice in damp environments, or in areas where slipping could be very dangerous.

Teak is hard, but not so hard to be impossible to work with. Though the silica in it will blunt sharp tools fast, Carbide tipped cutting blades are recommended, plantation grown teak actually mills and accepts stains very well. On the Janka Hardness scale for all woods, teak has a rating of 1,155 lbs, which is slightly harder than English Oak at 1,120 lbs.

Teak is very dimensionally stable. It’s shrinkage coefficient (very important for flooring installation) is 5.3%. Red Oak is 8.6% and Ipe is 7.2% and Cumaru (tradename Brazilian teak) is 7.7%. Teak is therefore superior when it comes to stability in your flooring or decking.

If you want to make outdoor furniture, the natural oils will protect the wood and you don’t have to do a thing to it, if you don’t want to! It depends on the colour you are going for, of course. Teak, if left outside to weather, will go a silvery grey colour. If you prefer not to have the teak silver in sunlight, then application of a simple teak or tung oil, or if you prefer a urethane type coating will not significantly change the natural hue of the wood but will prevent it from adopting a “weathered” look.
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mkrnel said:
I heard/read somewhere that the British/Indians/Australians tried Teak stocks with their SMLE rifles but had trouble securing adequate well seasoned supplies of suitable quantities plus when used it made the rifles too heavy for the smaller Indian troops. It was also said to be very hard on existing tools to cut and machine and this was a major concern for wartime manufacture. Apparently Teak is a very dense hardwood with a very high silica concentration.
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I never heard this before, however Australia did some serious development of was it either linen impregnated resin stocksets for the SMLE, or fibreglass stocksets. This was during the dark days when Darwin was in no man's land and was being bombed by Japan.

Mr. Ian Skennerton did a short vid on this.

Sorry, the Aus experimental stocksets were bakelite. That's about all the info I have found.
 
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I have a 1941 No. 4 that had the worst forend-tip warp I've run into in a Lee Enfield. I attempted the straightening with hot linseed oil and it did work amazingly well. It took a couple of efforts to learn the technique but it was nearly 10 years ago and I just looked at this rifle the other day and the forend is still good with the correct up-pressure and no lateral binding. When you get the wood up to the correct temperature it is amazing to see it taking a permanent bend. As shown on the original youtube video, using a propane torch on the oil-soaked rags left no visible change on the wood surface.

milsurpo
 
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