All to save a 1898 LEC

[Evanguy]

so i was given this rifle back in the spring(2016), i was told buy a guy at work that they were "100% f**ked" and he was "going to throw them in a lake". i told him how much im into them and how i now have 7 (then, now 12) and love them, one day i hope to have a full room just filled with them, he said i could have the two 303s, i bought him a bottle of jack daniels and he was more then happy.

so the next day he shows up with the rifles.....................well, he did not lie about the condition, that is for sure.

at the time i had no idea about really any lee Enfield older then the no1mkIII's, i actually didn't know what the LEC was or that this rifle was stamped that until i got the wire bush out.

after being told i have a "Lee Enfield Cavalry Carbine" and i google'ed them, i was hooked. anything newer then a LE1* I had lost a lot of interest for.

ive put a lot of work into this rifle so far, more then one probably should have. but i had a strong drive from within and im unsure what fueled that drive but it was/is there.

il post the first pics of what it looked like when i got it, and leave it for comments, then illl post the rest of the story and pics, (its now just in need of blueing and the wood set to show up in the mail) i have collected every part needed (i have to admit without Englishman_ca's help i would never be where i am today(it worked out well for him to have invested the time he did in helping me))

the other rifle in the pics is a 1941 Lithgow, thats being restored to a sporter state now, basically to match my sporter no1mk3 .22 trainer and my sporter no1mk3 .410. ill have three rifles that look identical other then the barrel bore. but that is another story.


ill post the rest of my adventure with this rifle maybe tonight or over time since i have about 100 pics to find in photobucket and copy the links with a cell phone hotspot as my connection (very slow)

 

[tatou]

Holly mother of fridge.... did he use it as a boat anchor....
And i thought mine needed work...

Is it time for the next pics yet ??????

 

[Gibbs505]

Wow, looks like you took on a real job there!!

 

[XRCD011]

Looking very forward to updates and progress reports on the restoration.

 

[wjt]

Looks like he fished them out of the lake. Anyway, remove the wood, throw them in the water, and hook up a battery charger. Electrolysis is your friend.

 

[Evanguy]

yes it has been quite a project, I'm surprised I've got it this far, i cant wait the show the guy who gave it to me the rifle when im finished with it, the no4mk1 i bought off him to get the lec mag that i mention later was restored to full wood mill spec and he was very surprised/ impressed

so first things fist, i had to figure out a way to get this rifle apart. i starter slowly and took my time using a wire brush and clean and removed parts in order of now easy they came apart.
as i was getting it cleaned up i noticed it has a matching bolt and receiver, a no4 barrel ass well as the butt stock, i was in need a a few peices to make this rifle correct and started looking for them,

i ended up using the fore end and the sanded to death LEC butt stock that also came on that save no4mk1 mentioned above on a no1mkIII sporter i had, that i cut the barrel to 18 1/8" and turned a thin taper on the barrel, the rifle totals 35" long and weighs 4 pounds, i use cast 100 gr bullets in it flying at 950 fps. it kicks way to hard to use factory 303 ammo lol but that's a story and pics for another day

 

[tatou]

Looking good, already a difference

At the gunshow this weekend i saw a carbine mag, link loop still intact.. for $125

 

[Evanguy]

thanks and that's a good find, i lucked out and bought the whole rifle with a ten round mag and the lec mag for 100$, he doesn't think much of "three oh three's"


after getting the rifle mostly apart i noticed ill need to fix the little key in the cocking knob so i fixed that up and finished cleaning the bolt as well as getting it apart. also i needed a rear lug on the bolt for the dust cover
i borrowed a old bolt to copy the rear dust cover lug off of. i made the lug out of 1018 cold roll, and silver soldered it in place, honestly who this whole project that lug has impressed the the most, i cant believe how well it turned out lol.
so i cleaned the bolt up and started working on the broken parts.

 

[37patt]

Beautiful work so far! All the best with the rest of the restoration. Please keep us posted.

 

[Robert Nicholson]

Wonderful! This is a really interesting thread and even if it does not make financial sense, you are enjoying yourself and spending way less than
other people spend on enjoyment.

 

[tatou]

ok....i admit it... i'm impress so far lol

 

[Evanguy]

Thanks guys. I just lov3 these old rifles, ive since bought a few long lee projects and still am looking for a lee speed and lee metford to add to the collection.

I can tell you other then the bottle of jack danials, 100$ for a no4mk1 rifle and shipping parts back and forth a few times from ontario i havent spend any more money on it then that. I traded my labor for all the parts needed so far. And even sold a few repro parts that i needed to make to finish this rifle so im actually ahead more then one could imagine. The things i have learnd doing this is worth it, the money from selling a few nose caps made it worth it, being exposed to the new world of pre no1mkIII's is worth it to me. I feel it was a perfect project for me and none the cost. ( i can work after hours and lunch breaks on my own stuff at work, full cnc/manual shop)

 

[Evanguy]

then it was time to remove the barrel, i later used that barrel to make a 410 shotgun
then after talks with englishman_ca i worked out a deal that got me a sporter long lee barrel to and a LEC barrel to copy the taper and length. that went well and i then had a barrel to use that would look proper. i also borrowed an LEC nose cap to copy because i was unable to find one to buy.

 

[tatou]

Ah well if you're gonna use all that fancy machinery i guess i'm not impress anymore, a child could do it. (NOT)

Ok ok i'm lying ...i'm just jealous
Keep the pics coming plz

 

[RRCo.]

Now you've got our attention!

 

[Evanguy]

^^ well im glad to hear that man lol, i try and get some more pics up tonight. And maybe a few more of machining the parts, since we all love pics.

 

[woodchopper]

^^ well im glad to hear that man lol, i try and get some more pics up tonight. And maybe a few more of machining the parts, since we all love pics.

all those nose caps..... tis a thing of beauty...

Makes me think of my poor little sporterized LEC and Lee metford carbines.

 

[diopter]

4 machining vises on the same milling machine? At work?

 

[Evanguy]

all those nose caps..... tis a thing of beauty...

Makes me think of my poor little sporterized LEC and Lee metford carbines.

yeah it sure is, that was the first batch, the second turned out a lot better,also if you need a nose cap just reply to my WTT thread

4 machining vises on the same milling machine? At work?

yeah all of this is at work, i have some tools at home but its silly to work here when i can go to my work any time, i can get the key and stall in there all weekend if i wish. i was cutting key ways in a piece of 50mm ground shaft earlier that day, sucks dialing 4 in together lol ive gotten pretty fast at 2 though.



i bought a no4mk1 off the same guy as who give me the lec , so when i seen the rifle and noticed the 5 round mag that goes in the carbine i bought the rifle just for that alone, that was a good score. it also came with an no4 10 round mag too!!

i also ended up with a non matching numbers LE1 for parts/ accessory stripped usable sporter and got a the proper mag cut off from that for my carbine.
then all i was in need of was to find a barrel band and retainer, then i was sent one of each off one a matching rifle for me to make some copies of. im still working on them and have no pics yet.
it was coming a long well and i had it to this stage for a while, when i was distracted for a bit with other projects, but i still needed to fix the holes in the receiver from the scope mount and remove all the old blueing, as well as get the receiver fully apart.

 

[Evanguy]

so as of now this is how the rifle sits today and the only things left is, reblue all the parts and wait for my stock set to come in the mail with a proper butt plate fitted. then i can assemble the rifle and shoot the crap of it(check and deal with head space is any problem arises), i got the holes filled from the scope mount, you can still see the outline of them but with all the pitting there already it probably will be fine, and also i didn't want to put any more heat into the receiver, i submerged the receiver in water and tig welded the holes full, so i didn't feel like setting all that up again
oh i also have all the screws needed, i didn't get them in the pic, i forgot them at work the day i took it.

ill post more updates as they happen, i think ill have the stock set some time in December, maybe sooner
i need to get on rest browning these parts soon, ill get pics of that.