Is there anyone in Canada that could build a barrel for one of these in the military contour? I saw the discussion on relining, but am hoping for better accuracy than whats promised from a reline. Thanks, Mark
The machining of the Enfield barrels and receivers had the indexing already built in to them. I have replaced many barrels on the no4s and no7s, and I don't recall ever having to remove metal to make them fit. There is no reason why if someone was making new 22 barrels, theycould not also meet this standard.
Of course, for the 50 or so barrels that would meet the Canadian market, it would not really be called mass production, and therefore not be priced like mass production either.
Doubt that a single CNC machine could be programmed to spit out finished barrels. How many fully automated rifle barrel lines do you suppose there are in Canada? Who would be willing to setup for a run of a handfull of barrels? A US barrel maker like Shaw or Wilson could make a run of contoured, threaded blanks. A second contractor could do the breeching, chambering, etc. But the resulting barrels would not be cheap. Mass produced generic Mauser type barrels are $150 or so. Generic M-1 barrels are $200. These are made in large quantities. If a limited run of finished No. 7 barrels could be made for under $400, I would be surprised.
w ww.trackofthewolf.com has hammerforged .22 liners for US$4.20 per inch. Brownells sells Redman's button rifled barrels in 24" and 32" lengths. Lee barrels are 25 1/4" long. The 32" liner is about US$80. Liners are subject to export controls. Sleeving a .303 barrel is not particularly difficult, although the .303 chamber must be sleeved separately, and the barrelface/boltface relationship of a .22 is different than a .303, so that must be dealt with. Basically you wind up with a simulated No.9 rifle.
You might want to try this method....use the .303 barrel as a bushing, cut off the barrel ahead of the knox form, drill it out, thread it and screw any .22 cal barrel you like into the bushing. If you are using "Full wood" no one will know and it means you can use any .22 barrel you want. We have done this a couple of times and the results are very good. .22 rifle barrels are available at just about any gun show, they usually come attached to a Cooey reciever of some sort!!!
Scott