I'm wondering if anyone on the boards has experience with woodworking? I'm going to take a look at what should be a well-kept Lee Enfield No.4 Mk.1 on Thursday that was fitted into a Monte Carlo stock. The reason I ask is that I cannot afford the original wooden furniture for the Enfield if I actually want to get out and shoot it more then once in a blue moon so I'd like to know if its feasible to construct my own full upper, and half of a lower guard? If I can find wood with a similar enough grain and a stain of the same colour I think I'd like to try making my own with some of the basic wood working tools that I have here, and some that I have access to. I've never tried anything like this in the past though and I'd like to hear from others. I'm confident that I can find the metal bits to give the Enfield a fairly original look, or atleast partially restore it to its former glory before Bubba got to it. This time though, it will have an excellent Monte Carlo style butt stock!
Creating a Custom No.4 Stock...
- Thread starter SeamusMac
- Start date
Well I would not think highly of your chances. The contour and thickness of the upper and lower, along with the length will make it reasonably tricky, even with a good router/milling table, and a host of woodworking tools. If you are going that line there are probably a woodworkers in NS who could do a set of of some nice wood, wild cherry, hacmatac, apple etc, but spruce or pine is kinda a bad choice. Your best choice is to shoot it as it, or even get some synthetic stocks, ad then watch the boards here, or Ebay, for a set of real wood when it comes up.
I am not saying it can't be done, it can, but the cost would be higher than original if you have someone else do it, and could be tricky even for a skilled wood worker.
If you want an all original, your best bet is to save 300$ and buy a full wood one off CGN or the like.
I am not saying it can't be done, it can, but the cost would be higher than original if you have someone else do it, and could be tricky even for a skilled wood worker.
If you want an all original, your best bet is to save 300$ and buy a full wood one off CGN or the like.
maple_leaf_eh
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
How much is your time worth? It is possible to spend a great deal of time and effort, not to mention wasted stock and tool wear, without improving anything. The No.4 foreend has some wildly complicated little surfaces that need to be all working in unison.
Without trying to deflate your sails there Bluenoser, a No.4 MkI and MkI* has two sets of bedding. The receiver and the trigger guard; both need to play well together. The later MkII models with the trigger attached to the receiver sort of avoided the problems of fitting the triggerguard.
The butt is less of an issue - if you have a drill press that can bore a 15" deep hole and contour the interior of the hole for a bolt head (if you do, you're a better man than me). The contours of the stock "socket" would not be impossible to duplicate, just time-consuming.
My recommendation for your butt hole issue (hey, we're all grownups here!), would be to buy a Bantam butt (and this is not about little boys, either) from Districorp in Montreal for about $15.00. The only differences are overall length. Then start beavering (like I said, we're grownups) with slabs and applique panels. Tart it up as much as you want, knowing the innards won't cause any problems.
Without trying to deflate your sails there Bluenoser, a No.4 MkI and MkI* has two sets of bedding. The receiver and the trigger guard; both need to play well together. The later MkII models with the trigger attached to the receiver sort of avoided the problems of fitting the triggerguard.
The butt is less of an issue - if you have a drill press that can bore a 15" deep hole and contour the interior of the hole for a bolt head (if you do, you're a better man than me). The contours of the stock "socket" would not be impossible to duplicate, just time-consuming.
My recommendation for your butt hole issue (hey, we're all grownups here!), would be to buy a Bantam butt (and this is not about little boys, either) from Districorp in Montreal for about $15.00. The only differences are overall length. Then start beavering (like I said, we're grownups) with slabs and applique panels. Tart it up as much as you want, knowing the innards won't cause any problems.
After thinking about it a little harder it does seem like a difficult task to accomplish if I want to do it in the original Lee Enfield fashion. I don't think that the lower will be especially difficult to shape, but I planned on making the upper one long peice instead of two, which could create some issues with the overall strength of the peice. I'm going to take everyone's advice and not go full steam ahead with a hardwood stock, but I don't think theres any reason not to give it a try with some cheap softwood, just to see how it works out.
These are the part I'll have to try to replicate, just incase anyone was confused as to what I want to do...
These are the part I'll have to try to replicate, just incase anyone was confused as to what I want to do...
Buttstocks are inexpensive ($10-35), and if your Monte Carlo Buttstock is nice, it should fetch upwards of $50, which will go a ways towards a set of forewood and fittings. You might do it all for a net outlay of $125 if you are patient and a bit lucky.
Lee Enfield
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Republic of Alberta
I'd just start gathering pieces. You should be able to finish it off within a year...
- Location
- WMU248 near Edmonton
I've always thought of trying my hand at making a stock. I have several examples to use as the pattern, but I have never taken the time (or had the time) to really study the problem. Inletting the stock and the barrel contour would seem to be the hardest parts.
If you have lots of time no harm in taking a kick at it.
If you have lots of time no harm in taking a kick at it.
I'm not working much until summer and my courses aren't very difficult ones so I think I will give it a try. If I could get some pictures of the stock components with a few measurements I think I could start from the inside and work my way out. The only problem I might face is attaching the upper foregrip to the lower part of the stock near the action because I'm not sure if the Enfield I'm going to look at has all of the original metal around the action, so it might not just fit in there like on a normal Enfield.
Try hitting Ebay and a few gunshows in NS, like Waverly, Truro and Pictou. No garantees, but ask when you see guys with stocks for sale. The dealers all seem to know its now the rage to de-sporterise LEs, and have begun hauling stock parts around.SeamusMac said:These are the part I'll have to try to replicate, just incase anyone was confused as to what I want to do...
If your looking for a butt stock for an LE in NS, find it before I do
- Location
- WMU248 near Edmonton
Dosing said:If your looking for a butt stock for an LE in NS, find it before I do
evil evil
maple_leaf_eh
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
If you absolutely have to cut metal off your No.4, start with an already buggered one and shop around for an aftermarket target rifle trigger.
In the 1970's the DCRA shooters experimented with all kinds of things, including one-piece No.4s. For a while they were the action to beat at the long ranges. (The word in the tentlines at Connaught suggested some weird voodoo magic about barrel flip and sympathetic harmonic vibrations.) Then the Musgraves and Swings appeared and kicked the old cobble-jobs off the prize list. Some oldtimer may have one for sale or examination. Put an ad in the DCRA Rifleman, if you are interested.
One of the strangest legacies in the Lee Enfield design is the placement of the trigger and sear on the triggerguard, and the bolt on the receiver. Any misalignment means varying trigger pulls.
This whole topic of radical gunsmithing the No.4 gets my blood pressure up. There are better, more approachable rifles to restock than the No.4, which will be far more satisfying in the end. The British wood and metal work is complicated compared to Mauser-style rifles. I have tried to discourage guys from wasting valuable shooting time grinding, cutting, welding, swearing and inevitably chucking, but evidently it is not working.
In the 1970's the DCRA shooters experimented with all kinds of things, including one-piece No.4s. For a while they were the action to beat at the long ranges. (The word in the tentlines at Connaught suggested some weird voodoo magic about barrel flip and sympathetic harmonic vibrations.) Then the Musgraves and Swings appeared and kicked the old cobble-jobs off the prize list. Some oldtimer may have one for sale or examination. Put an ad in the DCRA Rifleman, if you are interested.
One of the strangest legacies in the Lee Enfield design is the placement of the trigger and sear on the triggerguard, and the bolt on the receiver. Any misalignment means varying trigger pulls.
This whole topic of radical gunsmithing the No.4 gets my blood pressure up. There are better, more approachable rifles to restock than the No.4, which will be far more satisfying in the end. The British wood and metal work is complicated compared to Mauser-style rifles. I have tried to discourage guys from wasting valuable shooting time grinding, cutting, welding, swearing and inevitably chucking, but evidently it is not working.
Know a fella who did just that. Not a gunsmith, but a trained welder, and shop teacher. It was quite impressive. He cut off the socket, welded on a tang, created a stock (quite nice, plain, nothing fancy), and turned the mag into a flush mag with a new release, with a whole new trigger guard. The mans skills were unquestionable. He did it as a lark more than anything, mainly as an exercise. The downside was it still had that slopply #4 reciever. I think a #1 would have been more graceful. He did this over a few weeks.Claven2 said:One thing I've always wanted to try is to mill the buttsocket off a sporter and convert a No.4, or better yet, a Long Lee, to a full stock configuration. would certainly be unique looking!
Honestly, I have to rate his overall skills as the best I have ever seen for a home gunsmith. Frankly better than most gunsmiths, his background in metal and woodworking really shone through.
