Enfield bedding questions.

icehunter121

icehunter121

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When bedding the NO4 where should a guy concentrate on? I am thinking the recoil lug and rear draws. Also where should the barrel be freefloating? I am thinking the first inch of barrel being bedded and the only slight pressure or no pressure at the end of the stock with hand guards free floating.

Hows about the NO1? Where should it be done?
 
icehunter121 said:
When bedding the NO4 where should a guy concentrate on? I am thinking the recoil lug and rear draws. Also where should the barrel be freefloating? I am thinking the first inch of barrel being bedded and the only slight pressure or no pressure at the end of the stock with hand guards free floating.

Hows about the NO1? Where should it be done?
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Do not assume with any Enfields. They had a complex variation of bedding techniques over the years, with most involving at the least a couple pounds of upward pressure at the muzzle. Some had a one or two other pressure points as well. This is most important on the No.1's as they have the lighter profile barrel compared to the No.4. A free floated barrel will be inconsistent to some degree. The armories put a lot of time and effort into making a light profile barrel shoot well, and nobody has really improved on it since.
 
I've done a few of both and the real challenge is getting everything set up such that, when you install the forend and triggerguard you have proper bearing simultaneously at butt-socket, draws, front of body, barrel reinforce, and near the tip of the forend. Installing a replacement new or used forend or simply doing the draws on your existing forend is a real trial and error process. It's best done without any shims but, I believe, it was an armourers accepted practice to inlet a hardwood shim in the lower, middle third of the area where the barrel reinforce sits in the event that there is no bearing there and no other easy way to adjust things. Minor changes at the rear bearing points are magnified in their effect at the muzzle. And yes, the No. 1 is more complicated.

milsurpo
 
A proper bedding job for a Lee Enfield is an art, not a science.

It involves some special chants, incantations and a ceremony with a dead cat.

Good luck.

I bed the draws, under the king screw and the first inch of the barrel, with some up pressure at the end.
 
icehunter121, good on you to take on such a fun project.

There's some essential reading which you'll want to find. The theory isn't too complicated, but sometimes the execution brings problems, frustration and questions. (ask me how I know that...). Take your time, go step by step. A finely bedded Lee Enfield can often produce some pretty tight groups. (ask me how I know that...) :)

The No4 and the No1Mk3 forend beddings have very different requirements. Read about both. (it's fascinating and very classic british engineering...)

For the No1Mk3, the key information is found on page 15 in the "Instructions for Armourers 1931 Part 2 - Small Arms":

https://www.milsurps.com/content.php?r=307-Instructions-for-Armourers-1931-(Part-2-Small-Arms)

For the No4, 7ECA got it right: the 1991 edition of the "First Line Maintenance Instructions", published by the National Defence.

I look at these publications often, still to this day.

Oh and as Sir Plus mentioned, this sticky may provide some useful info too:

https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1502728-What-questions-to-ask-when-shopping-for-a-desporterized-No4-Lee-Enfield

Hope this helps!

Lou
 
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The type of wood used in the manufacture of the stocks has a lot to do with some of the bedding methods.

For example, some of the early actions used copper shims screwed to the rear slope of the ways. These shims came in different thicknesses and IMHO worked very well but when I duplicated the method on both No4 and No1 actions, the time involved was way beyond practical when producing mass quantities on a schedule. The reasoning behind the copper shims was obvious and they worked as intended. When the rear ways become compressed or damaged, consistent accuracy is next to impossible to maintain.

From a lot of the specimens I've seen with the copper shims installed most of the stocks that survived with them were Australian. Coach wood is lovely but IMHO it's not dense enough.

A long deceased friend of mine, a Canadian REME from 1936 to 1956, worked extensively on No1/No4 rifles, was adamant about the condition of the rear ways being perfect. He spent a lot of time with me proving his point. In his opinion the bedding design of the actions was just to complicated for a service rifle, especially one that was mass produced. He felt the upward pressure on the barrel at the tip of the fore end on the No4 and the mid spring saddle on the No1 contributed to the compression of the wood on the sloping rear ways when the rifle was being fired. He loved the copper shim bedding method but admitted it wasn't really practical.

By the way, even with that criticism, he loved Lee Enfields and preferred them to the Pattern 14\17 rifles because he felt they were ergonomically superior.

The fellow's name was Walter Rogers and for part of the war was a traveling armorer, assigned to the PCMRS, along with Les Viel in BC.
 
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louthepou said:
icehunter121, good on you to take on such a fun project.

There's some essential reading which you'll want to find. The theory isn't too complicated, but sometimes the execution brings problems, frustration and questions. (ask me how I know that...). Take your time, go step by step. A finely bedded Lee Enfield can often produce some pretty tight groups. (ask me how I know that...) :)

The No4 and the No1Mk3 forend beddings have very different requirements. Read about both. (it's fascinating and very classic british engineering...)

For the No1Mk3, the key information is found on page 15 in the "Instructions for Armourers 1931 Part 2 - Small Arms":

https://www.milsurps.com/content.php?r=307-Instructions-for-Armourers-1931-(Part-2-Small-Arms)

For the No4, 7ECA got it right: the 1991 edition of the "First Line Maintenance Instructions", published by the National Defence.

I look at these publications often, still to this day.

Oh and as Sir Plus mentioned, this sticky may provide some useful info too:

https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1502728-What-questions-to-ask-when-shopping-for-a-desporterized-No4-Lee-Enfield

Hope this helps!

Lou
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Its more like 4 projects right now! I have 2 NO 4 enfields to do as well as one NO1 mk111 enfield and if I want to I can do the jungle carbine I got a few weeks back. The NO1 and the 4"s are all being returned back to full military config. I picked up replacement stocks and metal for them. The jungle also has a new stock repro coming for it. Also if I can now find a enfield marked NO1 from the years of oh say 1915-1917 it will get restocked also. I also picked up a P14 that will be getting some restoration work done ASAP. The jungle is original except for the stock ( non matching) and the upper HG was made from a #4 but rather sloppily. Oh and did I mention I am also looking for a Long Branch to do up also.
 
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