Enfield Gurus needed

Hunter1970

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I've never really gotten into the milsup stuff, but recently a cut/sportster-ized 1919 SHT LE III* found it's way into my place. After a disassembly, and clean the bore looks very good (seems abnormal for a old milsurp?), but the wood has multiple cracks. I know the "money pit" game well, but any leads on repro wood and hardware would be appreciated.
 
Google a bit - I think repro stocks that you need are made by Prestigious Wood Stocks in Alberta - I have one for a Swede 1894 Cavalry Carbine - FYI - not a single cut found on that reproduction stock that is "drop in" to fit - every slot, the inletting, every hole is too small for the thing that is supposed to go in there - so needs minor fitting / scraping for everything. You may or may not find a better deal on pricing - but they appear to make what you need. But, as mentioned - my example of "one" is NOT drop-in fit.

Perhaps a suggestion to get good reference book - perhaps by Charles Stratton, although there may be better ones. Dismantlng and re-assembly of Lee Enfield is like an art - not mechanical wrenching - and then setting up the bedding is it's own thing - a poster here on CGN suggested it may involve a dead cat, for part of that. Your "sporter" is likely missing the various barrel and receiver bands - probably the front bayonet mount, and so on - so is part of the "game" to find all those missing pieces.
 
Prestigious woods. Their Lee Enfield stocks are a close fit. They also have some of the metal parts you will need. Do a search through their site for the bands and other small pieces. A few companies in Canada sell the small pieces. There are a couple of that will rebuild the rifle for you but expect to pay a lot more.
 
I bought repro wood for mine from Marstar ( https://marstar.ca/product/lee-enfield-no1-mk3-complete-wood-set/ ) and got all the metal bits off the EE here. First check would be to check barrel length, many sporterized ones have had their barrels cut shorter which, without A LOT of tinkering, are not restorable. I quite enjoyed mine as a winter project and, if I keep thinking of doing it again

SMLE-01.jpg


SMLE-02.jpg
 
Quote " First check would be to check barrel length, many sporterized ones have had their barrels cut shorter which, without A LOT of tinkering, are not restorable."

I wouldn't say that, you can replace the barrel with a new one - it's a gunsmith job, but not overly onerous if you have a barrel.
 
I've never really gotten into the milsup stuff, but recently a cut/sportster-ized 1919 SHT LE III* found it's way into my place. After a disassembly, and clean the bore looks very good (seems abnormal for a old milsurp?), but the wood has multiple cracks. I know the "money pit" game well, but any leads on repro wood and hardware would be appreciated.

There's a company that sells all sorts of different wood I'm looking at the Queensland Maple Australian maple

https://www.prestigiouswoodstocks.c...-no-1-mk-lll-lower-forestock-queensland-maple
 
Prestigious woods. Their Lee Enfield stocks are a close fit. They also have some of the metal parts you will need. Do a search through their site for the bands and other small pieces. A few companies in Canada sell the small pieces. There are a couple of that will rebuild the rifle for you but expect to pay a lot more.

I have a Lee Enfield with a gunsmith for restoration. I had located a Prestigious Woods stock set. My gunsmith was less than enthusiastic at the news. It seems the timber used is incredibly dry! The owner was not responsive to criticism of his deliveries. The alternative is Alberta Gun Stocks. They rarely advertise, or need to.
 
My preference is to use original wood. My first #4 was mostly original non issued. The forearm was new production. It was from the fellow in the Yukon. Wish he was still in business but he stopped selling due to health issues. My others have been original wood. The set of wood from Prestigious that I used to build a rifle for a friend I thought was very good. Less fitting than I thought I was going to have to do. They have two grades, not sure what the difference is as the one I delt with was their premium.
#1 original forearms are hard to find so when I decide to start building my #1’s I will probably go with Prestigious woods.
 
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