first aid for an Australian smle III from 1915

mullet maniac

mullet maniac

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Well I just inherited a gun that appears to have been made at the Lithgow factory in 1915.

Everything seems to look alright, and the bore & rifling look pretty sharp too!

The stock, though!!! The stock, Kill it with fire!!!!

It's cracked and beat to crap and of course was 'sporterized'.

I would love to see what this thing would've looked like when it rolled off the factory line, so how might a fella go about finding a full length stock, while wanting to hopefully protect the integrity of the gun's Aussie heritage? (I mean, I know nothing about L-E's, so I don't know if there are any differences between stocks made for British guns, Canadian built guns, Australian guns etc).
 
Early lee enfield wood for the no1 mk3 is hard to come by, then when you add the fact that it has to be Aussie to keep the gun correct and it gets harder! Keep your eyes peeled for wood here on the EE, eBay and on numerous other sites. You'll also need barrel bands which hold the front wood on, a muzzle cap, usually a rear sight protector, missing screws etc. It won't be cheap or easy but with patience and money it can be done. The real problem with resto jobs is most often you'll have more money into a restored gun then it would cost to just buy one that is complete.

I have a 1916 lithgow smle Sporter which I'm also looking to restore, been looking for wood for awhile but haven't found any that won't cost me my first born.
 
The very first Lithgow rifles were stocked with Walnut which was imported. That was in 1912/13.

Australian woods were tried and it was found that Queensland Maple and Coachwood made decent stocks, so that is what many were made with.

Be an idea to get onto one of the Aussie forums, see what still is rolling around down there. I know that they DO come up with forward wood from time to time.

BTW, Australian practice was to use the right side of the Butt to mark the entire history of the rifle. I have a 1918 here which was restocked in 1944. It still has the 1918 Butt with two sets of full-rebuild markings et cetera. Point to observe.

Hope this helps.
 
mullet maniac said:
I would love to see what this thing would've looked like when it rolled off the factory line...
Click to expand...

I can help with that. Here's a 1914 Lithgow, just as it left the Lithgow factory in the summer of 1914...down to the smallest screw (though it appears to have been in harms way in the Dardanelles and then pulled out of the line to be displayed). .

IMG_2883.jpg


IMG_2882.jpg
 
Lots of wood here, pardon the pun: www.libertytreecollectors.com/productcart/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=62

Best of luck with the restore.
 
I recently placed an order with Liberty Tree Collectors for a bunch of SMLE stuff including a buttstock. They sent me an email stating that they could send me everything except the butt stock as they no longer ship those to Canada. That surprised me as I had purchased a full length Mauser stock from them last year. So you might want to inquire about that before you place an order. Great outfit though. However, I just so happen to have a new coachwood Lithgow No1 MkIII butt stock for sale on EE. If it doesn't sell soon I'm going to use it as a fish club ;)

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...-SLAZ-42-SMLE-Buttstock&p=8295725#post8295725
 
Thanks all for the tips, insights and motivating photos :)

smellie - someone else told me that the ozz stocks were made of beech? any thoughts on that?
 
Aussie wood is going to be a tough find...I found some for a 1920 Lithgow,then ended up using what I could find for now..Keep an eye on ebay,...Liberty Tree will not ship forestocks here either...handguards and other small parts are ok..be careful,..I started out with a pair of bbled actions to play with last year as a winter project and now I have six of the damn things...They multiply like rabbits when you aren't looking I swear!!
 
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