fixing the recoil lugs on a Lee Enfield forend

louthepou

louthepou

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Hi folks,

I currently am working on a Jungle carbine which belongs to CGN's "smitsauce". Symptoms were described as: very poor accuracy; despite good rifling, good crown...

First area to look for trouble, the contact areas between the action and the forend. When I removed the trigger guard, the forend essentially fell off all by itself. That's not good. It's supposed to be tight.

Here are pics of the first thing I'm working on: the recoil lugs (or "draws"? "faces"?)
The damaged, loose, too-short previous repair:
Picture103.jpg

Picture104.jpg


I carved replacement wood blocks, slightly larger than the ones I removed:
Picture099.jpg

Picture101.jpg


Now I'm waiting all day for the epoxy to harden before resuming the work.
Picture102.jpg


Fun day!

Lou
 
Riflechair has a good write up as well on his web site. Not trying to take way from Lou but just to let others know
 
great stuff,

any sugestions on how to measure the correct size? I've installed brass pads at the contact points with both of my rifles but getting the right lenght was a lot of trial and error guesswork :/
 
Trial and error, the whole 20th century British industry was based on the very principle!

With the forend pictured above, after the glue had cured, it took me about one hour to remove just the right amount of wood from the two sides for the right amount of pressure. Bit by bit, slowly... I was done just before dinner.

I've shimed a few of my Enfields though, as quick fixes. In which case it's good to have different thicknesses of shim material.
 
louthepou

Lithy the Australian at Gunboards once told me the draws area on an Enfield rifle should be as tight as buggery.................

So I must ask you this question, has your wood clamp been to prison or are you just guessing in this critical matter. Laugh2


draws-b.jpg


Lou, study this photo of an Australian range rifle, it is very educational, it was sent to me by Far Canal at Gunboards and the rear of this stock is locked up tight and it can't flex. This means it has a very constant up pressure at the fore end tip.

blocks-adjustable-1.jpg
 
Thanks Ed. I have to say that the bottom picture shows clever engineering. Maybe too sophisticated for my skills? :D

Yet a few more pictures from you that I keep for good reference!

Lou
 
Lou

The screws you see in the photo go into two threaded holes drilled into the receiver socket to pull the stock "tight" into the face of the receiver socket.

You can also do this with a tight fitting draws area but recoil forces can loosen the draws. Also this is an Australian fore stock made of softer wood so the screws are just added insurance.

Now look at my second photo and notice the wood shims added between the bottom of the receiver and the top area above the draws area. The addition to the photo below on the right is from the Canadian Marksman booklet on center bedding the No.4.

theshim-a.jpg


Lou these shims keep the fore stock from moving up and down and the fore stock angle from changing at the piviot point of the forward trigger guard screw. (stops the stock from rocking like a teeter totter)

fulcrumpoint-1.jpg


totteranimationsmall.gif


Lou the shims help keep the fore stock from rocking and keep a "constant" up pressure at the fore end tip which controls barrel vibrations and barrel flexing. If the "Canadians" did it to make their No.4 more accurate and the Australians did it also then its worth looking into and trying it out. ;)

The Canadian Markman (bedding the 7.62 No.4 rifle) 1965
http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=867

My apologies for hijacking your posting Lou, my only excuse is I spend too much time playing with my fore stock. :eek:
 
Ah ha, I did mention the fact that this was a Jungle Carbine, so there's a bit of difference with the interaction between the action / barrel and the forend. Ed, you did have a picture for that too, I have it somewhere on my hard drive...

Lou
 
Oops, sorry the No.5 has a free floating barrel, I'll try and be more awake the next time I say something in one of your very informitive postings. :redface:

Nice job of bedding Lou, keep up the good work.
 
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