Help with "new" Enfield - she lives!! Range Report!

[OEM]

Main reason for all that wood is that the British Army didn't have enough money for machine-guns before World War I..... so every man in the Army was trained to put out 15 aimed shots a minute, with 100% hits on a man-sized target at 200 yards. NOT easy. I did it once, don't think I could do it again (too shaky). When you fire any rifle that fast, it gets really hot: hot enough that you can give yourself at least a second-degree burn just from touching it.

That is just amazing. How they did that at 200 yards with just iron sights...man, their eyesight must be a whole lot better than mine!! I can hardly see my targets at 50 metres!

Your wood is good walnut, of course. You will find The Damned Crack at the rear end of your forearm, right at that thin bit of wood where the trigger comes up to the sear. They nearly all used to crack right there. Hose it out with a swish of Brake-Kleen, the glue it with any really decent glue. I use Acra-Glas but any good epoxy will do the job. So will ordinary, old-fashioned wood glue, for that matter. Clamp it for a day after you glue it. There is another location where these crack, just forward of the magazine hole. Not too often, but you sometimes find one there. Same treatment, of course.

The Damned Crack! For the longest time, I thought you were referring to the very visible crack on the side of the forestock at the top! After poring over the threads on this forum, I noted that you made reference to it many times! Looking at my forestock, I could not see it at first, but with careful spreading of the wood, I see it! Running all the way from top to bottom! Anyway, I know about it now, and I will glue the heck out of it. It appears that there's a brass pin that goes across the whole thing too, and I suppose that's what's keeping the end together.

Your daughter might be only 9, but it is obvious that she knows more about digital cameras than I do! Good photos of a work-in-progress.

Yes, youngsters these days, they know all about this stuff. Unfortunately she was not able to help me take the following pixes of the progress I've made with the application of Boiled Linsee Oil.

The wood is coming along nicely, and I think its about as dark as its going to get. Its got a nice grain to it....

I lost the little wood disc that was in here. Its somewhere in the mess that's called garage floor, but couldn't find it just yet.

I'm thinking of throwing it all together just to shoot it right now!! I'm eager to shoot it, and yes, when I close the bolt, it does indeed close all the way, so it must be safe right?

 

[OEM]

Like mentioned, Marstar is getting in a Metric S**t ton of enfield stock sets from over seas. I think Both used and new old stock. I would imagine their will be some hardware sets in their as well. Their is both No.1 stock sets (what you need) and sets for the No.4 rifle. I plan on getting a few of each.

Depending on funds, I would surely love to get a set! Forestock, handguards front and rear and buttstock. Man...a new rifle already, almost.

 

[OEM]

Ready to fire?

Hello:
Saw this in another thread, where the poster suggested using 3 sandbags and string to test-fire the gun at the range. I don't quite understand these instructions. Could anyone please elaborate?

 

[Hook]

Just in case it blows up to help contain the shrapnel. I highly doubt this.


It wouldn't hurt at all to have a gunsmith check the headspace before test-firing.

 

[OEM]

Update: I went and made a gun stand with plans to mount the SMLE on it, strap it down to the bench and pull it with a string. Well, before that, I took the gun to a gunshop and asked for an opinion if it was safe to shoot. The nice guy there said "if it was me, I would shoot it".

So anyway, in the heavy rain today, took it to the range, and lo and behold, there was another guy there with an Enfield too! His was a lot newer condition and had a squarish bolt end with shiny stock and a front sight that said "Parker Hale". Well, anyway, this guy took one look at mine and said, well, I would shoot it. But its your gun, you should take the first shot. He insisted that I did not need the gun rest. Well, with eyes turned away and rifle shouldered, I pulled the trigger and BOOM!! It fired!! YAAAY!! Sure the kick was pretty good, but it didn't feel as bad as a 30-06 I once shot.

Only problem was, I could not open the bolt to extract the spent casing! After much fiddling, we discovered that the safety was so loose, that the recoil would throw it back, and stop the bolt from being opened! I will have to find a way to tighten that up!

All in, I shot 14 shots. At 25 metres, they grouped within an inch or two of each other, below the bull. At 50, the grouping was more like 6 inches, but on a vertical plane. Horizontally, they were probably an inch apart. I attribute that to the fact that my eye is really bad and I could hardly see the red bull. I didn't try at 100 cos I think I cannot see the target at that distance.

So there you have it! This is one SMLE that has been brought back from the dead, shoots well, and can only get better once I learn how the sights work. I might never even need to bed the action, if its that accurate! I got a magazine and sling on the way and hopefully get some stripper clips and other small parts from a fellow SMLE nut and she'd be complete!

The bullets are bloody expensive though, at $30 a box of 20. I've already ordered 100 used brass. A buddy is going to lend me his press and all I need are dies, which I am now looking for. Alternatively, I might just get a Lee Loader. Only thing about that one is, I can't use it with one used brass, so I might still need to get the Lee Deluxe Die set. Ah well..decisions, decisions ;-)

Thanks all, for the great help you've all rendered!

 

[fat tony]

Oem nice work! I heard that if an SMLE is stringing vertically, you should adjust the tension on the barrel band screw and keep shooting until it does not string vertically. (worth a try) I have one like yours and I managed to hit the gong at the range at 200 m 4/5 times from the offhand position. You can get a unit disc for the buttstock.

 

[H Wally]

Great work! Now you've had experience with experience learning on a sporter you've got a good starting point for refurbishing one or two (as said earlier, marstar will be getting lots of enfield wood, at which there will be no reason not to put this old girl back as she should be).

Also, some suggestions for the cracks. Since it's a sporter stock, appearances aren't the most important, so you can test out these solutions if you like.

Both involve pinning the crack. Basically you're reinforcing a glued crack with some sort of pin....

First way is to predrill across the crack (from one side to the other), then open the crack, clean it with air or a soft brush, then fill it with wood glue. Then run a piece of tight fitting dowel (or barbeque skewer) through the hole, to give the repair a mechanical bond to help hold everything closed. This strengthens the repair.

The second is almost the same, but uses a brass screw. That may be what you found in the back of your stock already, can't remember if they used brass rod or screws. The indian Ishapore factory often would use this method in repairing their stocks.
It's basically the same idea as the dowel, but the drilled hole is a little thinner. This way when it's glued, the screw will bite in and create an even stronger bond. The ends of the screw are then cut off flush with the surface of the wood and lightly sanded.

Once again, looking good!

 

[OEM]

Thanks for the suggestions Wally. I believe I successfully fixed the crack with glue, and yes, there is a brass pin in the stock that appears to go from one side to the other. I will keep it mind though, as something to do, when I get the full SMLE wood.

Tony, when you say barrel band screw, do you mean the one that screws the floating ring on the barrel to the stock? I didn't know we were supposed to adjust tension on that. I just screwed it on tight and left it as that. Does screwing tighter make it go higher or lower?

 

[fat tony]

Hey Oem, I don't know which way does what but I do know it does affect the vertical stringing, it will require some experimentation, there is another bolt action rifle that had one of those bands on it, the Savage 340 in .30/30 Winchester, and adjustment of the barrel band was allegedly required to get it zeroed 'vertically'. Yes I'm talking about the floating barrel band with the screw hole in it on the bottom. Have a good one.

Edit: in fact, I'm going to have to do some more work with mine to get that same problem sorted out lol.

 

[H Wally]

I may be way off in explanation, but I believe it has to do with barrel harmonics.

When you shoot the barrel will flex and wobble all over. If the screw is loose, or if there's contact somewhere, or anything else that interferes or stops or causes the barrel to wobble more, you'll get a shift in point of impact (POI).
And you can see a little at the end of this video of the 50BMG
[youtube]s5pVya7eask[/youtube]


Here's it shown rather well in a pellet gun:
[youtube]FaW_Hs0B79c[/youtube]


This shift isn't necessarily bad, since that's why they include bands and tensioners on some rifles, specifically to take advantage of this shifting POI to control exactly where it shoots.

Another way to do it is bedding, thus eliminating all movement, and sometimes bedding into the barrel groove, thus providing support/intereference for some/all of the barrel to once again change barrel movement and therefore POI.

Another is free floating barrels. This is simply not letting the stock contact the barrel anywhere, letting it hit wherever the harmonics naturally send the bullet, then calibrating the sights accordingly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-floating_barrel

 

[fat tony]

The thing is this is an SMLE, and it's not really a modern design of rifle at all, it has it's roots way back in the 19th century, the bedding system is quite old fashioned and complicated but it works when the rifle is set up, of course bedding is a little simpler with a cut down stock as there are not as many pressure points to work on.

Ed, we need your input!

 

[OEM]

That's quite the amazing video! I had no idea barrels moved that much on firing. Well, maybe I'll just try to shoot a little more first. Who knows, I might just get used to the sights and it works out fine.

Looking at the rifle, I don't see any kind of bedding 'system' at all. Its just the receiver, sitting on wood, and that barrel band screwing the barrel itself down onto the forestock. It will be interesting to see how much screwing with the screw will change things.

Ah yes, looks like I have to start reloading fast or go broke.

 

[fat tony]

Take a look at this: - a wealth of technical information on the lee enfield family of rifles.

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthr...n-line-Knowledge-Libraries-(Index-of-Articles)

 

[fat tony]

Hey Oem, how's it going with your SMLE?

 

[OEM]

Hey Oem, how's it going with your SMLE?

Going real good Tony, thanks for asking! I received a Magazine and tried it out with spent brass and it loaded up and ejected those rounds perfectly. I was intending to take it to the range yesterday night, but it was such a good sunny afternoon (rare in Metro Vancouver) that I had to take my little ones out for romp in the park.

I'm going to get into reloading for the SMLE and have already purchased 100 brass for starters. Next looking for powder, primers and bullets. I'm also going to pick up a set of dies...looking at the Lee Deluxe Rifle set.

All this, in addition to some missing parts for my rear sights, some stripper clips, a set of swivels (cos the nice sling I bought can't fit my existing, but unoriginal swivels, they had PH engraved on them), full wood (eventually) and all the other ancillaries.

So yeah...things are progressing...and once I have my reloaded rounds, I will start shooting the SMLE in earnest.

 

[Cocked&Locked]

How about some before and after pic's here? Your doing a heck of a job, what a fun thread to find on a friday morning before work! i'm grinning like mad and work don't seem so crappy to go into any more. THANKS!!!

 

[OEM]

How about some before and after pic's here? Your doing a heck of a job, what a fun thread to find on a friday morning before work! i'm grinning like mad and work don't seem so crappy to go into any more. THANKS!!!

Hahaha...that's what we all do eh, logon to CGN and check it out first thing in the morning before work. Heck, I'm at it now too...thing is, I'm so addicted, I'm checking it throughout the day!

I'm glad the thread helped make your day! I was so excited about shooting the SMLE that I just plain forgot all about taking pictures. The intention was to take pictures at the range, but well, after shooting it, all thought of that went out the window (or down the range!) Well, I'll rectify that tonight when I get back from work.

 

[Drachenblut]

You will need a headspace gauge or a gunsmith to properly check the headspacing on this particular model of gun. It's a nice piece, what I like to call a "Farmer John Special". I had a friend who went ripping up his barn floor and found a cache of rifles from his grandfather's time who built the barn, about 3 guns under there. They had been packed in straw of all things so I have no idea of condition. One was a 1917 Lithgow SMLE and the other two old levers.

 

[OEM]

That's a nice find for your friend Drachen. I always used to have this dream where I will be driving by on a old farm road, lost, and see a farmer with an old VW bus parked in the barn, totally unmolested and he says, sure you can have it for free!

Now I dream of finding old Enfields hidden under the rear seat of those busses ;-)

Just a question...why do I need to check the headspace if it fires well? Doesn't the fact that it fires means the headspace is good?

Just as another point of interest: I bought some once-fired brass. Now trying that brass in my rifle (just brass, not reloaded yet), I found that I could not close the bolt easily (it can be closed, but needs quite a bit of muscle). Whereas putting the once-fired brass from my own rifle into the chamber, it closes perfectly. Does this mean that the rifle that the once-fired brass that I bought has more headspace than mine?

I'm no expert, just drawing some logical thought here...with the other guys' brass being tight, it seems to imply that his case stretched more, ergo, more 'headspace' than mine?

 

[OEM]

How about some before and after pic's here? Your doing a heck of a job, what a fun thread to find on a friday morning before work! i'm grinning like mad and work don't seem so crappy to go into any more. THANKS!!!

Hi there C&L, as promised, here are the photos. All said and done, the SMLE is quite a long rifle, and my car is the only place I could put it in the garage to photograph. BTW, that wooden stand was what I made to shoot it in the range. Plan was to place gun on stand, tie string to trigger and pull. In the end, I just shouldered it and shot it! Still, the stand comes in useful for mucking around with it! Anyway, enjoy the 'after' pixes!

So there you have it! I'm in two minds now, on whether to reblue it, or leave it exposed like it is. There are sections of the rifle that get rusty again quite easily, and one is the front sight band. I guess I could just leave a coat of oil on it. The bolt top is another point that gets rusty again...very quickly, dont' know why. Was this part painted? It looks like black paint to me.

Overall, I'm happy with the wood, but not overjoyed. There was a lot of work gone into it, but the wood did not turn out as good as I expected. And then there's that bloody disc at the back that keeps falling out. I will have to glue it in, to keep it in! I am missing the rear sight guard, and I understand that there's a springy washer that goes under the front barrel band. These I do not have as yet, as well as the rear sight button (you can see its there's a screw in its place). I've already purchased brass/bullets and dies to reload for 303, and once I've done so, I will be shooting this rifle a whole lot more!