Here's a neat find - a NEW No1Mk3 barrel.

louthepou

louthepou

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Well here's something which a fine fellow in BC accepted to sell me. Sure looks nice...

There's pitting near the knox, which is weird; everything else on the barrel looks untouched. No rear sight base pin hole, no wear mark anywhere. rifling is, well, new.

Now I need to find a really, really nice action... the search never ends. :D

Lou






Here's a pic which shows the pitting.


 
Lou,

Could that be a new replacement P14 barrel? They have the front base key that would fit into that slot at the muzzle and wouldn't have a hole for the rear sight base as it was on the receiver?

Ian

Edit, Nevermind, I see the flat on top of the knox now and P14's didn't have that...
 
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I remember that Allan Lever brought in a couple of cases of these, back about 1965/6. They went for $5 each, sold out before I could lay one away.

You will have to use this one for a very special project, Lou: it has been waiting now for 72 years. Likely it can wait a BIT longer.

Quite the 'find'!

One more like this and you can change your screen name to 'Lou the Lucky'..... and I don't think anyone will mind!
 
Nice find! The bore of the last Lithgow I found was still packed in grease and appears possibly unfired. (Aside from testing) 1917 barrel on a 1916 action. Never in my life have I seen such a shiny bore on an old warhorse. No ftr or sold out of service marks either. Far as I can figure it got the new barrel when it acquired the HV and SC stamps behind a replacement rear sight.
Let us know who the lucky old gal is that winds up wearing that!
 
It looks to have a bright finish. Has it not been blued or has it been polished off. Also curious about the V175 stamped on the flat. I had a English dispersal rifle stamped similarly but I can't recall exactly.

How are you skills at fitting and cross pinning the sights. That can be delicate.
 
It is truely amazing what you can still find out there. I found a #4 LB 6 groove rh twist a couple of years ago and it was still in the beeswax wrap. This great stuff does turn up once in a while.. Lots of sporters out there you can put yours in.
 
Thanks guys. Smellie, rest assured this one will wait until the proper receiver shows up. Not sure what that should be, but I can be patient :)

HarryD, I will not trust my young, inexperienced hands with that task - It likely will be Jason Spencer at Gunco who'll do the drilling (and tapping - for the rear sight base screw...)
 
Lou new barrels do still surface in my part of the world from time to time. They usually sell for 450 plus. Ive had a number of them over the years and still have a couple. I've never screwed one into an action. I felt they would have been wasted on an orphaned action and I'd rather have a matching rifle with poor bore in my collection than screw in a new $400 barrel that's mismatched. Different story if you want to shoot it if course.
I have jigs for fitting and cross pinning sights on a No1. It's very fiddly to do a good job particularly if the sights and barrel have been pinned before. On the other hand, a poor job is rather easy. It sounds like you have much confidence in your gunsmith. I don't have much confidence in those I know of around me.
 
Hi Lou, don't want to bust you balloon there, but this is not a new un-issued barrel! it was at one time installed and serial numbered and proofed. I have seen new SMLE barrels in the wrap and none had serial numbers or proof stamps on them, they were almost absent of markings and pre-blued/browned. Somebody took this very nice condition barrel off a rifle and buffered/stripped the finish off it.

Here is a picture of a NOS SMLE barrel -

303SMLEBarrel_zps478c549a.jpg
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Far more likely to be a barrel that some twit took the finish off of. A new barrel would not be pitted. Pitting means extensive rusting.
 
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