I wish I could afford this one...

I picked it up Lou, and I'll be looking for some help and pointers. Once I have it I'll take the forend off and fire you some pics to get your advice, If you don't mind of course.

vern.
 
The Long Lee is here!

The metal finish is excellent, bluing is great, no rust or pitting. The barrel has Excellent riffling, better than almost all my other enfields. Headspace checks out, close on "go" won't close on military .070 "no go". The forstock is a bit of a basket case with shrinkage and previous repairs. The main crack looks to have been repaired with glue and dowel, but the dowel is missing. The brass pins that should be at the very back and just in front of the band in the middle are missing. there is a split at the very back, and just above the front portion of the volley site. Need input please as to how you guys think I should proceed with this.

thx

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I don't think the butt swivel is correct, missing spring for rear volley. The serial number on the barrel and receiver match, a very clear 3 digit stamping #192.
 
I think that rifle is well worth restoring. Finding a better forend is very unlikely. Thus, I'd try making very good friends with Lou!

If he's willing to give it a go...
 
Hmm, there's a fair amount of work required on this one, MacDoo. The toughest would probably undo any previous failed attempts. Misaligned wood with glue stuck between the cracks is a bit of a pain.

I do not think it is advisable to start with this one as a first project. I believe some practice would be first required (with a few No1 Mk3 for example).

I am far from saying I am an expert, but I would probably be willing to consider giving that one a try; there are surely other more qualified folks around, but that one would be for me an interesting one. Hard to know precisely what's involved without having the part in my hands. The end result would show many repairs, but I think that would still look lots better than what we have to start with. One thing that will be needed is someone with a Long Lee that could share pictures of what the end result should eventually look like! :)

Lou
 
If you can & decide to go the duplicator route, Try Harvey Trace out of New Norway, AB. Hell of a nice guy & could probably help you out. Pm me if your interested or get an Access to Firearms, as he advertises there.
 
DANCESWITHEMPTIES said:
If you can & decide to go the duplicator route, Try Harvey Trace out of New Norway, AB. Hell of a nice guy & could probably help you out. Pm me if your interested or get an Access to Firearms, as he advertises there.
Click to expand...

My suggestion- Since you have nice metal and a good bore, let's say you used some kind of filler or resin and added material to the existing stock to put it back to the original unsanded undamaged profile...then got a guy like Harvey Trace to do a stock duplication, make you a brand new one.

For that matter, have him make several and sell the others...I'm sure they'd be snapped up.

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I may consider a duplicate, but for now i have done a minimalist restore on it. Consisted of 2 new brass rivets, 1 brass pin going down from the top just to the left of the front volley site, 1 dowel using the existing drilled hole, and a dowel chunk to replace a chipped off piece. It's super solid, and will retain most of it's pre-work dings and bumps. tough to get the color matching using new hardwood dowel.


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I used minwax antique furniture refinisher. 2 different glues. One is a thick "crazy glue" type for wood and leather,which I used for the split above the front volley site. The second was Titebond III Ultimate wood glue for the dowel. I liked the way the crazy glue sanded. Someone, before me, had glued this together where it looks like it had been crushed or split in two. The alignment was very good, and felt very strong. They had drilled a hole for a dowel but didn't put one in.

For the most part I'm just trying to simulate an "armory" type repair, too much of the wood has shrunk and worn away to completely refinish, I think.
Here are some pics after a coat of BLO.

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Macadoodle, the hole ahead of the stockband was supposed to be there, not dowelled. There's supposed to be a steel retaining pin in that hole to stop the stock band from sliding forward...
 
I haven't put a dowel there, yet. the problem was that the hole that was there was way bigger than it should be, and was countersunk so for now I put a brass rivet in there, and ground down the head to the size of the countersink. Once I find a proper steel pin I will dowel it and drill a new hole for the pin. Any suggestions on a proper pin?


Claven2 said:
Macadoodle, the hole ahead of the stockband was supposed to be there, not dowelled. There's supposed to be a steel retaining pin in that hole to stop the stock band from sliding forward...
Click to expand...
 
Mostly done. Need a magazine cutoff, rear volley site spring(made one from a #4 for now) and a pin for the band, and a correct butt swivel.

does anyone know if the cutoff is the same as one in a #1mkIII ?

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