Lee Enfield Cracked Forend Repair?

Smitsauce

Smitsauce

CGN frequent flyer
Super GunNutz
Rating - 100%
253   0   0
Location
South Eastern ON.
Hey,

Anyone know what the best way to remove the forend tie-plate(?) from the rear of a No.5 Mk 1 Lee Enfield forend? I just bought one and found the "Damn Crack". It starts at the bottom left and goes up behind the plate and all the way around into the armourer repaired sear lugs and back down to complete the circle. I have ordered some Acraglas from Brownells and plan to bed the action after I fix the crack. The bottom wouldn't be that hard to repair as I can separate it enough to get some glas in there, but the top and where it goes to the side of the repaired sear lug is very tight and I won't be able to separate it in this area enough to apply the glas with the tie plate in place.

The best way I think would be to remove the end tie plate so that I could separate the wood to degrease it, then repair and clamp.

Hopefully someone has done this before and can let me know the best way to proceed.

Thanks,

Ian
 
If you can stick a feeler gauge between the the rear of the fore stock and receiver ring you have wood shrinkage. When this happens the recoil lugs inside the stock take the force of recoil and the wood cracks.

IMGP0921.jpg


The purpose of shimming the forward section of the draws is to "push" the rear of the fore stock into contact with the receiver socket.

drawsarea-b.jpg


IMGP2022.jpg


IMGP2023.jpg


foreend.jpg


beddingpoints.jpg


The white areas below show where the socket is touching the fore stock and not bearing evenly. On this stock the barrel was touching on the right side of the barrel channel. The contact below the strap does not have to be 100% BUT it should be equal on both sides and center the barrel.

IMGP3416-b.jpg
 
Thanks for the info. It will be good to use once I figure out if and how to remove the tie-plate strap from the end of the forend so that I can fill and fix the crack completely.

The question still remains, what is the best way to remove this tie-plate without damaging it so that it can be replaced after the crack is fixed???? I would hate to bubba this rifle in any way.

Thanks,

Ian
 
Smitsauce said:
Thanks for the info. It will be good to use once I figure out if and how to remove the tie-plate strap from the end of the forend so that I can fill and fix the crack completely.

The question still remains, what is the best way to remove this tie-plate without damaging it so that it can be replaced after the crack is fixed???? I would hate to bubba this rifle in any way.

Thanks,

Ian
Click to expand...

Good question...looks like they're riveted on. :confused:
 
You might want to try opening the crack a tiny bit and then inject some epoxy into the crack. I really wouldn't want to remove the tie plate as that could cause more problems than it fixes.
 
Ah, about time I catch up on some important posts!

I could end up with this forend to fix it. Interesting challenge.

Lou
 
The ideal way to fix a crack is first to degrease it and flush it with acetone or methyl hydrate so the glue has clean wood to bond with. After that the crack must be open enough to allow the glue to penetrate throughout. Having inserted the glue, it must be clamped or stabilized for the joint to be secure.

This can be a tough proposition with stock cracks depending on their size and location. It probably isn't possible to do it in this case, but one good way of getting a crack filled and secured is to drill a hole thru the wood and then run in a headless threaded pin(Brownells probably still sell these) loaded with acraglas or epoxy. After the epoxy cures, the exposed end or ends of the pin are cut off flush with the stock with a Dremel and cleaned up with a file.

In some cases it may be necessary to rout out the crack in order to degrease and fill it with enough acraglas/epoxy to get a good bond. In other cases the crack can be opened up enough to glue in a thin wooden "biscuit" or wedge which is dressed down with a file after the glue dries. I've also been able to open up the interior surfaces of a stock with a drill/router to get a good fill of epoxy from the inside.
 
If I have really nastyuglytiny cracks to repair, I degrease with BrakeKleen, let things dry overnight and then squirt in the AcraGlas with this neat-o 10cc syringe I bummed from the vet clinic. You can get them from the drugstore for a buck and they are really handy. You don't use the needle at all, just the plastic syringe itself and you can direct the gluing compound very well like this.

Have things wedged as far open as you can when you do this, get the goop in until it runs out the other side if at all possible. If that doesn't happen, squirt more in from the other side and hope they meet up in the middle. If you mix your AcraGlas right, you have about 20 minutes to play.

Now CLAMP things nice and solid, being sure that you don't mar the finish, and let it set overnight. Next morning, clean off any excess which has squirted itself out, put the rifle back together and let it stand 48 hours. Then go play.

Works.
.
 
louthepou said:
That'd pretty much says it all! Oh except: refinish the wood with BLO :D
Click to expand...

We used to issue the troops raw, not boiled, linseed oil to re-condition military stocks. Pure tung oil with no drying agent is another good way of replicating a military finish. BLO finishes are very attractive, but can be too shiney for an authentic look.

The threaded brass pins were an approved US arsenal method of repairing cracks. I've seen them installed laterally thru the small of M1903 Springfield stocks to stabilize cracks which occured from the rear action tang coming into contact with the matching recess in the stock. I've also seen them installed vertically in Garand stocks to repair cracks which occur in both of the thin sides of the trigger housing/action legs cutout. I've also seen them in Enfield buttstocks to secure a glued in wooden patch at the toe or the top adjacent to the buttplate. Ditto for Garand stocks.

The lateral threaded pins were a standard installation in lieu of cross bolts to reinforce P14/M17 Enfield stocks as well as the earlier M1903A3 Springfield stocks.
 
Last edited:
Lou,

Yes this is the forestock that I will be sending you next week.

It may be a good one to do a little pictorial story on so that others with the tie-plate issue can see what you did and what works/didn't work.

Thanks all for the information. Since I have never done anything like this before I will be placing her in Lou's very competant hands.

Ian
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom