Lee Enfield Iron Sight HELP!

ALBERTA BOY

ALBERTA BOY

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Edmonton, AB
My father has purchased a SMLE No1MIII* (ht).

It has not been sporterized and appears to be original with full wood.

The problem? The rifle shoots 3 feet to the right of paper at 50 yards...

We bought a sight puller (pusher, really) and moved the front sight as far as we could to the right and the rifle is now only hitting 2 feet to the right of the paper...

The front sight is barely hanging on to the dovetails - it CANNOT go any further without falling out. It is clearly far right of the bore in an almost comical fashion yet the rifle still hits far right.

The rear sight doesn't seem adjustable and seems centered on the barel.

What are we doing wrong? Some key piece of knowledge missing? I will get pictures when I am at his house next.
 
Does it group well 2 feet from the paper or is it all over the place to the right? (warped stocks/ loose draws).
A Boy; there are some guru's here that can help, I'm not one of them, but you may have to check how the rifle is sitting in the stock. Most folks, myself included are/were surprised at vertical issues at such a short range not understanding basic ballistics (the round is still climbing will peak and drop to point of aim at 300 yards) Horizontal issues are another ball of wax....Smellie, Buffdog, Ganderite, a little help for a fellow Nutter plz.

THE DAMNED CRACK!!??
 
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Your problem is in the bedding of the rifle. Likely the barrel is tight to one side of the barrel channel and this is what is throwing it off.

CURE is to remove the Nose-cap, Front Handguard, Magazine, Triggerguard and Forestock, being very careful not to lose any of the small pieces.

INSPECT the Forestock for evidence of the barrel lying to one side. Usually, you will see a POLISHED surface from the barrel slapping as the rifle is fired.

The Barrel should be FREE in the Forestock with CLEARANCE all around the Barrel to the thickness of a folded dollar bill. ONLY places the Barrel should be touching the Forestock is right at the Chamber and again right up at the front end, where there is a 2-inch REINFORCE for the Barrel to bear on.

There is a THIRD place where the Barrel might bear, but it should not. This is where the Inner Band Screw pulls the Barrel down toward the midpoint Reinforce. Ideally, there should be clearance here also.

Check that out and come back if you can't find the problem. There are other possibilities, including the possibility that the rifle needs a complete bedding job. We will cross that bridge when we get to it.

PLINKER has mentioned The Damned Crack. Possible, but the Crack generally results in completely erratic shooting. This seems a bit consistent for the Crack. We need good close-up photos of the Forestock, taken from the REAR, the TOP and along the barrel channel, the full length. This way, I don't have to drive 800 miles to inspect the thing, then another 800 home!

What year and make are the rifle?????????

Got a PICTURE for us to drool at????
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Thank You.

I will attempt to borrow the rifle from my father to get pictures and to disassemble and inspect.

Now I know what to look for.

I will post pictures hopefully within the next couple of days.
 
bgcameron said:
I've had the same issue with a bent barrel. Hopefully that's not the case for you.
Click to expand...


After reading SMELLIE's post, I can see that he has covered the usual problem areas, and I was going to mention the possiblity of the barrel being bent but BGCAMERON has covered that one.

The British discovered a long time ago that it is about the last 6 inches of barrel that is responsible for where a bullet will go. They changed to a shorter rod for an armourer so that he could check for bore straightness.

It is also wise to check to see that there is no damage to the draws (the angled area inside the forestock at the rear of the magazine opening,) as these are fitted at an angle to force the forestock back against the steel butt socket. Also, there should be no gap between the butt socket and the rear end of the forestock. Check the rear end of the forestock for damage. Someone might have tried to remove the butt stock first and damaged the back end of the forestock. The stock bolt on the No.1 rifle has a square end on it and this end fits into a square opening in the steel cross piece at the end of the forestock. Turning the stock bolt without first removing the forestock will damage and crack the forestock wood.

The good news is that a slightly barrel can be bent back a bit if you take it slow and easy, but you have to know what you are doing.

I remote possiblilty is a warped forestock, but that will show up in the bedding as SMELLIE told you what to look for.

Lastly, check to see that the screw that holds the forestock is tight, and that the yoke and spring in the muzzle end of the forestock is there.
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ALBERTA BOY said:
Thank You.

I will attempt to borrow the rifle from my father to get pictures and to disassemble and inspect.

Now I know what to look for.

I will post pictures hopefully within the next couple of days.
Click to expand...

Hey guy- Important! Some SMLE's have a funny thing that is not obvious but you have to watch for.

The buttstock bolt has a square tip that sticks out into the rear of the forend, engaging a notch there.

If you try removing the buttstock first, you can crack and split the forend without knowing it.

If the forend is near impossible to get to budge after removing everything obvious, you may need to slightly tighten or loosen the buttstock bolt as the square could be bearing on the forend slightly.

I'd have a good look down the bore and make sure it's not bent. Sounds pretty extreme.
 
If its any help, take a strip of paper and slip it around the barrel so it's u shaped. Now you should be able to slide the paper down the barrel without snagging it on the stock. This should show you if the barrel is bearing on the forend in any place. and that spot needs to be relieved so the barrel is free floating
 
Please excuse the image quality. The bill is getting stuck between these two points on the left side of the forestock/barrel.

After the forestock was removed I did not see any shiney spots.



 
A thought. As you can see int he above picture, there are two shiney marks on the metal on that spring loaded piece that applies upward pressure to the barrel. Is it possible it was installed at 90 degrees off and the barrel was resting on those two shiney pieces?
 
ALBERTA BOY said:
A thought. As you can see int he above picture, there are two shiney marks on the metal on that spring loaded piece that applies upward pressure to the barrel. Is it possible it was installed at 90 degrees off and the barrel was resting on those two shiney pieces?
Click to expand...

You've looked down the bore? Look straight?

BTW, the forend does indeed have the cutaway for that square tip on the stock bolt.

That rifle looks to be in nice shape!
 
Sorry, I didn't quite understand what you meant about the cuttaway for that square tip on stock bolt...

What is the 'damned crack'? Out of curiosity.

Yes, the bore looks okay.
 
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