Lee Enfield No 1 Mk III restoration

TheNewfieBullet

TheNewfieBullet

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Hello everybody, I recently came into possession of this Lee Enfield and its rough to say the least. It was used as a sealing gun and then it came into the last owners hands where it rested for a few decades. There is a coating of rust in some areas and it looks like somebody sprayed it with black house paint. The stock appears to have been sanded and covered in a thick varnish. The bore is pitted but it cleaned up nicely with a fair amount of patches.

I was wondering what would be the best way to remove this black paint (if possible), varnish and the surface rust. I don't think it will ever be safe to fire, but you never know.


Thanks in advance for any help that you can provide.
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Use a furniture stripper to remove both the paint on the metal and the varnish.

I use Circa 1850. Works great.

Use very dry fine steel wool (0000) on light rust. Flattened out piece of brass to use as a scraper (something like 30.06 .303 etc.) to remove heavy rust.

Oil the metal when you are done, and give the wood a few coats of RLO or BLO.

You`ll be good to go.
 
Believe it or not, but the black paint may have been applied by the factory. The British used suncorite to coat the metal and you see it all the time in various states on rifles.
 
You could try soda-blasting the metal parts. Works great at removing paint and loose scale without pitting the metal surface. Also gets into all the nooks and crannies real well. Equipment cost would be a lot more than buying a pack of steel wool of course.
 
Old Albertan said:
Believe it or not, but the black paint may have been applied by the factory. The British used suncorite to coat the metal and you see it all the time in various states on rifles.
Click to expand...

Im going off what the last owner told me when he bought it in the 70's and the overspray that is on the wood. Is there anything in particular I should look for to tell this apart from normal house paint?
 
Looks like she has been rode hard and put away wet. How is the bore?

As stated: 0000 steel wool and Circa 1850 for the stock.

Looks like a No4 cocking piece, an No1 shouldn't be hard to find.

The finish looks like it's toast. Clean up the paint and oil her down and see how it looks. If it were mine I'd be tempted to get it re-blued, and keep an eye open for a repro or original volley sight set, and a stock disk.

1912's are a fine vintage!
 
Tyler said:
Looks like she has been rode hard and put away wet. How is the bore?

As stated: 0000 steel wool and Circa 1850 for the stock.

Looks like a No4 cocking piece, an No1 shouldn't be hard to find.

The finish looks like it's toast. Clean up the paint and oil her down and see how it looks. If it were mine I'd be tempted to get it re-blued, and keep an eye open for a repro or original volley sight set, and a stock disk.

1912's are a fine vintage!
Click to expand...


Yes it appears that I have a type B cocking piece, it must have been replaced at some point. The bolt and the receiver still match though. The bore is rough (a fair amount of pitting), but that is to be expected since it was stored wet. The rifling is still there and ill try and take a picture once I get it completely clean.
 
If it has a No4 cocking piece then it has a No4 firing pin. If you change one you have to change the other. Same as the striker screw, threads from a No 1 are not the same as a No 4. Get some Kroil and soak your rear sight in that. If anything will free it up, that is the best product to use. Circa 1850 is the best stripper to use to get rid of the finish on the stock and the metal. Once the stock is stripped use a 50 50 mix of raw linseed oil and turpentine for the first few coats, and Birchwood Casey cream blue for the metal after it has been thoroughly degreased.
 
Turns out that that black paint has been a blessing in disguise. In a few spots the original bluing has been preserved by the black paint and it has been somewhat easy to remove with the help of oil and a plastic pick.
 
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