Lee Enfield No1 Mk3, Restoration Dilemma...Need Advice!!!

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bryan.14

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Yesterday, I picked up a Rusty 1918 No1 Mk3 Lee Enfield thinking for an easy Restore Project.

Matching numbers but its missing magazine, Stock was original but painted Brown, the Metal Had patches of Surface rust but I didn't think it was to bad to fix.


The Good Part!:

I Let the Metal parts soak over night in Evapo-Rust...and when I checked this morning the rust disappeared mostly. And also the Wooden Stock is looking good with a coat of linseed oil.

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The Bad:

I'm stupid...with Enfields. I don't know a lot about the parts...I'm better with mosins
Also the Bore is rough and badly pitted.
The Trigger Spring was brittle and broke, same with the spring steel under the rear sight.
I'll get some pictures of the broken parts.

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Anyways my Dilemma is .......If you had $125 to either:

Continue putting together this rusted/badly pitted and broken Enfield?

Or Use the Stock and metal Parts then buy and restore a cleaner No1 Mk3 Sporter with a better barrel?

What would you do???
 
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I think I would go with buying a better sporter-there a lots of good ones on the EE within that $125 price range. I think the full military stock and metal is worth substantially more than $125.....good luck!
 
What are you planning to do with it? That will be the biggest factor as to how to proceed.

Are you going to shoot it or hang it on the wall? Keep in mind, there are lots of not so great looking Enfield bores out there that shoot just fine. If it shoots like crap and you want a shooter...stop now and find a barreled receiver. They are on the EE now and then. If you just want some Enfield eye candy in your man cave, then maybe this one will be good enough cleaned up.

Do you mean you stripped the stock and oiled it? If you haven't stripped it, I can't see oiling a painted stock helping much...
 
The small parts are no big problem.

The sear/trigger spring interchanges with the Number 4.

Spare Rear Sight Leaf Springs are around cheap. Even I have a couple.

A lot of older Lee-Enfields can be made into fairly decent shooters if you handload for them and stay with FLATBASED bullets. Boat-tails and Lee-Enfields very often are not a good mix.

Can you get some photos of the bore? What one person thinks of as "terrible" very often can be saved. Depends largely on your standards and how well you know the rifle. LEs are TOUGH.

Have you tried the bullet-in-the-muzzle trick yet? Pop a factory round into the muzzle, see how far the brass casing stands out. That usually will let you know if it is salvageable.

Hope this helps.
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I have about a dozen No1 MkIII sporters in my shop if you need one.

I am getting around to checking the head space and advertise them in the next few weeks.
I know this isn't the EE Forum and I apologize.
 
albayo said:
I have about a dozen No1 MkIII sporters in my shop if you need one.

I am getting around to checking the head space and advertise them in the next few weeks.
I know this isn't the EE Forum and I apologize.
Click to expand...

Clean the crap out of the barrel and a few doses of Wipeout and a new light might be shed on the bore. You might be surprised.
 
I have seen worse than that turn into good shoters.

As an extreme measure, you can make up PLUGS of Extra-Fine steel-wool, put them in the Muzzle and force through the barrel. It is a brutal measure, but I have saved several barrels with it.

BTW, I know this isn't the EE, but Albayo is a good guy to deal with.
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Bore looks like it's got lots of rifling and should clean up. Check headspace, bolt face, and bore size. If all good then proceed with the restoration. You should be able to pick up all the missing or broken parts within your budget. Ron
 
If you need any screws or springs I may be able to help, no sales pitch I was lucky in an auction years ago buying some sight blades and the box contained loads of bits, rear sight leaf springs, screws etc. Message me and for postage the bits are yours if I have them!
 
On an ugly barrel like that (and worse), clean as normal, then Wipe Out till it's clean (patch isn't Blue/green), then a patch or swab coated in Flitz polish let dry, then a dry patch x 2 or 3 - repeat as necessary. The polish takes the roughness off the nasty parts of the barrel.
 
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