lee metford
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- Start date
infideleggwelder
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
need pics first
By the info that you supplied, $75-$150
Posting pics would allow for a better appraisal.
Posting pics would allow for a better appraisal.
ONLY way to tell anything about a Metford barrel (unless it has great rusted craters down the inside) is with gauges.
Metford rifling is segmental and rounded and there are 7 grooves in there. A Metford barrel in anything except utterly-brand-new condition can look totally washed-out and still shoot very well.
GOOD thing about Metford rifling is that it was designed back in the Black-powder days in order to permit easier bore-swabbing between shots. Today that means that it is wonderfully easy to clean. When freshly-cleaned, or even lightly oiled, they can look like a smoothbore and still shoot accurately.
Often they can respond very well to a HEAVY cast bullet, flat-base of course, used with a FAST powder to assure proper obturation. The Harris Load, using Red Dot in a light charge, is quite down this alley.
Original Metford-period .303 ammo was the two BP loads and the first two Cordite loads. All used a 215-grain RN bullet and none were over 1900 ft/sec even through a 30.2-inch barrel. The original Cordite used in .303 ammunition before the development of the Mark VII Ball cartridge in 1910 was violently-erosive. The Mark VII substituted Cordite MDT 5-2 which had much less Nitroglycerine in its makeup and burned much cooler.
If you can provide us with a good photo of each side of the rifle and a close-up of whatever it has marked on the Butt Socket under the bolt-handle, we should be able to provide more information and possibly a fair value. And DO let us know the length of the Barrel; they were 30.2 inches from the factory, measured from the face of the closed Bolt to the Muzzle, which was crowned FLAT. Does the barrel have a capital-letter "E" on the Knox-form (the flat on top of the Chamber, just forward of the Receiver Ring)?
Right now we are just guessing.
Metford rifling is segmental and rounded and there are 7 grooves in there. A Metford barrel in anything except utterly-brand-new condition can look totally washed-out and still shoot very well.
GOOD thing about Metford rifling is that it was designed back in the Black-powder days in order to permit easier bore-swabbing between shots. Today that means that it is wonderfully easy to clean. When freshly-cleaned, or even lightly oiled, they can look like a smoothbore and still shoot accurately.
Often they can respond very well to a HEAVY cast bullet, flat-base of course, used with a FAST powder to assure proper obturation. The Harris Load, using Red Dot in a light charge, is quite down this alley.
Original Metford-period .303 ammo was the two BP loads and the first two Cordite loads. All used a 215-grain RN bullet and none were over 1900 ft/sec even through a 30.2-inch barrel. The original Cordite used in .303 ammunition before the development of the Mark VII Ball cartridge in 1910 was violently-erosive. The Mark VII substituted Cordite MDT 5-2 which had much less Nitroglycerine in its makeup and burned much cooler.
If you can provide us with a good photo of each side of the rifle and a close-up of whatever it has marked on the Butt Socket under the bolt-handle, we should be able to provide more information and possibly a fair value. And DO let us know the length of the Barrel; they were 30.2 inches from the factory, measured from the face of the closed Bolt to the Muzzle, which was crowned FLAT. Does the barrel have a capital-letter "E" on the Knox-form (the flat on top of the Chamber, just forward of the Receiver Ring)?
Right now we are just guessing.
