Lithgow Lee-Enfield SMLE fore-end question

A

albertacowboy

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I have bought a mint Lithgow 1944 SMLE III* from a fellow member. I have not yet received the rifle, but have been doing plenty of reading on the potential of stock cracks in the fore-end when made of Australian Coachwood. This rifle is 1944 production, and possibly the two brass reinforcing plates on the "draw" portion of this coachwood stock were omitted in 1944.

Is there anyone on the board, especially within driving distance of Edmonton, who is familiar with the installation of these small blocks if they are not present, or who could advise or help with repair of any small cracks or chips which could be present?

Many thanks,
Albertacowboy
 
After careful disassembly, a few pictures of the forend will help. If you do a complete disassembly: One quick advice, take the forend off BEFORE the rear handguard and the buttstock.

If the metal plates were omitted at the armoury then that's not the end of the world. Maybe you'll need thin shims, if the wood has compressed or shrunk, but that's easy to fix. If the forend suffers from the DAMNED CRACK that's also fixable, with a bit of patience, time, brake cleaner and good quality epoxy :)

Lou
 
There's a good tutorial by Peter Laidler kicking around somewhere on that particular installation. It might be sticky'd in the milsurp forum here or over in the Lee Enfield library at milsurps.com. I'm looking at putting a set into the Lithgow sporter I'm fiddling with just for fun (relax, barrel chopped and receiver scrubbed of markings). If you want straight up original wear plates and screws I might have a spare set in the basement out of a cut up 1917 fore end. And I say might....sold a bunch of Enfield bits recently, can't remember where those ended up.
 
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