Hens teeth
Good luck with your resto. The Long Lee is one classy looking rifle. ePay is a good source for the metal parts, although you may end up paying big bucks if you get sucked into the bidding. I just place my best bid, sometimes i win, sometimes I loose. But I will bid on just about any part, never know when I may need one for future projects, eh?
Sounds like you will need the nosecap, screw, pling swivel, screw, lower barrel band, swivel, screw. Depending where Bubba cut, maybe a front volley sight assy?
Most of the spare parts floating around are in Austrailia or New Zealand. When the Brits rekitted with the SMLE, the thousands of Long Toms were sent to the Colonies. Most hobbiests there have the odd Long Lee part kicking about.
Barrels are the hardest to find, or rather, good shootable barrels are. Wood is almost impossible to find. Not too many people making repop wood, which got me thinking.
I am building a wood replicator as a winter project, I am going to try my hand at making my own stocks. English or Italian walnut is what they were made out of. A decent blank of comercial grade will run you about $100 these days.
I have my eyes on some old Walnut logs down at the local saw mill, I am going to check them out when they do a cut. See what grain and colour they produce.
Be prepared to take your time finding the parts. I have been diligently scrounging almost thirteen years for one rifle. Almost got it finished! But then, i am anal about finding the right part. For instance, you need a nose cap, right? There are two kinds of 'Rigby' caps, one for the Martini Enfield, one for the Magazine Lee Enfield. Both look much the same but have a different cutout for the sight ramp. There are two variations to the Lee Enfield, one with provision for the cleaning rod and one without. There are different manufactures, BSA and Enfield, each marked differently, and different Govt acceptance stamps depending on the year of inspection. Oh yes, and comercial versions for private sale rifles too. Similar deal with the barrel band.
This is only important if you are a compulsive , obsessive like me. I try to put back as close to factory as possible. In all reality, service rifles would have different marked replacement parts as a matter of course. The armourer just pulled a part from a bin and paid no mind to such details. But that is how you can 'read' a rifle and figure out some of its story.
Take some pics and post your project for us to see. This board is a great resource and there are some very knowledgeable people who are willing to help. As for reference pics, what do you need to see? I have camera
.
Current projects
