My #4 Mk 1 Rebuild.

[W.R.Buchanan]

This is the thread I got chastised for over and the Enfield Collectors Forum.


I recently did a redo job on my newly acquired #4 Mk1 BSA Shirley.


I bought the gun for $200 From a Local Gunshop, They had 5 Enfields in various states of Sporterization, none were stock issue guns, all had been modified in one way or another.

I might add that this guns metal was unaltered and could be put back to full Mil Spec, however I have no interest in doing this simply because my draw to the Enfield was spawned by the L42 A1 and later the L39A1 Target Rifle


I started with this,,, which was the only #4 in the bunch, all the rest were #1's of varying ages. This was the newest gun.

When I got done this is what the gun looks like.

Randy

 

[bigedp51]

W.R.Buchanan

I have Photobucket and downloaded your photo and posted it here, you do not need to paste the Photobucket link into the world globe link icon at the top of the page and just paste it in the message area.

Second, I'm also psychic and you took the photo with a Canon Power Shot camera.

P.S. And you do very nice work and I really like how you finished off the fore end.

 

[MusicianShooter]

Just like the L42 clone I just got... Nice

 

[points]

An odd looking build. Looks a lot like a L42A1. That's a Brit rifle in 7.62. Once you wrap your head around it, it's okay.

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Points: that's what I was going for or more properly a L39A1. Originally I thought an L42A1 without the scope and cheek piece, but then I saw a pic of an L39.

Randy

 

[points]

It could be both. I only know them by what I have read in the books. Never seen a real one.

 

[RRCo.]

Nice job deburring and cleaning up the action; most of them would benefit from this, but it does take time and they were short of that during the war. You probably didn't need to round the inside corners of the sight ears because the sharp corners create a slightly larger bearing area for the backsight and are pretty much covered by it, if you see what I mean? If you use a sling when shooting or carrying the rifle you will find that the barrel band will tend to chip the wood on the outside of the band and the band will move around and ultimately probably pull off if the rifle is carried slung. The British left a good 1/2" of wood on the outside of the band to inhibit this. It still happened sometimes and the treatment was to scarf in a piece of hardwood to the end of the forend. A lot depends on the band being well-fitted and kept tight.

For your sight protectors you might want to use a steel/SS insert with a fine thread for the adjustment screws, if you plan to make the bodies out of aluminum. The originals had a fine thread for obvious reasons.

You may need to work on the bedding and barrel bearing to get the best results from the rifle. You can read up on the "center bedding" for the No4 online. Have fun with it!

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

here we go again. changed some of my settings.

I really don't understand , maybe it knows I'm not from Canada.

Randy

 

[nw mb]

...really, really nice

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

OK I finally figured out how to post pics here so I went back and cleaned the thread up and removed all my whining.

It is more on topic now and flows somewhat better.

Randy

 

[Blastattack]

You can just link your pics put in an IMG code with square brackets and put the destination of your pics inside. It's not that hard.

Should look like (IMG)www.yourpicurlhere.com(/img) but replace the () with [].

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

OK I'll try once more.

Wow I tried this exact same thing yesterday and it didn't work. Wonder what changed?

Randy

 

[Blastattack]

OK I'll try once more.

Wow I tried this exact same thing yesterday and it didn't work. Wonder what changed?

Randy

You mighta used the wrong URL. Right clicking the image and selecting "open image in new tab" (Chrome) will isolate the image and it's location. The URL at the top will be the correct destination. Alternatively "Copy image URL" will also give the correct destination for the IMG code to pick up.

I use Google+ Photos for hosting my images. They never expire, which is nice.

 

[5THBATT]

This is the thread I got chastised for over and the Enfield Collectors Forum.

You did not get "chastised" for your thread, you got chastised for your arrogant backchat, nothing more nothing less, get over it & stop telling BS on other forums.

The post W.R.Buchanan took exception to on a forum that is dedicated to Military spec Lee Enfields.
"With respect this discussion seems a little off topic for this forum. Mods is there a more appropriate section for this thread?"

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

I will say in response to this post,,, that I have never been treated so badly for sharing my work on any other forum, and that's a fact.

I also would point to the 15 or so PM's I got from various members over there supporting me and advising caution when posting there so as to not ruffle feathers of the purists for fear of retaliation. Obviously this happened. The Moderators didn't even have the courtesy to PM me or even respond to my PM's. They simply closed the thread.

One of the people was given 15 "Infringement Points" for posting pics of his modified #4's on my thread ! Really?

Funny also, as I haven't been on that site for a couple of weeks now, and there was another 8 PM's supporting my thread I hadn't read.

You people are the ones who need to lighten up. Your post here is all the evidence anyone needs to support my position.

Randy

 

[woodchopper]

lets just keep it on the original topic

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Great Idea.

I got kind of sidetracked trying to post pics on this site but will kind of break down the refurbishment process so everyone can follow.

I got the gun home and immediately tore it apart. I saw nothing bad other than a distinct need for some TLC in the Deburring Department.

I took each and every part and addressed them separately. Every part got all the sharp edges broke with either a file or on the Scotch Brite deburring wheel, and then I reblued everything with Birchwood Casey Super Blue. It works pretty well.

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

After my bolt disassembly tool came I took it apart and cleaned the 50 year old grease out and broke edges and grit blasted the bolt handle. I then Reblued the whole bolt with the same treatment as the rest of the metal parts.

My new Mk1 Ladder sight didn't sit flat on top of the receiver, I did not want to modify it or the receiver so I used progressively smaller drill bit as pivot pins until the sight layed down like it is supposed to. The stock pivot pin is .145 in dia so I made one that is .125 in Dia.

The metal work was pretty much done at this point.

Randy

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

I had started on the wood earlier but stopped until I had the metal work pretty much done and I was waiting for parts to come. I wanted the gun to look like a L42A1 with the scope and cheek piece removed. I later found this to be pretty much what an L39A1 looks like. Point being I wanted a half stock with hand guard, as I considered this to be what a Classic Canadian Sporter looks like.

The wood on this gun had been painted with what looked and scraped like Spar Varnish. I literally scraped it off with a bearing file and my pocket knife. after that I attacked the wood with my finish sander and 60 grit sandpaper and removed most all of the severe gouges from the stock and fore end.
The Butt Stock was a nice figured Walnut I knew it would go to a darker brown color when finished. The Fore End was an Orangeish color but it still smelled like Walnut, and I knew it would never match the Butt Stock completely. The Walnut Handguard I thought I ordered turned out to be some kind of light hardwood possibly Birch or Beech, I definitely wanted the version with the 4 finger grooves on each side. I was able to get it to kind of match the Fore End.

There was a lot of trial and error staining followed by many coats of Tru Oil to get this finish looking decent. I wanted it looking nice,,, but not TOO nice.

Here's indoor pics of what I ended up with.

Randy

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

I decided that I wanted a different sling so I got a Brownell's 1907 Competition Sling and it came in as uncolored leather. This would not match anything so I got some dye and had at it.

The net result came out looking like this.

I also added the slip on Limbsaver recoil pad which turned out to be a very necessary addition. Walmart has these from $24.95 but I got mine from Bass Pro for $39.95 ,,, go figure. Walmart good.

Randy