Shot out enfield barrel.

[_Rai_]

I was recently told by a friend that if I set a bullet in the muzzle of the barrel and sank down lower than 1/16th of an inch the barrel is shot out and not buy the gun.

The enfield I'm looking at has a worn breech so there's a good chance that it barrel is gone to.

Is it worth buying for 175$ and rebarreling?

 

[smellie]

Friend, I would REALLY like to know just how you are doing that measurement.

This is a trick I often use myself, but I do it with a CANADIAN-made military Ball cartridge. Canadian .303 ammo nearly ALL had slugs of .312" diameter, unlike many foreign makes (especially American makes) which seem to favour the .311 slug. A .312 slug will always give better accuracy in a .303, ANY make or model, this by testing dating back to before the Great War.

What I do is put the Ball cartridge into the muzzle gently and see how far the cartridge casing stands out from the bore. A brand-new, absolute-minimum barrel will still have it stand out considerably less than a quarter of an inch. You set the cartridge in, let it find its position, then you push on it just a bit and give it a careful twist. This scribes a line around the circumference of the slug.

You measure this line and you have the bore diameter of that rifle at the muzzle.

As to if an 'iffy' barrel can be made to shoot, remove the bolt and check the bore visually. The rifling should he sharp and stand out plainly. Edges of the lands should not be rounded. The first inch or so of the bore is extremely important, but the British did find that a barrel with a worn leade still could be made to shoot acceptably with the .312" bullet just so long as the final 4 inches of the muzzle-end were good.

Believe it or not, they did a test on a brand-new barrel in 1908, using Ball ammo which was loaded with the highly-erosive Cordite Mark I powder. They started with a brand-new barrel and fired the rifle continuously for 12,000 rounds before they decided that it was worn-out. Shortly after that, they came out with Cordite MD-T powder.... which was/is FAR LESS erosive than the Cordite Mark I, which has not been made for rifle use since 1911. How long a barrel lasts with the post-1910 powder I have no idea, but it HAS to be a lot better than 12,000 rounds. A description of the test can be found in the TEXT BOOK OF SMALL ARMS - 1909 on Pages 137/8.

Check your barrel again, friend; it just could be a good one.

 

[louthepou]

I've shot a few Lee Enfields (No1Mk3*) that had almost no rifling left near the chamber (caused by the hot combustion of cordite). Rifling was getting stronger in the first 1/3rd of the bore, then regular for the last 2/3rd. They still grouped not to terribly bad at 100 yards.

Lou

 

[cosmic]

Not sure I understand your comment about a worn breech. All LE's had oversize chambers coming from the factory - they were designed that way. Suggest you pull the bolt and do a visual on the bore. If its been negected with corrosive ammo, it'll look like a sewer.
Rebarreling a LE is questionable from a cost/value perspective. There are lots of rifles around with good bores that can be had for cheaps.

 

[desporterizer]

I think Lou is taking about the throat being worn. I just replaced a bsa barreled action worn at the muzzle with a 1917 bsa c broad arrow marked barreled action with a worn lead. Both are pitted. It will be interesting to see what is more important to accuracy.

 

[sunray]

"...Enfield barrel..." What model rifle?
The bullet test is a field expedient thing that applies mostly to U.S. battle rifles. Not so much for Lee-Enfields. Different shaped rifling too. U.S. rifling is square cut. Lee-Enfield is shallow. This '(' vs this '['.
Slug the barrel. Hammer a cast .30 calibre bullet or suitably sized lead fishing sinker through the barrel with a brass rod and plastic mallet and measure the bullet/sinker with a micrometer. Lee-Enfield barrels can measure from .311" to .315" and still be considered ok. Over.315", it's shot out.
Check the headspace too.
"...12,000 rounds before..." Amazing how tough early 20th Century battle rifles were. Mind you, money was an issue then too.

 

[zuke]

Try a couple shot's out of it and see where they land.
I picked up a No1 Mk3 recently off an old family friend.
It's been sporterized but looked nice.
I looked down the bore and saw the light at the far end and blackness in between.
The entire rifle has matching number's,receiver,bolt,barrel,rear sight.
I bought it off him.
I pushed a couple soaked bore brush's thru it then a couple patch's.
The bore is absolutly mint!
Made by BSA and FTR in 1953.
I've had a change of plan's and don't need it and was thinking of posting it on the EE.