Smiling tiger enfield problem

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rempel429

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So here's the problem I got a smiling tiger barrelled action and gutless bolt, but the barrels done, I want to restore it but I'm stuck on do I rebarrel or keep the original, I personally would like a another shooter but at the same time is there any value in any of it with the correct barrel? It has a siamese bolt in it and I have enough parts to put it together including all the wood, I could cut an already drilled recierver to retrieve a decent barrel off a 1917 enfield which I could harvest most of the parts off of but I just don't know

So if any one has any ideas let me know or reccomendations let me know
Thanks a bunch
 
If your project went perfectly and you used the existing barrel and completed a nice rebuild what would you have?

You would have a very nice looking crappy bored rifle assembled from parts.

Very little collector interest (read $$ value) except maybe as a place holder until a nicer example came along. Very little shooter interest, other than by somebody with a mind to change out the barrel.
The smiling tiger rifles are not rare by any stretch of the imagination, there were a great many surplussed and imported into Canada in the 1960s. If you wanted a nice one, with a bit of digging you could find one, no prob.

So if it were mine, I would switch out the barrel and bring it back to good shootable condition and make a nice job of the replacement wood.
Have I increased its collector value doing this? Not at all, but now I would have a good shooting good looking rifle assembled from parts. The value to me would be in the time I spent tinkering. The rifle to me would be a keeper.

Right now you have a crappy barreled action. It will never again be an original collector piece.
Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.....

So my vote is to replace the barrel and have at her! Rescue that rifle, the cat face and bolt serial number will always be a curiosity.
 
Totally agree with englishman! Even a decent, mainly original Smiling Tiger isn't worth all that much. I bought a decent one off the EE a couple of years ago for $450.00 with original barrel (very good bore), nosecap, forend, etc. The bolt was a mismatch but one of the original Siamese bolts. Best bet for the rifle in this thread is to rebuild with a new barrel.

milsurpo
 
On the other hand, most Siamese Smellies have barrels which are pretty well pooched..... and original SMLE barrels are no longer $5 apiece, 5 for a 20.

I would think about getting the rifle up and running again, then loading for it with CAST bullets and a very quick powder. The quick powder will start the arse end of the slug moving while the front is sitting still: the base of the bullet UPSETS (obturates) and seals the bore. Also, you can think about the Harris Universal Load for Military Rifles: 13 grains of Red Dot behind a 180-grain CAST bullet. You won't get full power but how much power do you need to murder a piece of paper? Ask BUFFDOG what he thinks of the Harris load!

You will find that LOTS of "shot-out" barrels will come to life again with the Harris load....... even though that was not its original purpose!

Best of luck!
 
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