SMLE Barrel?

lister

lister

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A friend of mine gave me a full wood SMLE a while ago and I was out shooting it on the weekend. It consistently splits brass on the shoulder and is keyholing most of the bullets at 100 yrds. The chamber must be pooched to split brass like that. I might be able to stop the keyholing by loading .313 bullets, but either way, need a new barrel. So.....where can I find a new (to me) barrel for it?
Cheers.
 
Easiest way would be to find a sported rifle with a good barrel. The barrels may not be interchangeable, so fitting may be necessary.
 
I was hoping to find one a little cheaper than buying a bubba, but not a bad plan, thanks.
No one has surplus anymore I guess?
 
lister said:
I was hoping to find one a little cheaper than buying a bubba, but not a bad plan, thanks.
No one has surplus anymore I guess?
Click to expand...

Good luck prying them out of the hands of the guys who still have one kicking around. Keep your eyes peeled, I picked up a rough looking 1917 Lithgow last year, sans mag for 80 bucks at a local gunshow. Rifling is nice and shiny though, I was going to attempt restoration till I noted that the barrel had been nipped back a tad and recrowned. Now I've got some new, unfinished sporter wood waiting to get it out in the field again. Point being bubbas can still be found relatively easy on the cheap. Just keep a bore light in your pocket for when you trip over one.
 
A box of barrels, eh? Sounds like you know where the holy grail is! Wow. If you see him, let me know what he wants for one. In the meantime I'll keep my eyes open for Bubba and maybe an ad in the EE. Thanks for the help, Guys.
Any more advice is appreciated.
 
You really need to inspect the muzzle area well. Many of the barrels on these fine old rifles have "Blunderbuss" muzzle from improper cleaning with a rod, or a pull through. They are not always easy to spot, but the usual poke of a bullet down the muzzle will tell the tale.
I had a P14 where it swallowed the round right down to the neck during this check, and it had sideways movement to boot!

You shouldn't have too much trouble finding a replacement. At the Calgary Easter Show, I saw plenty of all matching number 1's that where sportered but had near excellent barrels for around $200-$250, and near the end of the show the sellers were in a dealing mood.
 
What ammunition are you using?

Hard brass, poor brass, undersized casings..... bunch more..... any of them will give split cases.

Keyholing? The SMLE demands FLATbase bullets: it has ENFIELD rifling. MUCH modern ammunition is loaded with boat-tailed bullets.
 
That sounds like a pretty bad barrel, Jakester, I'll keep my eyes open for that.

I shot a box of old Imperial 180gr and part of a box of fairly new Winchester 150gr. I haven't miced the bullets, but I figured factory ammo would be using smaller diameter like 0.311 ect. Would that be right?
 
.311" is pretty much std. for factory commercial ammo. Hornady manufactures their 150gr spire point flat base with a .312" diameter so you could try some of those for handloading if you can find any.

My experience echo's that of member "Smellie" in that SMLE's and most Number 4's with 5 groove Enfield rifling don't seem to like BT projectiles. My Aussie number 1 is hard pressed to hit anything except air with a BT bullet, but groups shrink down real nice with flat base types.


For some reason, the only enfield I have that will shoot BT or Flat base bullets equally well is my 2 groove Long Branch.
 
.313" is an acceptable barrel ID. How's the rifling?
A .312" bullet will do. It will be reloading only though. Hornady uses .312". Sierra and Speer .311".
You could look into a cast bullet as well.
Like smellie says, the ammo used has a lot to do with case splitting. You may want to think about a chamber cast though.
 
I'm not sure if the ammo was Flatbase or boattail since it was factory. I looked at the brass again and the old Imperial stuff isn't slit, but most of the Winchester is.
The rifling is sharp, but dark and a bit frosty.
I found a relative that has a 'bubba'd' SMLE but the barrel is uncut, so I may just drop that into the full wood, although I may screw around with the old one once I see what I have for bullets. I'd be interested to see if a .312 or .313 stops the keyholing, as well as FB vs. BT.
Thanks for the input Guys, as usual, most helpful.:cool:
 
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