why are longbranch No. 4's so sought after?

The gunsmith may have been using a SAMMI gage which has tighter tolerances than the military standard. I always wondered about those "headspace horrors" The rifle was in tolerance when the military owned it, and I seriously doubt that any subsequent civillian owner could put enough rounds through it to change anything. Now mismatched bolts are another matter.
Oh by the way, the pics were great, but I wouldn't want to meet that guy assembling the STEN bolts in a dark alley!:D
 
John Sukey said:
The gunsmith may have been using a SAMMI gage which has tighter tolerances than the military standard. I always wondered about those "headspace horrors" The rifle was in tolerance when the military owned it, and I seriously doubt that any subsequent civillian owner could put enough rounds through it to change anything. Now mismatched bolts are another matter.
Oh by the way, the pics were great, but I wouldn't want to meet that guy assembling the STEN bolts in a dark alley!:D
Click to expand...

Are you a transplanted Canuck John, or American? Do you have the right military hs gauge or guess like most of us?
 
well great news after searching an hour and a half through a gunsmith friend of mine's pile of old bolts and boltheads i found one!!!! put the field guage in the smle and the bolt wouldn't close, yepppie!!! so now he is gonna test fire her for me hopefuly with me there and if that work i got me a full would smle for a buck twenty five!!!! she's an ishampore 1950 but i don't care.... the bore is good so that is great and there is one chip in the wood next to the sight but i think shes beautiful... cheers all
 
jerry said:
well great news after searching an hour and a half through a gunsmith friend of mine's pile of old bolts and boltheads i found one!!!! put the field guage in the smle and the bolt wouldn't close, yepppie!!! so now he is gonna test fire her for me hopefuly with me there and if that work i got me a full would smle for a buck twenty five!!!! she's an ishampore 1950 but i don't care.... the bore is good so that is great and there is one chip in the wood next to the sight but i think shes beautiful... cheers all
Click to expand...

I just bought a .303 Forster Field headspace gauge on ebarf...it's the SAAMI spec of .070, but the military gauges are not easy to lay your hands on...
congrats on your purchase!
 
triton said:
Anyone have any idea how many longbranchs were manufactured?

Dave.
Click to expand...


Production Estimates for No. 4 Rifles in WWII
Rifle Factory Production Dates Estimated Production
BSA - Shirley 1941 - 1945 665,000
ROF - Maltby 1941 - 1945 737,000
ROF - Fazakerley1941 - 1944 619,000
Savage Arms 1941 - 1944 1,236,000
Long Branch 1941 - 1945 906,000
 
i walked the empty halls of LB weeks before it was torn down .i think a minute of silence is in order for another lost bit of Canadian history.btw i found some neat stuff .
 
cantom said:
Are you a transplanted Canuck John, or American? Do you have the right military hs gauge or guess like most of us?
Click to expand...


Sorry, just noticed your question. I have CANADIAN HEADSPACE GAGES., Go and Field (.074)
So I am not guessing

I am not a transplanted Canadian but a friend is. Well, I guess he is no longer a Canadian, cause he got his citizenship papers last year.
 
marks 36 hamon said:
i walked the empty halls of LB weeks before it was torn down .i think a minute of silence is in order for another lost bit of Canadian history.btw i found some neat stuff .
Click to expand...

That must of been awsome!

Dave.
 
The two grooves are favoured by the cast boolit boys. Seems the boolits ride the bore better. Mine is a five groove and works with cast. Just love to figure out an easy way to get the exact measurment for the rifling.

Going with the Lyman 314299 cast boolit water quenched and sized to .313 gas checked of course.

Take Care

Bob
 
Those were some great pics ,those girls looked like they were doing a good job.
If you have seen some pics of the Queen when she was in the wacs ,she was a total hottie.
 
lot's of 303 casings some 7.62 the trigger housing from a C1 stirling some sheets that stuff was stamped out of i think stirling mags some bullets i dug out of the concrete backstop a whole bunch of 12 gauge shot gun brass the paper rotted away .not well known but LB built ss shotguns and 22.'s for H+R and Remington .i have a .22 and i've seen 1 shotgun .i also found grinding wheels ,soldering irons (whats left anyway) etc. it was a big plant all thats left is the water tower. btw the old range now has bike path through it so anyone can check it out .i didn't find anything there though i think it was cleaned up by the city there really was alot of stuff about
 
marks 36 hamon said:
lot's of 303 casings some 7.62 the trigger housing from a C1 stirling some sheets that stuff was stamped out of i think stirling mags some bullets i dug out of the concrete backstop a whole bunch of 12 gauge shot gun brass the paper rotted away .not well known but LB built ss shotguns and 22.'s for H+R and Remington .i have a .22 and i've seen 1 shotgun .i also found grinding wheels ,soldering irons (whats left anyway) etc. it was a big plant all thats left is the water tower. btw the old range now has bike path through it so anyone can check it out .i didn't find anything there though i think it was cleaned up by the city there really was alot of stuff about
Click to expand...

I know a guy who has one of the LB shotguns...it's just like a Cooey single shot.
That is really cool that you got to have a look at LB Mark!

First gun club I ever joined used the Bunker beside LB for their range.
 
Last edited:
the old lakeveiw pistol club (the hill with a door)behind the Danfoss building on Lakeshore yep been there as well it was an old Army handgun range .some people don't have a clue that the whole area by the lakeveiw (torn down) generating plant was all military ( when i worked in the area in the 1980's there were still 3 army barrack buildings on the generating plants property)iirc Lakeveiw GS was on rifle range or army camp road it's been a while so I don't recall excately.before LB was an arsenal it was like Winona a big army rifle range by the lake my friend has pics for the early 1900's showing military units shooting at the long branch rifle range .that range was about 60-70 years old before LB was built on part of the sight.
 
Blessed topic to be sure, regarding the "wifey". Best point is MY HARD EARNED $$. I keep a roof over their heads, food in their belly, a nice car to drive etc, etc, and by god A few good rifles to blow away the zombies when they come to harm them.

I buy guns dear get used to it.
 
marks 36 hamon said:
the old lakeveiw pistol club (the hill with a door)behind the Danfoss building on Lakeshore yep been there as well it was an old Army handgun range .some people don't have a clue that the whole area by the lakeveiw (torn down) generating plant was all military ( when i worked in the area in the 1980's there were still 3 army barrack buildings on the generating plants property)iirc Lakeveiw GS was on rifle range or army camp road it's been a while so I don't recall excately.before LB was an arsenal it was like Winona a big army rifle range by the lake my friend has pics for the early 1900's showing military units shooting at the long branch rifle range .that range was about 60-70 years old before LB was built on part of the sight.
Click to expand...

I'd never heard that...that area has a lot of Canadian history wrapped up in it.

It was West Toronto club I joined...a few clubs shared the Bunker.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom