Barrel welded to receiver on No.4

An acquaintance asked me to check out his father's "Lee Enfield" rifle that hasn't been shot in almost 40 years and I was surprised upon first look to see the barrel appears to be welded to the receiver on his scrubbed No.4 Mk I. He wants to start shooting it so I offered to check it for headspace, bolt lug engagement, and barrel condition. The #1 bolthead closes on a field gauge but the lugs engage evenly. The bore is dirty but the rifling is a 7 out of 10. However, I am greatly concerned about the barrel welded to the receiver and in an abundance of caution I'm going to tell him to not ever shoot the rifle again. I'm interested in hearing if anyone else has seen a N0.4 barrel welded to the receiver and the possible woes it could be hiding.

I'm going to bet you a buck...it's a No1Mk3 barrel scabbed on there and welded to hold it. You'll find a #1Mk3 barrel will screw on but ends up with sights at BDC. I think that's what's happened here. What sights are on the front?

If it's a #4 barrel then it's still suspect that it wouldn't tighten up correctly and was welded to end their woes.

Looks like it was blued with a wool sock...

Someone sure had a go at customizing it.
I would not be comfortable shooting it.

I'm not even comfortable looking at it.

Looks like it got too close to a 220v 5hp flap wheel.:D

Someone has turned it into a "small ring" enfield by reducing the receiver ring to the torque shoulder diameter of the barrel.

There is not much material left - I would recommend scrapping it for parts.
Retain the receiver as a curio is it survives disassembly.

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Originally Posted by Lee Enfield

Someone has turned it into a "small ring" enfield by reducing the receiver ring to the torque shoulder diameter of the barrel.

There is not much material left - I would recommend scrapping it for parts.
Retain the receiver as a curio is it survives disassembly.

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Fortunately my friend has accepted the fact that the rifle should be retired and although there might be a Lee Enfield oddity collector out there interested in such a rifle he wants to hold onto it as a keepsake as it was his father's rifle.

Certainly a curo, I would at least deactivate it to ensure no-one tries to shoot it in the future, it's got shoulder launched hand grenade written all over it...

Makes you shudder to think of anyone pulling the trigger on that...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mrclark303

Makes you shudder to think of anyone pulling the trigger on that...

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I'll bet it was used successfully for years.