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Thread: Adapting a vickers barrel to a SMLE

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  1. #11
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    I miss read your first post Fred, didn't notice the " match rifle" understand the Vickers bit now..... I was just thinking it was SMLE heavy barrel target rifle cut down wood etc.

    If you know a dealer who deals with Walther then they will profile a barrel for peanuts buy the blank and add the profile, threading and cutting the chamber are the costly bits or should say more expensive bits.

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    A Collector's View - The SMLE Short Magazine Lee Enfield 1903-1989. It is 300 8.5x11 inch pages with 1,000+ photo’s, most in color, and each book is serial-numbered.  Covering the SMLE from 1903 to the end of production in India in 1989 it looks at how each model differs and manufacturer differences from a collecting point of view along with the major accessories that could be attached to the rifle. For the record this is not a moneymaker, I hope just to break even, eventually, at $80/book plus shipping.  In the USA shipping is $5.00 for media mail.  I will accept PayPal, Zelle, MO and good old checks (and cash if you want to stop by for a tour!).  CLICK BANNER to send me a PM for International pricing and shipping. Manufacturer of various vintage rifle scopes for the 1903 such as our M73G4 (reproduction of the Weaver 330C) and Malcolm 8X Gen II (Unertl reproduction). Several of our scopes are used in the CMP Vintage Sniper competition on top of 1903 rifles. Brian Dick ... BDL Ltd. - Specializing in British and Commonwealth weapons Specializing in premium ammunition and reloading components. Your source for the finest in High Power Competition Gear. Here at T-bones Shipwrighting we specialise in vintage service rifle: re-barrelling, bedding, repairs, modifications and accurizing. We also provide importation services for firearms, parts and weapons, for both private or commercial businesses.
     

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    First on the agenda: No.4
    Second on the agenda: No.1
    Third on the agenda: No.5 or heavy barrel SMLE.

    We have the prints drafted for the heavy barrel variant (thanks to Nailcreek for providing the original barrel for reverse-engineering), it's just a matter of determining if there's enough demand to move a 50 piece production run.

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    Big Duke,

    Part of the "draw" as it is to making regulated Enfields out of restored rifles with defects is doing it with original parts, to the best of the existing parts base. Doing a Enfield target rifle with a new barrel, short of doing a PH4 variant, just does not have the draw for me.

    Project will likely not happen, as it seems the required Vickers barrels in nice shape are Australianicon Lithgow made, the true UKicon Vickers barrels on the market are all well worn. Unless I can find a nice new BSA or Vickers contract barrel, the project likely will never get done.

    I would expect there would be more draw for a nice No 5 barrel, as there are numbers of recent No5 imports with shady barrels.

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    Advisory Panel tiriaq's Avatar
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    For a heavier barrel in a SMLE, could a No. 4 barrel be fitted?

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    Quote Originally Posted by tiriaq View Post
    could a No. 4 barrel be fitted?
    It would need some work. I think they index bottom up.
    Regards, Jim

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    Yes, that would need to be addressed.

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    Fitting a heavy barrel a la the Lithgowicon pattern requires a bit of relieving of the wood-work and the deletion of the "Inner Band". The "bedding " is a little different from "standard", understandably. Mr. Sweet's book has a lot of valuable information on the entire caper.

    The caper of "opening out" the nosecap seem to have been something of an obsession with the "full-bore" target types, despite the Lithgow barrels being specifically made with the last 30mm or so of barrel having the exact dimensions of a "standard" barrel, specifically to seat the standard front-sight assembly. ALL of the Oz "HT" SMLE snipers have heavy barrels and DO NOT have their nose-caps "relieved": they seem to shoot OK with Mk7 ball.

    If you have a stash of MINT Vickers barrels casually lounging around your place, I suspect their sale to an "appreciative user" will more than pay for a seriously good re-barreling.

    Furthermore, ALL of the MINT, IN THE BAG, "H" barrels I have ever gauged, (and I still have a few), appear to have been lapped. MANY show distinct signs of "over-lapping" and thus "belling" of the lands at the muzzle. Whilst the relationship between SMLE barrels and Mk7 ball appears to have been a "racing fit" and still "worked" very well, bear in mind that Mk7 ball is now up there with hen's teeth and rocking-horse manure.

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    at this time and place a good used vickers barrel costs around $70 and a new Lithgowicon made vickers barrel as little as $100 and up to $140 . while the cost of a used SMLE barrel is around $70. new South African standard profile barrels go for around $140 ( they occasionally come up forsale). I dont remember ever seeing a H barrel up forsale this century, new or used.
    1ATSR 177AD & 4/3 RNSWR

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    Laurence ordnance in Sydney had new in wrap Lithgowicon heavy barrels in the 2001 to 2003 time frame. Bought two of them from him.

    The number of "active" Vickers MGs out in the US of A is not all that great. That is why the barrels can be bought for not all that much. Because of US laws buying a DP MG or deact is out of the question, even for collectors. Once way UKicon law is better than ours. You can have a collection of real MG, albeit Deacts, whereas in the US those guns have to be made on sold action bodies to be clearly in the legal zone.

    As such redoing a Vickers barrel into a match barrel is not that great a sin.....
    Last edited by Frederick303; 05-12-2015 at 09:00 AM.

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    P'14 barrels in .303 and 7.62mm can also be used in a No1 or 4 (or 5) as there's plenty of meat on them to machine to suit. I don't know how hard these are to obtain now though.

    We had a couple of ex trials P'14's in 7.62mm that were used to ascertain the accuracy of the free floating barrel prior to their similar use in the 'new' L39/42

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