Lee Enfield Hammered Barrel

[enfield303t]

Well after asking Peter Laidler the question of Lee Enfields and hammered barrels I will take his suggestion to put it in a open forum.

Last night I was having coffee with two friends and one said out of the blue "Oh I'm getting a Lee Enfield that I think you will be interested in". He told me he will have a Lee Enfield with a hammered barrel which instanstly led to a discussion with another friend that was with us.

Now the other friend with us said they never made them however the guy getting one said years ago the local gun shop had one and he shot it. Apparently the gun shop owner wanted him to take it out to see how it shot and he said it was terrible, nice gun but not accurate at all.

Of course this led to much discussion and in the end nothing was resolved so guys how about help on this?? Did they make some Lee Enfields with hammered barrels?

Thanks

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Paul S.]

I remember being shown a "barrel machine" at Lithgow some 10 or so years ago that had been bought to do the Enfield barrels and was told it had also been used for the SLR and F88 barrels as they didn't have anything that did the job better. I remember also being told that it "hammered" the raw ingot into a barrel.

At least that is what I remember and it could easily be wrong.

[Simon P]

Older thread on Enfield Barrels

Where did this 69 Enfield barrel come from?

[enfield303t]

Paul, Simon thanks for the infomation and I do hope more is posted. I really am anxious to see the gun and hopefully my friend will get his hands on it very soon.

[bigduke6]

For anyone interested, some notes on the process, Had another article which I posted sometime ago but cant find it,

http://technology.calumet.purdue.edu...gedBarrels.pdf


Very similar but pics of the machine tool used,

http://technology.calumet.purdue.edu...20No_%207).htm

[Peter Laidler]

There was a wartime hammered No4 barrel. I'll elaborate tomorrow when I have access to the papers

[Peter Laidler]

There was a two-piece Mk2 No4 barrel made during the war by Accles and Pollock using the hammered method. The actual design method was 'perfected' by Reginald Shepherd from the BSA Co - formerly of RSAF Enfield and the co-inventor of the Sten Gun. The method was also used to produce two-piece Vickers barrels, 2 groove Sten barrels and, they tell me, two groove Bren barrels too. But I'll believe the Bren barrel story if I ever see one. The barrels were FAR too thick to be hammered using the archaic methods of the era in my opinion and secondly, such a barrel was never mentioned in the EMER's.

The Mk2 rifle barrel always had a dull streaky finish and the nocks (?) form was shrunk on and retained with two tapered cross pins that were visible if you looked hard. The nocks form was also marked Mkll. These barrels were declared obsolete by the late 40's and I only ever saw/identified a couple. But, I did see a stack of NEW ones in the store at Ngaruawahia and I told Robbie about them but I don't think he ever scrapped them!

According to the REME Inspectorate memo sheets that we used to get from time to time, the Mk2 barrels were mainly used in Maltby production where they were close at hand to A&P production and they were alsoallocated for spare parts. As I said, these two-piece barrels were fairly easy to recognise due to their dull streaky finish and once you'd seen that, then the two pins around the nocks form and hairline mark of the shrunk on part was a give away. I don't know if one ever failed but the problem was that the barrel could work loose

Yes, fabricated hammered barrels. Haven't seen one for absolutely ages............ But they do exist

[muffett.2008]

I remember being shown a "barrel machine" at Lithgow some 10 or so years ago that had been bought to do the Enfield barrels and was told it had also been used for the SLR and F88 barrels as they didn't have anything that did the job better. I remember also being told that it "hammered" the raw ingot into a barrel.

At least that is what I remember and it could easily be wrong.

The Blackmountain series of barrels made by Lithgow for the Omark model 44 were all hammer forged.

[Lee Enfield]

There was a two-piece Mk2 No4 barrel made during the war by Accles and Pollock using the hammered method. The actual design method was 'perfected' by Reginald Shepherd from the BSA Co - formerly of RSAF Enfield and the co-inventor of the Sten Gun. The method was also used to produce two-piece Vickers barrels, 2 groove Sten barrels and, they tell me, two groove Bren barrels too. But I'll believe the Bren barrel story if I ever see one. The barrels were FAR too thick to be hammered using the archaic methods of the era in my opinion and secondly, such a barrel was never mentioned in the EMER's.

The Mk2 rifle barrel always had a dull streaky finish and the nocks (?) form was shrunk on and retained with two tapered cross pins that were visible if you looked hard. The nocks form was also marked Mkll. These barrels were declared obsolete by the late 40's and I only ever saw/identified a couple. But, I did see a stack of NEW ones in the store at Ngaruawahia and I told Robbie about them but I don't think he ever scrapped them!

According to the REME Inspectorate memo sheets that we used to get from time to time, the Mk2 barrels were mainly used in Maltby production where they were close at hand to A&P production and they were alsoallocated for spare parts. As I said, these two-piece barrels were fairly easy to recognise due to their dull streaky finish and once you'd seen that, then the two pins around the nocks form and hairline mark of the shrunk on part was a give away. I don't know if one ever failed but the problem was that the barrel could work loose

Yes, fabricated hammered barrels. Haven't seen one for absolutely ages............ But they do exist

Is it a MkII barrel or a MkIII ?

Wouldn't a MkII be a conventionally rifled 2 groove barrel ?

[Peter Laidler]

You're dead right LE. I just put that in there to see if you were all awake and to see who'd notice the deliberate mistake. The shrunk-on barrels were Mk3's. Obsolete as of 11/53

But just as an aside, does anyone have any written evidence that a two groover barrel was identified as a Mk2