Smle spare parts?

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

I have three SMLE rifles and hopefully, counting. No 1 MKIII*/No 5 MK I / No2 Mk IV.
I plan on being a good steward of these rifles until I pass them to the next generation.
The thought I had was "should I stock up on spare parts while they are avaliable and if so which parts are consumables or prone to breakage?"
Do any of the more seasoned collectors have an opinion on this?

Attachment 30763Attachment 30761Attachment 30762

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.

[Thunderbox]

There are no consumable parts, other than - eventually - barrels. Some people manage to snap No1 extractor springs by too much single-loading into the chamber and not via the magazine. Other than that, there is not likely to be anything requiring change in your lifetime! Plenty of rifles around are over 100 years old and appear to be completely original.

One of the problems with thousands of owners buying up "spares kits" is that, eventually, all the available stocks of these 60-100 year old parts will disappear off the market..... and they won't even be used for anything.

[Peter Laidler]

I agree entirely with Thunderbox. Obviously things were different for us in the Army at our big workshops but that was because the rifles that came through us were used reletlessly, day in and day out.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Used "lovingly", these beasties are almost indestructible.

That said, extractor springs can be an issue, as can the striker spring sealed inside the bolt body. Seeing as this latter item is both common to the No4/No5 series and a simple coil spring with closed and ground ends, replacing it any time in the next century shouldn't be an issue. Keep an eye on the sear/mag catch spring as well.

Followed by heat, rust is the biggest killer of springs. Once corrosion starts, stress risers will rapidly form micro-fractures that seriously degrade the spring's performance. But, if you keep up with good maintenance and storage, things will be good for quite a while.

Data for force to move striker spring rearwards (in situ).

At ease - 7 to 9 pounds
Cocked - 14 to 16 pounds

On the good old armourer's spring scale, there is a hook that fits over the striker between the cocking piece and bolt body for taking such readings. There are probably lots of ways to improvise this test.

If your spring is a bit limp, you may as well change it now and it will probably outlive you.

[Son]

weighing the striker spring..

Attachment 30774

[Alan de Enfield]

weighing the striker spring..

Attachment 30774

Son - I bet you've even got some photos showing other uses for the spring balance - HAV'NT YOU !!!!!!

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Nice pic.

Interesting that your sample scale hooks over the actual cocking piece whilst the one in my kit has a radiused slot that hooks over the actual striker. It also has a slight chamfer to help ease it into the gap.

The scale reads up to 16lb.

Interestingly, these same scales were on issue right through the L1A1 period and into the F88 (Steyr) era, being superseded by a nifty electronic number some years back. Not too many folk, including instructors, knew what that funny hook thing on the end was really for.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Good info. Thanks for all of your input.

[Son]

The hook on mine is chamfered to fit into the grooves on the cocking piece. The "Tester, trigger B" for the SLR is noticeably smaller and lighter built. Replaced since by a digital force gauge.

Yes, Alan... I have pics showing all it's uses.... here's some more for fun... and one showing this tester's pedigree...

Attachment 30865Attachment 30864Attachment 30867Attachment 30868

[Peter Laidler]

That really old Armouring there Son. Buit these trigger testers (made by Salters) are still in the Armourers tool kits and calibrated annually. I still use one to test the 'lift' on the Vickers cocking handle to weigh the fuzee spring