• Converting a commercial front trigger guard screw loop to the military sniper spec

    The following article is published with the kind permission of Advisory Panel Member, Peter Laidler. Capt. Peter Laidler is the senior Armourer in the UK Military, now retired, but based as a Technical Officer at the UK Military Small Arms School. On behalf of MILSURPS.COM members, we'd like to publicly thank him for his support of this forum, as well the broader Lee Enfield collector community in general.

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    Converting a commercial front trigger guard screw loop to the military sniper spec LOOP, sling, front trigger guard
    (by Peter Laidler)

    Some of you will have already done this to yours while making up a good repro No4T or L42. But, briefly, the UK MILITARY trigger guard sling loop was designed so that it would only rotate 180 degrees in order to prevent the sling from twisting. To achieve this, the overall length of the military screw shaft is xxx” * as opposed to approx 1.175” for the commercial offerings. The shoulder from the wider shaft to the ¼” diameter threaded shank is .570” * measured from the screwdriver slot end. And that’s just what we’re going to do in effect.

    These measurements were taken from 10 of the H&H examples. Other production from Fazakerley and BSA No8 rifles appear to be slightly longer

    Look at picture two and separate the sling loop into its 3 parts as I detail in the picture caption and I'll let the pictures do the talking



    Shows a selection of the military front trigger guard screw parts, still in the white, taken from the old Holland and Holland factory some years ago. We’ll be taking our measurements from these original examples!


    (Click PIC to Enlarge)



    These are what we’ll be converting to Military spec during the course of this article. Clearly the left one is another commercial variant but it’s the shaft that counts!


    (Click PIC to Enlarge)


    The first stage is to clean off and carefully sit the collar across a suitable gap – I used a 12mm hex socket incidentally – and tap the shaft back, out of the collar. The groove in the shaft will open the sling loop and allow it to spring clear, ready to snap back when you’re finished


    (Click PIC to Enlarge)



    Commercial, left. Military, right. We’re going to shorten the actual shoulder between the large diameter shank and small diameter screwed shaft. Not only that, we’ll bring the thread back AND cut the shaft shorter accordingly. Easy isn’t it?


    (Click PIC to Enlarge)



    Commercial on the right (H&H in white metal, on the left) with the large diameter shank shortened to .570” long and threaded ¼” BSF down to within .375” and .400” of the new shouldershoulder between the large diameter shank and small diameter screwed shaft. Not only that, we’ll bring the thread back AND cut the shaft shorter accordingly. Easy isn’t it?


    (Click PIC to Enlarge)



    Shaft cut and dressed off leaving an overall length of 1.5”


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    There, all the bits from two converted sets after a bit of oil blacking


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    Ready to fit to to your needy No4T or faithful repro. Easy isn’t it?


    (Click PIC to Enlarge)



    Copyright ©2006 - 2012 by Peter Laidler and MILSURPS.COM


    Collector's Comments and Feedback:

    1. Capt. Peter Laidler is the senior Armourer in the UK Military, now retired, but based as a Technical Officer at the UK Military Small Arms School. In addition to being a trained and highly experienced military "Armourer", he has authored two excellent books about the No.4(T) sniper rifles and their No.32 scopes. They are titled "An Armourer's Perspective: .303 No.4(T) Sniper Rifle", which he co-authored with Ian Skennerton and his own dedicated work, "Telescope Sighting No.32".

    If you're really interested in some in-depth learning about the No.4(T) sniper rifles and the No.32 series of scopes, their history, evolution, repair and adjustments for shooting, I'd highly recommend those two books, which are pictured below.
    ....... (Feedback by "Badger")


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    Note: The opinions expressed herein or statements made in this article are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Military Surplus Collectors Forums, or the ownership and moderation group of this site. MILSURPS.COM accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed herein. Also, please note that neither the author nor MILSURPS.COM recommends that any member of these forums, or a reader of this article, try this type of experimentation without the proper knowledge, equipment and training.
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