There are many 'smiths that rebuild M1's and such but I've never heard of anyone who rebuilds SMLE's.
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There are many 'smiths that rebuild M1's and such but I've never heard of anyone who rebuilds SMLE's.
None that I'm aware of
I don't think there is sufficient demand, but you could commission a smith to build one. It's more fun to do it yourself. You can find nearly new rifles and rebuild rifles on Gunbroker.
Ma Parker did 20 odd years ago. Built up from her stock of spares reportedly. The one I saw looked Suncorited. Obviously it would take the gauges and skills to do properly and those skills won't be around more than another twenty years, if that.
These guys are committed to the lineage.
http://bit.ly/btq0bx
Some of their models are quite popular in Australia. Highly regarded for quality and attention to detail. A whip around their site will even reveal the venerable Mr Skennerton on a trials shoot. They feature in his L.E.S. latest edition. I've had an up close and personal with the No4 based rifle and will be purchasing my preferred model as soon as it is available.
*I'm not in any way associated with them. :)
Rebuilt SMLEs are common in UK. So long as the receiver is good, then most of the other parts are available in new condition (original) or new (repro wood).
A fairly popular project is to take one of the current crop of ex-South Africa Police No1s that are being imported. Although visually bitsas, they are usually in mechanically A1 condition with mint barrels. Some of them have been all-over parkerised or blued. When new wood is added, these make quite attractive "new" rifles.
Most UK guns are built as one-offs. The firearms market is now so restricted that there is a huge over-supply of decent milsurp rifles, and no economic value in trying to have a production run of re-manufactured rifles. Its vastly more profitable to sell unused parts on eBay, rather than try to build&sell a rifle.
There were two dealers doing refinishing metal and wood at the Ohio gun shows. If you want pretty, I guess they fit the bill. I felt they destroyed any value they might have had.
Any knowledge of someone in the US to rebarrel/have acess to new barrels for the Enfields ? tia barry
Any knowledge of someone in the US to rebarrel/have acess to new barrels for the Enfields ? tia barry
on enfield resource there's a few folks with barrels, I think they're notated.