No1 MkIII surgery

Hi folks,

I figure it's finally time to take the plunge and do a bit of surgery on my No1 MkIII. I've have it for a couple years now, but only shot it on one occasion. At 50 yards, off a sandbag, I got 8" groups. So I put her away until I now have the time to tackle the problem.

As you can see by the attached pix, she suffers from a bad case of the 'damned crack'. Our member Smellie has mentioned it frequently, and I think I understand how to repair it.

The fore-end appears to sit firmly and evenly against the butt socket, but as you can see, the lands appear quite crushed. Should these be repaired too, or would they be okay as is? The fore-end does fit snugly right now.

Lastly, the metal piece on the rear of the fore-end (I have no idea what it's called) does not sit flat. The right hand edge is absolutely flush with the wood while the left hand edge is recessed about 0.009". Does that make any difference, and if so how do I correct it?

I might have more questions later, but these will do for now.

The forend doesn't actually look in need of repair: the crack at the back is common and has no real effect (the brass cross-pin holds everything together), and the recoil lug faces seem to be solid without any crumbling. If the forend "sits firmly and evenly" as you state, then its probably perfectly ok. I'd check for other causes of inaccuracy before you start chopping away at the forend.

1. is the front trigger guard screw firm?
2. is the front trigger guard screw bush present?
3. is the inner band spring present?
4. what effect does adjusting the inner band screw tension have?
5. is the front spring & stud present?
6. what ammunition were you using?

Thank you for the advice Thunderbox. I glued and clamped the crack, although from further reading in the Knowledge Library it seems you're correct about it not being a real issue. I take it this is not the 'damned cracked' that Smellie often refers to. I haven't touched the lands, but as i said above, although slightly crushed from tight contact they seem sound. As for your other points...

1. the front trigger guard screw was missing the spring washer but it was been replaced now. all is tight.
2. the bush is present.
3. the inner band screw spring is present, and the screw is tight.
4. no idea at this point.
5. the front spring and stud are present.
6. it was commercial ammo. can't recall offhand if it was Winchester or Remington.

I'll take it out again tomorrow and try it again with some Prvi Partizan 174gr ammo. Will adjust the inner band screw tension to see what affect it has.

The bore is in excellent shape. This No1 was one of the BSA commercial contract guns for Bahrain and it seems to have had very little use. The bore slugs at 0.3115".

The Privi seems to shoot far better than the American made rounds. I find I hold a tighter group at all ranges with the Privi. Great brass to re load also. Nice and thick. Winchucker and Remcostsaton seem to have increased price and quality is in the cellar...Have fun shooting....

Better results this time, but still room for improvement. I shot 20 rounds of Prvi Partizan 174gr and 20 rounds of Hornady 150gr. Both gave me roughly 3in groups with the Prvi shooting 4in below POA at 50 yards and the Hornady shooting 1in below POA at 50 yards.

Well, you found The Damned Crack and it is no more. That's good. What happens is that the crack lets go and the fore-end spreads, releasing the pressure against the sides of the action. For very best shooting, an SMLE action needs to be solid in the woodwork.

Fellow who taught me to bed SMLEs was 6 times to Bisley with the Canadian team. He also coached the team and captained it once. What I try to do is pass on what he told me as I was working with an unfired 1918 Lithgow which was shooting 14-inch groups at 100 yards.

The action needs to be tight in the wood. This means a THIN coat of glassbedding compound in the wood, then nestle the action down into it and wipe off anything that crawls out. Grease the action first with the thinnest coat you can of some kind of good, solid grease. I use Esso Unitol, that pretty blue stuff; it's easy to see and it coats super thin and it's easy to wipe off afterwards. Be sure that you get some bedding compound into the draws (what you call the 'lands'), as things have to be tight there, also.

The action should be solid for its full length and for the length of the chamber. Forward of that, the barrel should be free and you should be able to pass a dollar bill around it almost anywhere. There is a REINFORCE at the Inner Band and the barrel should be able to damp its vibrations at this point if the Magpie Screw (Inner Band Screw) is reefed down tight (which it shouldn't be, actually). This reinforce should be about half an inch behind and ahead of the Inner Band. There is also a reinforce at the MUZZLE. The factory made this reinforce 2 inches in length; the Canadian Bisley shooters reduced this to ONE inch.

Sgt. Bill Brown's rifle, set up like this, shot a 74x75 at 1100 yards at the PanAm Games in Jamaica, many years ago. My rifle, set up exactly the same, shoots 2-shot called groups from a dead-cold barrel of half an inch at 100 but, with me on the trigger, it does take a LOT of sandbags!

Hope this helps.
.

Brain fart... yeah I meant draws :)

The action is already very tight in the wood. The fore-end needs to be tapped out with a hammer to get it to move. The barrel is free from the chamber to about an inch behind the inner band. But I think the bottom of the barrel touches the wood all the way from the inner band to muzzle. I'll strip it down tomorrow and double check that.