Lee Speed rifling question.

I was scanning through my local gunstore when i caught a wee look of a dusty old rifle i'd never seen before. Turned out to be a nice Lee Speed not a sporterized SMLE as labelled :eek:. I didn't want to seem overly excited or keen as it was cheapish and I had zero cash or cards with me and they don't do layaways and the store was closing. So I carefully returned it to the back of the bin and disguised it again. Only got a quick look at the barrel, it was dusty and dirty but should clean up OK, however it looked alot more rounded than the rifling in my Enfields. Is it Different rifling and is that what the rifing is like in these rifles? I don't know enough to be able to comment on it myself. I'll be bakc there at opening time tomorrow come what may though.

Hi, No E stamped on the Knoxform, would mean rounded metford rifling, not square like enfield. Good luck.

Sporters and "Volunteer" pattern Lees appear to have been made with Metford rifling for years after the adoption of Enfield rifling. If you were only firing a couple of hundred rounds a year in "polite" sporting activities, I doubt you would encounter the throat erosion found in "issue" Metfords doing serious service.

That is all great news. Store opens at 12.00 today. I'll be on the doorstep at 11.55am. Not often in the internet age you get a find like this as it relies on the guy who owns the store (and knows his stuff) NOT being there when it comes in, plus zero knowledge and curiosity on the part of the employee.

Metford barrels were long available commercially if the customer wanted it for some reason. Don't expect to find and identifying marks if it's commercial. Cast bullet loads should keep the wear down.

The thing that doomed Metford barrels was the combination of the enormous heat generated by Cordite and the incredibly hard nickel jackets allowing these hot propellant gases to bleed around the hard bullet in the throat.

If you ever look up a G3 barrel, it looks like a Metford; sort-of "shot out", from the factory. The differences are that the 7.62 NATO ball projectile is a very close fit in the polygonal rifling "grooves" AND modern double-based propellants burn much more slowly (relatively speaking), and at much lower temperatures for a given presure, than the old Cordite. The hard-chrome lining is handy too. Arisakas also have this "pre-worn" looking rifling.

If you have a "nice" Metford and want to shoot it, look for recipes involving gas-checked, HARD cast bullets in the 190-200gn range. See also; hints regarding Teflon tape as bullet lube.