Lee Enfield Hammered Barrel

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

You're dead right LE. I just put that in there to see if you were all awake and to see who'd notice the deliberate mistake. The shrunk-on barrels were Mk3's. Obsolete as of 11/53

But just as an aside, does anyone have any written evidence that a two groover barrel was identified as a Mk2

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Just the MkII stamping on the Knox form of a long branch, maltby, and Savage

Well the gun is a No4 and the person that is giving it to my friend told him he also has two spare hammered barrels. They are apparently both .303 and he said he had one for a .308 but sold it??

Anyone need a hammered .303 barrel?

I am sure my friend is going to sell me the No4 at a reasonable cost, he is a great guy and always has been good to me.

Lithgow (Thales) started hammer forging barrels in the later years of L1A1 production. The general specification for the finished product sayed the same as for the conventionally cut types. This included an allowance for hard-chrome lining.

In my experience, one could encounter L1A1 barrels in "raw", chromed chamber with unplated bore and fully chromed.

SMLE barrels were never hammer-forged at Lithgow, unless somebody sneaked a run in one night. Not that it it easy to "sneak" with something as incredibly nousy as a barrel forging machine.

The barrels for the F-88 (Steyr AUG) are definitely hammer-forged. Unless it has been "liberated" there used to be a very interesting barrel forging mandrel downstairs in the gatehouse/ museum building. It was for a polygonal bore barrel and was allegedly used for a short run of special F-88 barrels for one Australian Army Rifle Team. Allegedly they shot superbly but were frowned upon as "not in the spirit of things" and removed and destroyed.

Polygonal rifling is excellent for chroming as it has no internal or external sharp corners to cause problems with chrome deposition thickness.

The "Black Mountain" barrels were made on the plant used to make the hammer-forged L1A1 barrels and have a fine reputation for accuracy and durability.

One of the cool things about the F-88 barrel (and, I understand, the FN FNC barrel) is that the hammering also forms the chamber in the same pass as the rifling. I believe Ruger do this on their barrels as well.

One more question of course, does anyone have a picture of a original WWII Lee Enfield with a hammered barrel that they would post. Thanks to everyone as this has been a real learning lesson from all the "teachers" on this forum.