Concerned: Will disassembling damage my rifle?

Wow, thank you all so much for the warm welcome and the replies here! All of you here have certainly alleviated most of my concerns and I really appreciate all the advice and suggestions posted here! I am definitely going to take a look at all the literature, video and equipment recommended. I think one thing for sure is I may have to have the rifle looked at by a professional, as Michael pointed out, except almost all of the smiths here specialize mainly in those trendy black guns people love so much these days (I am worried that they might not know how to diagnose vintage rifles). Either way, again thank you all for the advice, it really has helped me gain confidence with this hobby!

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Originally Posted by Alan de Enfield

I can never understand this desire to take something apart when it is functioning as it should - maybe its just me ?

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Hi Alan, in truth, I was actually thinking the same thing too. I wasn't sure if stripping the rifle is a wholly good idea because I know there are owners who advise against it for various reasons. While I did mention that replacing the woodwork was an idea I had in mind (largely because the handguard was chipped during shipping it to my home state), I wasn't sure if it was really a valid enough reason to take it apart, with another reason being cleaning and maintenance.

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Originally Posted by Renard

Hi Alan, in truth, I was actually thinking the same thing too. I wasn't sure if stripping the rifle is a wholly good idea because I know there are owners who advise against it for various reasons. While I did mention that replacing the woodwork was an idea I had in mind (largely because the handguard was chipped during shipping it to my home state), I wasn't sure if it was really a valid enough reason to take it apart, with another reason being cleaning and maintenance.

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I think it comes down to the British Army not allowing 'anyone' to fiddle about with their rifles - no 'field stripping' - everything should be done by someone who knows what they are doing.
You can oil it and you can use a 'pull-through' that's about it.

There is a saying :

"Put a squaddie in solitary confinement and give him 3 steel balls. Within 12 hours he will have broken one, lost one and sold the other one"

The absolutely WORSE tihng that the average enthusiastic amateur can do is destroy the accuracy of his No1 or No4 rifle by removing the fore-end by pulling it down from the muzzle. You must push it DOWN from the rear. Next and probably as bad is trying to unscrew the SMLE stock bolt. Later in its life the squared-off stock bolt was declared obsolescent and the interchangeable No4 bolt and a simple thackray double coil spring washer was used to keep it tight. But STILL they won't learn and plough on regardless.................