Sht L.E. 1*** 1905

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Originally Posted by englishman_ca

It is indeed a Sparkbrook made barrel. Probably one of their last.

Around 1906 they were transitioning over to private ownership by BSA.

I would be taking a careful look at the chamber. The three asterisk markings on the nock's form flat signify that an armourer found rust in the chamber and polished it out. Not a major concern, but it might mean that you have a super generous chamber which could cause headaches if you were to reload for this rifle.

And, do't go scrubbing anything with a stainless scouring pad. If you don't have 'the touch' you can quickly do something that you might regret.

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One of the rifles produced during that transition - only marked BSA Sparkbrook for a short time in 1906

A quick update on the restoration of the 1905 Sht LE 1***. I have been doing a bit of cleaning up of the rust spots in the bluing, mainly using 0000 steel wool and RP7. I did try some stainless steel wool but decided to stick to the steel wool as it seemed a little less aggressive.
I managed to get onto a correct nose cap, it should turn up this week. Chased up a few leads on a rear sight but no luck so far. For a bit of practice on Fusion360 (3D drawing program) I drew up a sight base and 3D printed it.

I picked up the No 1 Mk 111* woodwork on the weekend to fit the No 1*** action. I have also obtained a nosecap and rear sight complete thanks to the WTB section on the forum. (And thankyou to the forum members who replied!).
The action fits very well into the fore end, although had to replace the original mid barrel band as it is in a different position on the No 1.
The problem I now have is with the trigger guard. It certainly doesn't fit as is and I presume it is because it has been bent.
Do I just bend it back straight? Will it need heat?

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Originally Posted by mrbennet

Will it need heat?

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They're soft, be gentle...

The metal around the mag well is thin in section and is fairly soft metal. It can be bent easily cold and also thus can be straightened, if you go slow, bumping it gently with hammer on anvil.

I see the straight edge that you put up against it. The guard is not supposed to be perfectly straight, there is a bit of a bend in it.

Take your time. Do it right. The bedding of the trigger guard has a dramatic effect on the two stage trigger pull off.

It is a tuned system, trigger guard, depth of bedding, screw bushing, sear, humps trigger. On new wood, I usually end up using a shaped scraper and lamp black to remove only the smallest amount of wood for final fitting to get the trigger guard seated just right. I might have to adjust and reseat it more than once to get a sweet trigger.

Read up on it. Perform one step at a time in sequence. Otherwise it will be a pain to set up the trigger.

Trigger guard was easily straightened (very soft!) and everything went together very well. The Mk 111 woodwork was very dirty, I suspect it still had a layer of cosmoline which I removed with acetone. Once cleaned I gave the woodwork several coats of BLO.
I put 3 rounds through the rifle (last week before the rear sight arrived) just to test that everything was functioning as it should as well as see how the barrel came up as it looks pretty dark in the grooves and patches keep coming out dark.
Rear sight arrived today so this is the final result.

Good effort came up a treat....

That woodwork came up really well with your attention, it looks beautiful.

A little patching for the sight protector and charger bridge cut outs along with some patching on the rear hand guard fingers and she will be ready for inspection!

The black barrel bore will improve with use. Do a session and put ten rounds rapid through to heat up the barrel, then scrub the heck out of it with your favourite potions. Some steel wool wrapped around a bronze brush fitted tight into the bore will do wonders. You will be amazed at the amount of black that will be coming out of the bore. Load up on patches, you will need lots.

But good job, another one rescued!