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Greeting to all, , I am new to the forum. I have a about an Enfield No4 Mk1. The rifle appears to have been fired very little. It has been in storage for years. As I was inspecting it I found several gouge marks in the bottom of the chamber about an inch in . They look like punch or marks. Just wondered if anyone has seen this before and if it is anything to be concerned about?
I would scrub the chamber and try to identify exactly what the marks are. Does a round slip in and out easily? What about when you fire a live round? How does it mark the case? The chamber area is pretty tough but even so, if the mark makes extraction hard or inpossible it's terminal!
This gun has not been fired in years. I was concerned about the marks and wanted to get a little input before I tried to fire it. They almost look like they were done with a punch or something
Punch........ Terminal I'd say due to the hard/difficult extraction you will experience. Once the case expands into pitting or other corrosion, even the primary extraction forces won't ease it.
they are small marks but kinda deep. What dose it take to replace the barrel?
Get a new barrel and read the many threads on the subject written here...............
I was concerned if I should even try and shoot it
I recently scrapped a rifle for this very reason. Anyone who follows my posts on refurbishing old rifles knows that I do not give up easily. But not even my ingenuity has found a solution for deep pitting in a chamber. And even if the cases can be extracted, but they have little pimples where the brass has been forced into the hollows, as it was with my rifle, then you know that resizing those cases will be a recipe for disaster, and I must sadly agree with Peter - it sounds like scrap.Quote:
Originally Posted by Col.Colt
---------- Post added at 08:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 PM ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Col.Colt
Scrap
Get a gunsmith to look at it, barrels are also pretty hard to find. Ive not found one worth buying in 12mnths of looking.
I thought I read somewhere that barrels were being reproduced?
Are there holes in the receiver ring? Is the barrel original (numbered) to the rifle? Could be someone drilled down through the receiver ring, either of this action or another your barrel was on before, and down into the chamber. Have you inspected the upper surface thereof?
Have you actually fired it, to see what happens? You're in so far, a few cartridges wouldn't cost much to find out.
I had that happen with Lithgow Mk III the story the armourer gave me an insect may have gone down the bore and carked it in the chamber and the acids etc ate a good chunk out of the chamber, at that stage I was not really that up to speed on getting weapons checked. (Maybe far fetched but still a story non the less)
After firing the weapon and having to belt the bolt handle on a strainer post to get it open revealed a 1/2" rut in the chamber and a nice mirror image bulge in the case but I learnt a few things,
Do not rely on the sales pitch the weapon is as good as the day it left the factory, always have the ol'girls get the once over from a gunsmith, this has proven a good ploy as a brand new rifle I brought an M-40 replica was sent back because it was a POS with a cracked stock split behind the mag well, chatter marks on the crown, chipped land, rust in the barrel and just lotsa probs so it pays to utilise your trusted gunsmith.
The SMLE extractors are fairly tough as proven by how the round was extracted utilising a strainer post.
They are a well made weapon as why it did not blow the bottom of the chamber out and possibly cause myself a serious injury is probably good fortune more than anything else. :dunno:
Can anyone recommend a good Enfield gunsmith?
Brian at BDL Ltd in SC. But Brian ain't a gunsmith, he's the man you want.......... An Armourer!
You guys are a wealth of information. Thanks so much