My First Lee Enfield - Looking for Info

Hi there folks, first time poster, long time lurker from the Frozen North!

I recently got my very first Lee Enfield No4 Mk1 and I'm looking for some advice on if I got a decent deal, any cool info anyone might want to share on it, and lastly and advice on restoring it. The wood is pretty dark and I'm not sure if that's the normal colour as I've seen many with much lighter wood, but I thought I would ask the people who know. Thanks for any responses. Just from using this forum I think I've been able to determine that based of the serial number, the rifle is a 1944 BSA Shirley (At least I think so).

Looks good , doesn't need restoring but I guess that's a mater of personal opinion

Welcome to milsurps nice looking rifle your correct M 47C = BSA Shirley but it also has a number underneath it been linished out try some chalk on it to see if a snap can be taken I can make out a 2, 0 or O another on the left like a D! under the K.
You may need to give the stock some 50/50 RLO-Mineral turps mix allowing 24 hours between coats until it wont take up anymore as the stock appears a tad dry.
Front top fore wood looks to be a replacement no biggy all part of its patina & journey to date.

What I see where the butt wrist meets the socket is an uneven gap with what appears to be chipping right at the bottom by the socket caused by the recoil on firing so if the wood is dry it shrinks a little allowing a miniscule amount of movement or the rear bolt may not be as tight as it should you need to look into this there is a search bar top right try searching "loose fitting butt." or something like that

Others with far more knowledge will be along shortly to assist you, be aware you never stop at one Lee Enfield.

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

...you never stop at on Lee Enfield.

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Ain’t that the truth! I started with a 1903a3 and wanted a Garand. Then I discovered the Lee Enfield and now I have one example of every type of milsurp rifle I wanted and 4 LE’s, looking at a 5th..

Thanks for the responses,

Cinders, what's RLO? I know what BLO (Boiled Linseed Oil) is, is RLO = Refined Linseed Oil?

When I get home I'll try to raise that letter, and I'll give a search and see about fixing that looseness.

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Originally Posted by ringo598

what's RLO

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Raw linseed oil.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

Raw linseed oil.

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And available in large jugs at Rona/Revy in the paint department. And Ringo598- that rifle doesn't need "restoration", just normal maintenance.

Ridolpho

As others have said no restoration required, just clean, some linseed on the wood and if it bothers you change the forward hand guard, plenty about but If you get stuck I have plenty of front and rear (mainly all Walnut) for £5 each plus P&P.

Yeah like everyone has said it looks good. Restoration would normally imply replacing or repairing bits and pieces back to the military service standard, which your's seems to fit perfectly! So yeah what I do with all of my new additions is strip it down to nothing (Make sure you have revised and triple checked how to strip your rifle and never take off anything you are not confident you can put back the right way in), then check all the steel parts for rust and/or gunk and grime and clean it all off and remove all the rust I find (A seal pick, some rags, and some very fine grit sandpaper and steady hand are pretty good on rust), then I clean out the stock of any grease and dirt with turps and a toothbrush, and then the stock is off smothered in 50/50 Raw Linseed Oil and Turps as mentioned above, and by the time I have cleaned all the steel parts the wood should have soaked in the oil and be ready for reassembly. After that just give it some linseed and turps every now and then and just check the places where you found rust every now and then. Hope this helps, I might have skimmed a few things, and being young and inexperienced I might have said something completely wrong too so perhaps see if anyone comes on and pulls me up on something. Otherwise your rifle looks very nice. Look after it.

Ah perfect, thanks so much folks. I'll get out to the hardware store this weekend and get some turpentine and raw linseed oil, I'll update with a range report at some point as well.

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

50/50 RLO-Mineral turps mix

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Not just turpentine also if your going to clean the metal use STAINLESS STEEL WOOL not sandpaper or steel wool as both will affect the finish by removing it faster than you can rip your strides down finding the dunny door locked.

Method - Give the stainless steel wool a good drink of WD40 or RP-7 and just buff the steel parts with it wipe off then re oil with balistol of gun oil it will look a million dollars the stainless steel wool trick was shown to me by a WWII Armourer.

Gotcha, so:
wood parts = 50% turpentine/50% raw linseed oil.
metal parts = Stainless steel wool dipped in WD40, gently buff.

Very cool, can't wait to see it all cleaned up!

Yep you can rub vigorously with the stainless wool wont hurt the finish of the metal parts but do not use it on the butt plate or brass butt plate or they will be damaged.
Also not just any Turpentine or its derivatives its got to be Mineral Turpentine not Pure Gum Turpentine or anything else. Your good to go but also read up how to strip the rifle down there is scads of info on this site it only has to be down to its major components its only a tidy it up and get the wood looking not so dry.

Thanks for the correction on the sandpaper Cinders, never thought of steel wool.

Yep but as I stated with emphasis it has to be stainless steel wool not ordinary steel wool or it will strip the finish off the metal parts quicker than having your tyre going flat when you do not need it to.

Cinders, after searching all three major big hardware stores in my city, not a single one of them had stainless steel wool, they had tons of steel wool, all the way to 0000 superfine, but that's it. Is there another brand name or type? Can I use 0000 super fine steel wool?

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

Yep but as I stated with emphasis it has to be stainless steel wool not ordinary steel wool or it will strip the finish off the metal parts quicker than having your tyre going flat when you do not need it to.

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Cinders: I've never heard this about stainless steel wool. I've had good results on barrels with heavy active rust using various grades of regular steel wool along with a very heavy coating of motor oil or gear oil. On various pieces it has seemed to leave the bluing (or what's left of it) alone. I think the key is having a good layer of oil on the surface. On other forums I've heard people talk about "bronze wool" being superior but no sign of any existing here in any store.

Ridolpho

Don't worry Ridolpho I was pretty skeptical about it until the old chap showed me removing surface rust, the finished product looked just like it has left the factory, I buy the stainless scourer pads (Non-soaped) sometimes the threads get caught and they unravel a bit but thats no big deal you get a fair bit of wear out of them however I am not brave enough to try the ordinary stuff.

Ringo = You may have to go to the local supermarket, go to the kitchen section and look for them there they should be there somewhere but don't get the soaped ones.

Stainless steel wool is sold on ebay as wrapping for exhaust pipes; bronze wool also available ob ebay - both types v cheap. I have used both types wrapped around a cleaning jag in place of flannel, to clean out the grooves on a dark bore without harming the rifling - both metals being much softer than steel. Don't use ordinary steel wool, it may scratch the bore.

Ahh found some on ebay and also some brass wool. I'll pick those up.

And forgive what I'm hoping isn't a stupid question, other then the butt plate and wrist guard, are there any other brass parts I should avoid scrubbing? With the blueing on everything its a bit hard to tell which is steel and which is brass.

Brass parts are not finished in any way unless it has been bubba'd or the parts have been replaced with another material. On No1's sometimes you find barrel and mid bands that are made of brass.