Sht L.E. 1*** 1905

Hello Everyone, I joined up on this forum a couple of months ago and have been reading up on all the wealth of Lee Enfield information that is contained in the various posts. I have been interested in Lee Enfields for most of my life, mainly due to my Grandfather who was a Full Bore rifle shooter and had 3 No1 Mk111*'s converted to target rifles with heavy barrels and aperture sights. I inherited them when he died in 1996, but just kept them in the safe. A few years ago I took up Full Bore shooting, occasionally giving the 303's a run. In the last 12 months I joined our local Military and Pistol Club and have been thoroughly enjoying using the 303's in a much more military setting - first time I had ever fired a 303 standing!
Last week one of the club members asked my if I wanted an old No 1 barreled action that he wanted to get rid of. When I first looked at it it was a bit of a mystery to me, but in one week I now now a bit about the Sht L.E. 1***.
Hopefully the photos will reveal some of this rifles past, it appears that the barrel may be original? Bolt is not matching and firing pin locking bolt/knob has been damaged. Sight base has been crudely removed, the screws were undone but looks like they didn't realise it was pinned as well!
I intend to put the action in a set of Mk 111 woodwork but would really like to get onto a sight base and a correct nosecap. I can possibly make a sight base and fit a Mk 111 sight, any advice gratefully accepted!

Welcome. I speculate the barrel has been replaced in 1907. It is perfectly acceptable to use Mk III wood, although you'll have a very difficult time in locating a few crucial pieces. A MkIII forearm with the dial plate recess is near impossible to find. Same goes for the front volley sight plate. MkIII upper handguards are getting scarce as well. Surprisingly, MkI*** rear sights and nose caps turn up on Ebay from time to time, so you may have luck there. Magazine cut-off plates are fairly easy to source.

In the past, I have seen CR pre-fixed MkI*** rifles wearing Mk III* wood, so that is an option as well. You'll just have to remove the rear volley arm (or sell it, to offset your costs).

If you search this site for MKI*** threads, you should find several examples in various conditions. Some wearing their correct early wood, others upgraded with Mk III* wood.

Good Luck!

Isn't that a Sparkbrook barrel?

Thats what i initially thought, but im away from my reference books, and i cant double check. SK usually indicates sparkbrook, but i dont recall seeing such a large marking. When i get home, i’ll pull apart my sparkbrook and check.

Thankyou smle addict and waco16 for your interest. The wood set I have organised is from a Lithgow Mk 111*, through one of our local gun dealers who is also a Lee Enfield enthusiast. He is also able to supply a magazine cutoff. I will keep an eye out on ebay and any other outlets for a rear sight and nose cap as well as place a WTB on this forum.
Interesting about the barrel, if you need any more photos for identification let me know.

hi i am helping a mate he has inherited his ggranfathers no1 the front wood was all cut down and i have put mk 111 wood on it it is fitted with a h barrel and doesn’t look out of place

Has the transitional mag they are a good find and still going up in price, you need to get onto that rust pronto I will give you the quick way to get it off without damaging the bluing.

Use a stainless steel wool scourer (Not a steel one) and WD-40 or RP-7 spray some on the scourer and a bit on the part to be cleaned rub in circles lightly occasionally wiping off and re apply the WD-40 or RP-7 and there ya go good as new this was taught to me by a WWII armorer who is now deceased R.I.P Jack

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.

About 15 years ago I found a sporterized Mark 1*** Enfield 1906 with the second serial number and the CR prefix. I had to replace the fore-end with a Mark 111 but did find a Mark 1 front hand guard. The fore-end has to be inletted for the inner band from the Mark 1 to fit.

I did find a Mark 1*** backsight rear leaf but it was without the backsiight leaf slide so I decided to make one. The second attempt worked out but I had to use stainless steel coil springs for the buttons on each side, also use wood for the studs and checkered them.

photo shows my backsight leaf and slide plus a photo of my small collectionAttachment 105169Attachment 105170Attachment 105171

You can try it yourself CA trust me it works you don't have to be a gorilla at it if you use ordinary steel wool then yes sir you'll strip the bluing off quicker than a leaky bucket loses water. The stainless does not remove the bluing its for surface rust not deep stuff I use electrolysis for that and I would not say this treatment if I had not used it on my own rifles as when I first got some of them as they were a bit neglected especially my Parker Hale 1200 Safari Grade 22/250 we all know how deep the bluing was on those.

That magazine is a good candidate if the owner tries it in a spot which will be hidden by the stock with before and after shots I am sure he will see the difference like I said Stainless scourer (Non soaped) or stainless steel wool nice and easy like Mr Myagi says spray on wipe of easy does it. Sadly I do not have anymore neglected rusty firearms but I'll scrounge and see what I've got out in the shed I may find something there but highly unlikely. Anyway its only a suggestion they can try an oily rag but it wont do the same job.

Nice set of rifles there RCS

Quote:

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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?

Quote:

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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!