Rebarreling a 1918 ShtLE III* - A Couple Questions

[Hcompton79]

I have a short Lee Enfield III* manufactured in 1918 that unfortunately has a shot out barrel, many years of cordite loaded ammunition and probably neglect in civilian hands has resulted in a barrel with severe throat and muzzle erosion and pitting that shoots foot groups at 25 yards.

Anyway I have decided to work on rebuilding this rifle with a new barrel, fixing up the draws and perhaps a reblue/suncoriting. I know this is not necessarily a financially wise decision, but I have a bad habit of working on basket cases and like projects like this that can be a learning experience.

I have acquired a very nice looking replacement barrel, though it is somewhat sparse on markings and I am unsure of its origins. I have included pictures of it if anyone has any ideas, particularly what the "LC" (edit: perhaps "large cone"?) marking indicates.

Using a proper barrel vise and action wrench, I was able to get the old barrel off without damaging the receiver though it did require some heavy handed persuasion to do so as many years of corrosion and gunk in the threads did a good job of locking the barrel in place. This was easily cleaned away with a wire brush.

I thought I might ask here if anyone, perhaps one of the experts had any suggestions with putting on the new barrel. I have reviewed the fine article on breeching up the No.4 rifle by Peter Laidler, however I recognize that there are some differences with the No.1 rifle since it breeches up on the "inner ring" of the receiver vs. the very front shoulder as on the No.4 rifle

Fortunately this new barrel clocks at around 1/16 of a turn in underturn when tightened up by hand which from what I understand is just about perfect for a replacement barrel as it will clock in correctly when tightened up.

Now I do have some concerns with attempting to put on the new barrel, should the threads be dry vs. some kind of lubricant or anti-seize and hopefully not the suggestion I have seen elsewhere of Loctite? Also, where is the better place to clamp on the new barrel, the Knox form or the thinner portion of the barrel?

Then after the barrel is on and clocked correctly does anything else need to be done other than checking for correct headspace before test firing. I have seen some mention of a proofing charge being used that would expand the barrel and lock it in place, however I have nothing to corroborate this and it seems unlikely, as any charge large enough to expand the metal of the barrel would become a safety issue.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Information

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[Brit plumber]

Looks like a nice barrel and I’d say the lack of markings and the finish is typical of a commercial barrel from the trade.

[nijalninja]

I have a bad habit of working on basket cases and like projects like this that can be a learning experience

Sounds like me hahaha.

In the threads of the reciever and old barrel did you find any kind of solder? I heard that they used solder to set the barrel, and then to remove it you have to heat the area appropriately then wrench it off. DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, wait for a few of the more practiced gentlemen to weigh in. Oh and good luck. I'd love to know the answer to this as well.

[Roger Payne]

I've removed a lot of Enfield barrels over the years but I've not yet come across one secured by soft soldering.

[browningautorifle]

Same, no soft solder. Don't use loc-tite either. I use the knox form for my wrench position and don't manage to twist a receiver, you should be ok. The barrel looks to be about right for crush factor, it'll be tight. Just head space and go on. You're replacing not starting from scratch.

[Hcompton79]

Thanks gents. And no, there was not any soft solder securing the old barrel into the receiver.

[Brian Dick]

It's an Indian manufacture barrel, (RFI), and they are excellent in my experience. I clean the body threads and grease before installation. Use a protractor to index it correctly on a piece of plate glass. They turn out perfect every time and should headspace in specification using your existing bolt assembly.

[Roger Payne]

I'd agree about the barrel being an Indian take-off. The font of the serial number stamps used is quite characteristic to them.

[nijalninja]

Well there you go. Glad this thread came up and I asked my question. Cheers for clarifying about the solder .

[Hcompton79]

So the new barrel is on. After applying a light coating of lube, I hand threaded the barrel into the receiver. Then, using the action wrench, I was able to turn it about halfway to where it would be indexed correctly. A few moderate taps with a mallet on the action wrench brought it into rough alignment and I used the extractor cut out in the barrel and receiver as a rough estimate as to where it needed to be turned.

After getting it approximated in the vise, I pulled it and got it indexed as close as I possibly could determine. I ended up using multiple points of reference, first between the Knox form and receiver flat and then between the charger bridge and back sight with the leaf temporarily in place. Eventually I got it to a point that, as best I could determine, the barrel was level with the receiver. Fortunately, this barrel came with the sight bases already attached, so I did not need to mess with collimating them.

I checked headspace using a modified feeler gauge that would fit in the space for extractor in the receiver. With the bolt stripped except for the body and bolt head I checked headspace and found it to be about 68-69 thousandths.