RFI NoI Mk3 in grease.

[Buccaneer]

It occured to me that we talk about many things on this forum many of them "normal and everyday" if you have been lucky enough to work with Enfields. However if you have come to them from a collecting point then much of the "normal" may be very unfamiliar.
In the wrap or in grease is just such a term very self explanitory but if you have never actually seen one you might not realise just how much crud there is to be removed.
This 1971 dated RFI NoI Mk3 has just come back from proof, yes it was proofed and passed in this condition. Whilst it was never "wrapped" as the home grown Enfields were it does give some idea of how much grease is applied to the entire rifle, woodwork included.
This rifle has almost certainly been in storage since it was made and underneath all that grease a new albeit RFI Enfield is waiting to come out, time to get my hands dirty

Information

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[SpikeDD]

Lucky you! Nice find though. I can't say I've seen a wire wrapped rifle with that late a date, though that's not saying much. In the 50's, a upper and lower metal band was developed and I would have thought to take the place of the wire for obvious reasons. I have 2 rifles with 2 different styles of the metal bands. Interesting.

[Peter Laidler]

In the very early 70's we were inspecting, re-wire-wrapping and returning to Ordnance a whole load of War Reserve No1 rifles. I explained all this in an article some time ago. We only had one cup to use to test them but if they HAD the cups in War Reserve, we didn't see them! I seem to recall that they had a dark green/khaki band on the butt and fore-end to show that they were fit to fire with the letters EY in yellow on the butt.

[SpikeDD]

I should have specified I was speaking of the rifles done at Ishapore. Having said that, I have no idea if the metal bands were a total replacement for wire, or just an alternative. Peter, did you ever have those bands available?

[Peter Laidler]

No Spike. All of ours were wire, with the rifle rotating in a slowed down lathe while the wire was wound on as it slowly unrolled from a hand held bit of stout wood. When the workshop finally closed down in the early 2000's, the bit of wood and roll of wire was still there! Going back a bit, but I think it was the last 4 turns of the wire were unrolled, cleaned with wire wool and then soldered. What a palava.........

[SpikeDD]

Yeah....I'll bet lots of fun! But, hey, just think about it. You are one of the few people around that can actually say.."Yep... Done that, and, for the crown". In retrospect, as menial as that may have been, if all jobs have their good and bad, that's not so terribly a bad, really. I've seen where you worked and if that was the "worst" of it....sign me up! lol. Anyway, it must mean a little something to have been part of these rifles history, even the wire wrapping bit.

[RobD]

Can someone explain exactly what the wire wrapping was designed to prevent? How is firing a grenade prone to splinter a wooden hand-guard or forestock, exactly? Does the wood splinter whilst leaving the barrel and action unscathed - does it not imply that the barrel has burst or the rifle action has been in some way horribly mutilated as well? And, if the barrel / action is being blown asunder to some extent, how does the wire wrapping save the day?
To me, reinforcing a rifle exterior to the surface of the wood seems like bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Not really good engineering... or have I missed something?

[Peter Laidler]

Yep, you've missed the point Rob. If the grenade explodes in the cup - and it has happened on many occasions I can tell you - the gas pressure that will migrate into the barrel could lead to it bursting. The wire binding is simply to protect the firers hands and not protect the rifle.

I won't go into how the matallurgy of wire binding works, but it is simply another layer of tightly wrapped protection. Think this way. Written off rifle = cheap. Crunchies hands and face shredded = expense

Incidentally, the cup used on the rifle is fitted to THAT rifle in a special way. This is to ensure that the recoil during blast-off is taken down the BARREL ALONE and definately NOT onto the nose cap and then down the fore-end. Not a lot of people know that there's a special instruction about this matter

Added a bit later
I should have started this answer with '........That's a good question Rob and one that took a bit of thought too...........'

Incidentally, I put up somewhere a couple of instances where grenades have exploded in the cups. Not a pretty sight. There was an instruction for firers that should the grenade accidentally 'pop' or ignite while in the cup, through mistake or by a fault in the grenade, the rifle should be laid down, pointing in the direction of discharge, step back several feet and lay down too! I would have added an afterthought that '......make sure afterwards that the firer cleans his lower half thoroughly with toilet paper and warm soapy water.....'

[Seaspriter]

how the matallurgy of wire binding works, but it is simply another layer of tightly wrapped protection

Got it. Thanks. It's like "chain maille" armour on a knight. Thanks.

[Brit plumber]

Wire wrapping is a very effective light weight additional strength. If you've ever seen an aircraft oxygen bottle then you'll know what I mean. The oxy bottles have wire wrap around the body meaning that the actual cylinder can be very thin skinned compared to a normal bottle.

Another example I can think of is the Nitrogen receiver used on side winder missiles. The bottles are think skinned, like foil and they are wrapped in fibreglass cord. It's unbelievable how much pressure wrapping can resist.