New No4 Mk1 Maltby

[tbonesmith]

Just got this 1942, Regulated by Fulton, Maltby No4 Mk1.
The wood has been sanded and is not in the most attractive condition, and the barrel is a replacement the date and year of 1967 is scribed into the knox by hand.
Not one screw is chewed, the barrel is tight and shiny, the trigger is good, the bedding could use a little tuning as the barrel is not perfectly centred, and the centre bedding block influences the barrel horizontally, this I'll tidy up.
The draws have been patched and fitted beautifully, there are draw screws through the stock into the wrist, and the foreend reinforcing band at the back has been further reinforced by the addition of a small metal thread and nut.
All in all a welcome find.
I have a No4 Mk2 similarly set up by AJP without the draw screws which shoots great, I hope this is on like that too!!!

Information

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[Edward Horton]

tbonesmith

The bedding of the Enfield has always fascinated me and I have never seen draws screws that pulled the fore stock to the rear such as yours. I have a photo of a No.1 Enfield Australian range rifle with adjustable draws screws but I thought these screws were set up to "push" the rear of the stock up tight against the copper bedding blocks.

The way your Enfield is set up these adjustment screws would also effect the centering of the barrel in the barrel channel of the fore stock. Also wood shrinkage could have adverse effects. If you have any wood shrinkage and then tighten these "draws screws" the stock could be pulled out of the bedding area below the receiver. This would pull the fore stock up on to the unbedded area I have marked below.

Below, wood shrinkage and tightening these "draws screws" could pull the fore stock out of the normal bedding area, raise the barrel and decrease "up pressure.



Would you take some more photos of both the forward and rear draws areas and do you know how or if any shimming was done in the draws for bedding and centering the barrel.

One of the reasons I ask is I have a center bedded South African No.4 Mk.2 done just like yours in the barrel channel with the same type rubber bearing points. The only difference is the Knox form wood is totally removed and the draws area is as issued or has standard military bedding.

[tbonesmith]

I'd never seen those screws either, only seen photos.
The black bedding areas are not rubber but morticed timber, blackened by the use of contact dye/lamp black.
The draws are patched and fitted also with lamp black as is the wrist to fore end. There are no shims anywhere.
I'll happily take any specific pics you like, but not for a while, I don't want to strip the rifle again until I'm going to deal with the bedding, and that won't be for a while as I've got buckets of projects to finish first.

[Surpmil]

As you probably noticed the bolt handle has been bent upwards slightly, with heat presumably.

Agree that the machining marks on the rear face of the handle show no trace of numbers being removed. Probably a NOS bolt that was added by Fultons.

[tbonesmith]

I got 5 rifles in this lot, Lithgows, BSA's (No1 Mk3/3*s) and this one, and all had the bolts like this, I thought they looked a bit odd but I thought it was just me because they were all the same/very similar!