Ideas and/or suggestions Please!!

[lauth12]

Hello All,

I bought this Ishapore Lee Enfield No. 4 Mark 1/2 a couple months back. It has a 4 1/2" crack along the right side of the stock, starting right below the rear sight.




Now, I know (at least I think I know) that this rifle is not worth as much as a British produced Enfield. Now, should I let the crack be? Or should I attempt to repair it? If so, what techniques or products should I use? Thank you so much, I look forward to any responses!

Information

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[jrhead75]

First off...it is most likely a British produced Lee Enfield, the Indians just reworked it, they didn't produce No.4s. Not likely that it's a POF rifle due to the timing of the various Indo-Pakistani wars compared to the FR date on the rifle.

Secondly...you've certainly come to the right place for wood repair advice, so I'll let one of the real gurus speak to that.

[jmoore]

If you intend on shooting it, then that crack should be dealt with beforehand. Either repair what you have or round up a spare. But even tha spare would likely require fitting, so it may not save you a whole lot of effort.
There's several older threads covering the topic quite well, but I'm in "mobile mode" right now, and doing searches is drama filled...

[Thunderbox]

If you're patient with wood work, then you can easily make a decent repair to that forend - it would be nice to leave the original forend on the rifle.

The forend was converted from Mk1 to Mk2, which is why there is a block of wood surrounding the screw at the rear. Likely that this has shifted, or was never properly finished - hence causing a stress point that split the forend. You should be able to fashion a single block that not only replaces the crumbled on at the rear but that, internally, also provides new recoil faces. If you take the forend off and show us a photo of the inside, we'll be able to see the condition of the existing recoil faces.

This picture is of a repair of the recoil faces only, but in your case you'd use a bigger patch that incorporates the screw support at the back. Fiddly, but with today's strong wood glues you will get a very strong and stable repair.

[tbonesmith]

I think that the solution to stabilizing the horizontal cracking is glue and vertical running dowels or brass thread wire. Ensuring all the surfaces are thoroughly clean...etc and adequate accurate clamping blah blah..
Then the rest of it, do you reglue or institute new rear blocks for the tie screw (don't know the real name)?? I'd have to look at it if it were mine, but I'd probably err with Thunderbox and go again, along with and integral patching of the draws, this could be pegged above and below the crack through the side to further stabilize the crack and integrate it all.
I guess it depends a bit how good you are with wood work.
If you're not up to all that, it could be easier to reglue the original setup and dowel/brass thread wire the crack.

[lauth12]

Thanks everybody! I will take the forend off this evening and post more pictures.

---------- Post added at 06:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:17 AM ----------

Thanks for the info, jrhead!