Bent barrels

[CINDERS]

I was reading the E B Reynold book on the Lee Enfield and learned some interesting stuff about a 3 groove barrel they trialed but was not adopted.
The first 2 groovers of which initially were fitted to 2 No 1 MkIII's for accuracy tests which showed no loss of it so the 2 groovers were put into production.
They had a barrel that the chamber end had the knox form shrunk onto it, then had 2 pins added to hold it as well but it was found after a while the overlaying piece worked loose.
But what was really interesting they had 2 No.4's they bent the barrels on leaving the last 6" straight and tested them over a period of 2 months with no noticeable loss of accuracy from either rifle. They certainly did some different stuff.

Information

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[Roger Payne]

I think the pinned knox variant would have become the Mk3 barrel, had it gone into volume production.

[browningautorifle]

they had 2 No.4's they bent the barrels on leaving the last 6" straight

That's the story, and it makes sense. However...I had a Puma '92 that had a ring in the barrel at the lower band...and it wouldn't shoot better than 13" after the ring occured. Before, it would shoot an inch. That was at 25 yds...and it had a straight barrel, and 12" in front of the ring. So, I'm not sure about a barrel not being perfect and still shooting as well as a perfect one. I'd not leave one bent or imperfect.

[Peter Laidler]

The pinned and fabricated barrel did go into production albeit for a limited period. Another Accles and Pollock rolling method designed by non other that Reginald Shepherd . The S of Sten gun. But was declared obsolete in January '54. Before my time, due to the shortage of skilled barrel viewers as Armourers, there was a GAUGE, testing, straightness of bore .302" (or was it .303"?) dia, 6". These were used for many years BUT the problem was that while the last 6" was straight, it must have been bent somewhere in the first place. So it was all down to exactly WHERE the last 6" was directed. It can still be accurate but not within the bounds of ability to be zeroed - if that makes sense! Common sense prevailed and the old pre-war standards took over again. .301" must run freely and all that