No4 fore end fitting

[Peter Laidler]

I was thinking about your suggestion regarding patching the front trigger guard area Muffer and have some reservations I fear. Sorry to sound contrary.........., but....... The whole of the rotational forces are centred about that point (this might not be 100% correct as I'm thinking on my feet here.....) and any patch would either be right through the area from the underside of the front of the trigger guard through to the underside of the body or PARTIALLY through the area. In the first instance, the patch would only be supported by the edges of the patch, glued to the existing fore-end and subject to shear forces on the wood glue that would try to pull the patch clear. IT couldn't be pulled clear of course but just not good practice I fear. If you just patched the area half way depth, then the original supporting wood is still only have strength!

Thinking about this I spoke to Robbie Robertson the old long retired Base workshop foreman who's been fixing Enfields since he was an apprentice in the late 30's. HJe could see my point but cannot ever remember patching a crushed that part of a fore-end. If that important part of the fore-end is gone, then that's it.

He DID remind me of course, and I'd forgotten about it, was that the production L42's were sort-of reinforced there by having the slot for the front trigger guard plate fitted. Maybe that's the answer to Aussie Daves problem such that it is.

And the good news is that I'm having dinner with Robbie and a few of the other oldies next week now! They always laugh when I tell 'em how collectable these old rifles are now.