To bed or not to bed a Lee Enfield No.1 Mk 3

[British Mandarin]

I would be very pleased if you guys here could offer me some advice. I am rather young and I'll be honest in saying I don't even have a Lee Enfield in my hands just quite yet. However, I want to learn and read as much as possible before thinking about messing around (or getting someone to mess around for me) with one of these historic rifles. The Lee Enfield has a special place in my heart as the rifle my countrymen and the rest of the British Empire fought with. As you know, people who stood behind this rifle were of every nationality and race, fighting for the same King and Empire, so this rifle means a lot to me and you can be sure I would like to take care of it and make it the best it could be.

With the No.1 Mk 3, I want to make the rifle as accurate as 1-2 MOA but at the same time I don't want to possibly damage the rifle and wreck its originality by bedding it with something like epoxy. I was thinking about using cork but as I've read so far from Peter Laidler, that isn't exactly going to do the job very well since cork could shrink over time and the with all the results of the testing done with different methods of bedding, it isn't the one to provide the most accurate results.

In short I don't really want anything big done on the rifle that will be permanent and irreversible but I want to make the rifle accurate enough for competition. Is there anyway to go about doing that?

I am terribly sorry if my questions seem a bit daft or jumbled up! Like I said I am a bit young and still trying to learn. Thank you in advance.

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