Mike 16,

I know I am not your favorite commenter, but I would point out a number of these sources are available for free here. They are by no means obsolete.


Reynolds book, lots of technical details on service bedding, accuracy, compensation, etc

https://www.milsurps.com/content.php...-Reynolds-1960

1965 DCRA bedding notes, lots of info on setting up center-bedded rifles for 303 and 7.62

https://www.milsurps.com/content.php....4-Rifle)-1965

How to redo the draws, one of the common things folks need to repair:

https://www.milsurps.com/content.php...-Peter-Laidler)

On the target sights:

https://www.milsurps.com/content.php...stment-and-Use


Excellent training manual for shooting the No4 prone:

https://www.milsurps.com/content.php...Enfield-Rifle-)


Thread with a lot of notes of regulated No 1 rifles

https://www.milsurps.com/content.php...ed.-(By-RJW-NZ)


1945 Armourer notes, lots of neat items here:

https://www.milsurps.com/content.php...-Peter-Laidler)



Now there might be more than the above relevant to to that arm which is the envy of the western democracies (the Lee Enfield Rifleicon)


The point is, the modern sources while good for general rifles do not have a lot of the relevant information required for specific work on the Lee Enfield. Certainly they lack much of the 60 odd years of gunsmith/armourer techniques to make these rifles shoot well. For example if one was interested in trying to shoot No 1 or No 4 at long range (800 to 1000 yards), the information on compensation is only to be found in these old sources (including precautions one must take when it rains).

To relearn what these old sources knew would take a lot of time, which can be shortened by simply reading them, which in turn keeps this arcane knowledge alive for another generation. Much like Ned Roberts did with muzzle loaders in the 1920s.

Just something to ponder.