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    Legacy Member newcastle's Avatar
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    Sporterised No.4 keyholing

    I got a sporterised No.4 recently, whilst there is a little frosting in the grooves (it's a 2 groove 1943 Longbranch) the rifling looks pretty sharp and the bore is shiny. However at 50 yards it is putting EVERY bullet sideways through the target. Though the stock was really nicely reshaped and teh forend sanded well and a Parker hale front sight ramp was fitted, the barrel was cut down by bubba - hacksaw marks are still obvious on the end and i"m thinking that this is the cause of the keholing. Is there anything I can do to personally allveiate this problem, I was thinking use of Dremel, getting it recrowned etc etc. Seems a shame to never use such a compact and good looking wee rifle.
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    What ammunition are you using? Always best just to check what happens when you fire a few rounds of military surplus through it as a benchmark. I find most "sideways" rifles will still shoot straight with cordite, and after that its a matter of finding out what they "like" and "don't like".

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    Thunderbox is probably right. You're dealing with a throat erosion issue and probably not muzzle wear. If you're shooting boat tail Mk.8 ammo like PPU, the problem will present itself. It could also be undersize bullets but I wouldn't think that's as prevalent. Mk.7 or other flat base bullets may cure it. If not, the barrel may need replacing.

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    Legacy Member newcastle's Avatar
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    It's S and B ammo 174 grain. not sure whether it's flat or boat tailed.

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    Advisory Panel Brian Dick's Avatar
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    Pull one and see. It might be the problem.

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    if the barrel has been shortened with a a hacksaw you should take it to a gunsmith and get it crowned.

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    S&B 174 grain bullets are boat-tailed and undersize. Mike them for yourself. They usually measure .3105. Crowning is easy assuming the barrel is chopped off square. A brass round-headed bolt and a dab of auto valve grinding compound and electric drill. Five minutes work and save yourself $50 and three month wait. Key holes are not unusual particularly with war-time 2-groove barrels until you find a load your rifle likes. BTW, even the S&B brass is crap--it usually splits or has head seperations after the first reloading. Save your money and buy new unfired cases and an inexpensive reloading kit if you want to shoot your Lee Enfield accurately and cheaply.

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    Legacy Member newcastle's Avatar
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    I'm still using a lot of 4000 S&B that I bought a couple of years back for dirt cheap before I thought of reloading. I anticipate getting one reload out of them and at least saving some money on the next 4000 and that'll be my lot. After this I'm sticking to privi partizan. thanks fo rteh crowning advice - I checke dout you tube and there was a guy demonstrating it exactly as you stated. I'll be giving that a try. Question can crwoning HURT accuracy? i"m thinking of a couple of rifles I have that group acceptably but really should be better given their condition and barrel but the muzzle is beaten a bit.

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    What happens with a bad crown (and this happens a lot when Bubba and his hacksaw are hard at work) is the barrel is cut slightly crooked and not at all perfectly. The bullet comes to the muzzle and exits on a column of hot gas. But the gas itself blasts more off to one side because of the imperfectly-cut muzzle.... and it blows very hard on one side of the base of the bulet, setting it o tumbling.

    A friend had a chopped SMLE with a muzzle which was pitted from poor storage in an unheated building. When the rifle arrived here it was a solid mass of rust and would not make a 6-inch group at 50 yards. Got the rust scraped off and discovered that the muzzle was pitted, dumped some oil on the muzzle and used a ceramic stone, diamond-embedded, chucked into an electric hand-drill.... and re-crowned the rifle by slowly removing metal until the pit which was destabilising things was gone. The stones are worth about $3 for a package of 4 or 5. In Canadaicon we get them from Princess Auto, but you can get them in the USAicon from Buffalo Tools. Made in China, of course. I deepened the factory crown by perhaps .030", that's all, but I deepened it evenly. When I was finished, it looked as if a valve had been lapped properly on the muzzle. I don't know what the rifle will do on paper today, but I do know that it is running minute-of-coyote at 400 yards these days and that he no longer has newborn cattle being eaten alive by those 'pretty wild doggies'.

    Short answer is "Yes". A crown can make a LOT of difference. So can undersized bullets. So can boat-tailed bullets, especially when combined with the previous two. But I have never heard of a rifle shooting better with a BAD crown than with a GOOD one!

    Good luck, friend!
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  12. Thank You to smellie For This Useful Post:


  13. #10
    Legacy Member newcastle's Avatar
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    Gracias - off to the auto store today and home depot for a brass screw pack and some valve paste. report to follow - thank you for all your assistance.

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