Bedding the "H" Barrel SMLE

[Son]

I spent the first 6 months of my apprenticeship just just hacksawing & filing, we then progressed on to using the old elliot shaping machines, then lathes & mills etc. 30 years later these skills come in handy for making parts & repairing these old guns. Once you learnt how to file correctly you never forget!!!

AMEN- had to teach an OJT kid how to spring a file to get a flat surface last week- and he's all but done, coming through our military system!

I served my time in a coal mine. We had two old lathes and a shaping machine, two large drill presses. Probably how I learned to not let lack of equipment stop you from doing anything, it just slows you down. I made a fly cutter for one drill press, with a locking tab to secure it in the Morse taper. After doing a couple of milling jobs with it, I convinced the Engineer we needed a milling machine- he bought a manual cross feed vise!

I even made a pneumatic powered portable line borer from scratch with a motor and reduction boxes off roof bolting drills. Saved the company $hit loads on man-and-machine hire to do jobs on site.

These days you cannot make anything, you cannot use anything that isn't commercially made, and no-one is willing to jump through the many hoops that OH&S has put up that stop us from using our trade to the fullest potential. I feel that the "thinking trade" of fitter machinist is destined to become a "read the book and follow the bouncing ball" type job taught in two weeks and concerns one type of operation on one type of machine per person... sweat shop style.

Sad.

rant mode off...