Lee-Enfield No1 MkIII w/wire wrapped stock

[Peter Laidler]

The last EMER states that the wire or cord binding is to reinforce the rifle.............. And that if cord is used, then it must be painted over in shellac varnish, presumably to protect it.

The P'14 EY rifles were also reinforced at the small of the butt.

I've been giving some thought to another point TBox and even though rodded grenades were mentioned, the same criteria will have applied to the later line throwers. I wouldn't quite agree that a bulge caused by (any) grenade firing was relatively harmless. I'd suggest that it was pretty harmfull because at that point, the barrel has exceeded the matallurgical point of its elasticity and there's only one place it can go after that............ and that's forwards! A bulged barrel was not even acceptable on the most lowly sub-standard or DP rifle or even a No4DP rifle or even a DP Bren barrel. So far as I remember/recall, a bulge was not even permitted on a No2 or 7 rifle (I don't know about the N9 - anyone out there have it in writing?) but three were permitted on the No8 but that was subject to and after an accuracy test from the Enfield rest at Base Workshop

Information

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[Thunderbox]

The last EMER states that the wire or cord binding is to reinforce the rifle.............. And that if cord is used, then it must be painted over in shellac varnish, presumably to protect it.

The P'14 EY rifles were also reinforced at the small of the butt.

I've been giving some thought to another point TBox and even though rodded grenades were mentioned, the same criteria will have applied to the later line throwers. I wouldn't quite agree that a bulge caused by (any) grenade firing was relatively harmless. I'd suggest that it was pretty harmfull because at that point, the barrel has exceeded the matallurgical point of its elasticity and there's only one place it can go after that............ and that's forwards! A bulged barrel was not even acceptable on the most lowly sub-standard or DP rifle or even a No4DP rifle or even a DP Bren barrel. So far as I remember/recall, a bulge was not even permitted on a No2 or 7 rifle (I don't know about the N9 - anyone out there have it in writing?) but three were permitted on the No8 but that was subject to and after an accuracy test from the Enfield rest at Base Workshop

Sure, but I was just paraphrasing the information in the Text Book of Small Arms (1929) p360:

"rodded grenades occasionally produce a ring-bulge in the bore at the seat of the rod.The bulge occurs quite accidentally, it may be the first round or it may not be till a thousand have been fired. The cause appears to be a wave of gas breaking like a sea wave exactly on the face of the end of the rod. Such bulges do very little harm to the grouping power of the rifle. They probably do not improve the size of the group, but from actual ad hoc experiments with a dozen rifles during the war it was impossible to prove that the ring bulge did any positive harm."

Whilst the quote appears to be talking about shooting performance, the section is actually in the section of the ToSA that deals with the strength and longevity of actions and barrels.

[Warren]

British produced Pattern 17 wire wrapped launching rifle....... Unfortunately you cannot see the red "none standard calibre" markings on the front handguard and end of the stock. The rifle is an very early Winchester Pattern 17, but note the reinforcing both on the rear of the stock as well as the barrel.


---------- Post added at 08:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 AM ----------

Also a picture of the cord wrapped No.1. Anyone else have a cord wrapped launching rifle??? I've only seen one or two in private hands, so wondered if any more in the group.