L39 & L42 Barrels - An open offer to forum members

[Peter Laidler]

You could ask, but don't hold your breath. The drawings remain the property of BAe and the NFC at Leeds are now a large money making concern following several years of being a money losing concern. I don't want to put you off but just make sure you have deep pockets.

Bearing in mind that I'm not a Draughtsman but just a mechanical engineer who's had to read many, then looking at this project from the cheap and the simple engineering side, the base for this is a simple tube, slightly tapered from one end to the other and should be simple to put into drawn form. The knocks form/breech end/extractor way is identical to the No4 and likewise, should be a simple back engineering/drawing job to calculate and index against the breeching up thread. The rifling is a known - depending upon which form you specify.

The only real info required is the depth of the shoulder in the chamber from which the CHS is measured in relation to the breech end in relation to the breeching up surface. That should be easy to calculate mathematically knowing a) where the breeching up surface is - at the end of the knocks form and b) that the max CHS measurement is 1.635 plus .001" (that way you get a 0 bolthead.....). The end of the CHS gauge to the breeching up surface deduct the 1.635 and that's the depth of the shoulder!

Yep............... I think you could do without the original drawings because you aren't going to replicate the hammer forged finish in any case.

Those are just my thoughts while idling my time stuck in a traffic jam in Devizes