Home Made Tooling for your Lee Enfield.

[Steve H. in N.Y.]

Welcome to the forum Bluenoser. It sounds like your setup should work. How thick are the clamping plates-could they be bending? Is maple too soft? I’ve had some success with oak blocks that grip only the straight section of the barrel, not the knox form and I tighten the bolts enough that a fresh set of blocks actually compress almost 1/4". For barrel removal I usually find it necessary to give the receiver wrench handle a whack with a hammer to break it loose. I’ve only done this a few times, hopefully some of the more experienced folks will chime in.

[bigduke6]

Bud light ???

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Workshop Safety:

Only drink "Lite" when using tools.

It reminds me of the time I was working in the Northern Territory;

Our little convoy had "stocked up" at the only pub on the Arnhem Highway before we headed East to "harvest" Water Buffalo for pet meat.

As we were driving along, I saw a hand reach out of the cab of the "Tojo" (Land-Cruiser) in front of ours and remove a white can from the smaller of the two "Eskies" in the rear tray.

A while later, it happened again.

When we eventually stopped, I commented on how "thirsty" the drive seemed.

The response was typical of the NT: "No problem, when we're driving, we only drink "light".

Darwin: the home of the "Darwin Stubby", a two litre glass bottle of "NT draught"; bottles that were once sold six to a steel wire carrier like an oversized milk-bottle carrier. Impressive bottle; average beer. Then again, after your first couple of these "stubbies", the "care-factor", declined spectacularly and in direct, inverse proportion to the desire to dash behind a tree..

Ah, memories of buffalo and barramundi barbecues!

[Bluenoser]

It sounds like your setup should work. How thick are the clamping plates-could they be bending? Is maple too soft? I’ve had some success with oak blocks that grip only the straight section of the barrel, not the knox form and I tighten the bolts enough that a fresh set of blocks actually compress almost 1/4". For barrel removal I usually find it necessary to give the receiver wrench handle a whack with a hammer to break it loose.

Steve,
Thanks for the reply. I like your setup. My clamping plates are 2" thick solid steel. They won't be bending. The blocks are a fairly hard maple - but not as hard as rock or sugar maple. I chose maple over oak because it is less porous and I thought there would be less chance of splitting. That might not have been the best choice. I was under the impression the best place to grip the bbl was at the knoxform, but I could stand to be corrected. I suspect my main problem might be inadequate contact area. With the blocks bearing only on the knoxform, I probably had only about 4 square inches of bearing surface. I did give the handle a whack with my 4 lb maul but, with the bbl slipping, that didn't help.

[Son]

Bluenoser, the lack of surface contact is the big issue. I posted all the details on my barrel vice at the head of this thread, and a couple of posts down the first page, details of the receiver wrench I made. Have a look at it, the clamp set up is 9 inches long, with aussie hardwood blocks routed to the correct form to clamp on the barrel. Spread over a big area gives big friction with the big bolts locked up with a big ratchet! I sometimes have trouble holding a barrel with this set up locked down with a 24" 3/4 drive ratchet, so I would give your set up little hope I'm afraid. On that surface area it would squeeze the blocks out like butter before you would get it tight enough.

[jmoore]

Nuttin' fancy, but probably more work than required:



20+ year old striker tool made from a bit of scrap 180-200kpsi 17-4 bar stock. (Had thought it was in this thread previously, but can't find such a posting.)

[Peter Laidler]

After having breech and unbreeched hundreds of barrels, take it from me, some are just hard work. They just wont budge and when they do, it's with a loud crack and just unscrew so easily and freely that you ask yourself just what was holding them. But the only way is a tight fit at/on the nocks form I say

[Brian Dick]

It's amazing when you take one out. It's almost a hundred years old and the grease/oil in the threads is still wet!

[Rastis]

G'Day,
With jigs comprising of 1" steel plate and 3/4" bolts done up with 2 foot spanners, is there any chance of squashing the barrel, especially if you are clamping at the chamber?

Rastis.

[Peter Laidler]

The question is too vague Rasta! Are the plates shaped to the chamber portion? Is the nocks form area locked down with a locking segment?

I have severe doubts about unbreeching a barrel further forward of the nocks form - as shown in Steves pic 1 above. I am confident that a tight barrel, with a gorilla hanging onto the body wrench could twist the barrel. It is after all, only a low to medium carbon steel tube!

JM/Bruce in Oz...... Comments on No1 rifle barrel steel and torque ability/resistance