No.1 Mk.III inner band.

[5thBatt]

I have a date in the Lee Enfield by Major E.G.B Reynolds - The Short Short Magazine Lee Enfield Mk I was accepted on the 23rd December 1902 (Page 84) as a weapon for both infantry and cavalry and the general particulars are as follows yada yada then on page 87;
"Inner Band - An inner band which encircled the barrel at the center with a clearance of .002 in, was fitted inside the stock fore end. It was held in position by a screw, spiral spring and a washer so that it was supported without being held rigidly. This allowed any possible expansion of the barrel."

Took a while to two finger type but there you go just info to share as the story goes on with the weapons we admire.

Cinders, the last couple of posts & the LoC mentioned are to do with the centering stud & spring that are at the nosecap end of the forend & not about the inner band.

[musketjon]

So I guess the bottom line is to snug it up, not with a 6 foot cheater-bar, but don't limp-wrist it, correct??
Jon

[CINDERS]

Well at least it is some info people may not know -

[Bruce_in_Oz]

I do not own a Mk1 SMLE, but I vaguely recall that the Inner Band was in a different location along the barrel on the earlier models.

I guess there was some incremental fine tuning as the ammunition developed in parallel with the rifle.

[Son]

I do not own a Mk1 SMLE, but I vaguely recall that the Inner Band was in a different location along the barrel on the earlier models.

I guess there was some incremental fine tuning as the ammunition developed in parallel with the rifle.

There's the proof in the pudding... The Mk1 family of rifles had the inner band directly inside the outer band. This caused problems with the front handguard being very thin at that point and broke very easily. The fix was to move the inner band 1" rearward for the MkIII in 1907. Here's a pic of the two foreends to demonstrate. To the best of my understanding and research, it had nothing to do with harmonics or ammunition, just fixing the weakness inherent to the original design. Happy to see any docs you might have, Bruce. I have stood corrected a few times by your resources

Attachment 56382

Just to add for collectors and restorers... The inner band is actually tapered the same as the barrel. (slip one on a barrel, mark where it goes to and turn it around and mark it again. There will be 1/2 an inch or so between) An inner band for a Mk1 isn't marked as such, but an inner band for a MkIII has "III" on the surface it locks on. It is also marginally bigger than the MkI for fit on the barrel. If you were restoring a MkI you can use a MkIII inner band. If it has too much clearance for you, just turn it around so it isn't as loose (but will still clear)

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Not only is the inner band on Mklll and lll* rifles tapered, the hole is not actually round.

There are two little "flat" section in the upper half. These are aligned at 60 degrees to the horizontal. Good filing exercise for the apprentices!

I guess that this provided some sort of guided, centralising bearing, of a similar nature to the little extra window cut above the muzzle exit on the nose-cap.

On the road again: When I get home tomorrow I will see if I can kick the scanner into life and post the actual drawing.

Must also have a closer look at the small box of inner bands again!

[Ridolpho]

There are two little "flat" section in the upper half. These are aligned at 60 degrees to the horizontal

Bruce in OZ: I had noticed that in my spares and you'll often see the wear marks on the barrel from where the barrel rests on these flats. I have one MkIII (1916) made by Enfield from a former MkI that shows wear marks about one inch apart due to the relocation of the inner band in the new model. The little flats certainly seem a good way to positively relocate the barrel after each shot and I've extrapolated this to the front bearing on a couple of No. 4's that were not grouping well. While they had good up-pressure, the barrel channel was of a larger radius than the barrel and didn't positively relocate it after each shot. I scraped a smaller radius groove at the bottom of the channel (inverted analogue of these inner bands) and now the barrel is very positively located. In one case the grouping clearly improved.

Ridolpho

[Peter Laidler]

The two little internal ribs go to support the notion that it is a vibration damper.and a physical means of re-centralising the barrel after it has moved. Although 'moved' is a bit of a misnomer I suppose. Should that read '...finished vibrating'. I have to confess that I didn't realise that the inner band was internally tapered. We only got them assembled to new barrels and the last new Ordnance issue barrels I ever saw were in the 60's.

There were several simple student experiments that could be used to illustrate the vibration characteristics of rifle barrels, especially light ones like the No1. The first one was the fact that you could use one as a post horn (a musical instrument......)

Interesting thread

[browningautorifle]

you could use one as a post horn

I'd heard about that, but only accomplished it myself with a .50 barrel.

[5thBatt]

The first time i ever saw a full wood Lee-Enfield (a No4) was at the home of a Bandsman from the Band of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst & he stuck a mouthpiece in the muzzle & played a tune.

Me & my sister circa 1972 at Sandhurst.