No5 Jungle Carbine

[Seaspriter]

if your No5 has a thin steel plate between the butt pad and the butt, then get rid of it if it hasn't already rusted out/ These steel plates were a pain in the ar....., bottom, as being totally enclosed, they'd start to rust out and the wet steel corrosion would run downwards into the butt plate cup and destroy the long two-part retaining screw/nut

Capt. Laidler: Thanks for your advice on this. (.....this water-collection cup problem is also inherent in my M-1 carbine.) Last week you also warned:
As someone who's learned 'in theatre' the importance of grease between the wood and steel and the effects of not having it does, I look on eyes agog when people spend ages getting rid of it. It's there for a good reason. Not just a GOOD reason but a xxxxxxg good reason I say!"

The Enfield Armour's Manual from 1931 called for a mixture of "mineral jelly and beeswax" to be applied to the wood/metal interface.

I think the reason why is explained here (from the M-1 Garand/Carbine Civilian Marksmanship website -- Wood Cleaning Article | Civilian Marksmanship Program):

"The almost black color along the metalwood lines of firearms would indicate....... over time, gun oil dissolves the resins in wood and makes it mushy. For example, the compression effect of Garand receivers/trigger guards crushing the wood is in part caused by oil damage to the wood." To this I will add that iron, when it rusts, leaves ugly black marks on wood.

I checked British versus American English definitions of "mineral jelly:"
Noun 1. mineral jelly - a semisolid mixture of hydrocarbons obtained from petroleum; used in medicinal ointments and for lubrication petrolatum, petroleum jelly; Vaseline - a trademarked brand of petroleum jelly.

Based on the Enfield & Garand instructions, I bought a block of beeswax at Michael's (in the candle making section). Pure beeswax at room temperature is very hard and solid, like candle wax.

Melted 50/50 Beeswax with Vaseline (petroleum jelly) in an old shoe polish can. Put a small piece of red candle in the mix to give it a slightly reddish color so it is bit more visible. Once cooled, it is the consistency of stiff shoe polish, somewhat like putty -- pliable but not gooey. (I'm definitely not sure, but this may be the predecessor of the mysterious XG 297 grease). This beeswax/mineral jelly combination repels both water and oil while preserving the wood.

Then I took apart a newly acquired No.1 MkIII Lithgow Enfield and cleaned every area where metal came in contact with wood, especially where gun oil was deteriorating the wood, as Capt. Laidler recommended. After scraping out as much gunk as possible with a screwdriver blade -- there was a lot of crud, grease, oil, dirt, grit, etc. -- I used turpentine with a brush to clean out the remainder of the gunk on the forend; especially in the area under the receiver and around the magazine. Dried it all out and applied the beeswax/mineral jelly mix it to every wood area that had been exposed to gun oil and wherever wood/metal contact. Used the flat side of a screwdriver like a spatula to get in small areas.

I'm taking apart all my guns and applying the mineral jelly/beeswax concoction to every metal/wood interface. I'm confident this will solve the vexing problem of steel screws in butt plates and sling swivels mounts that have rusted in place over the years and are extremely hard to remove without buggering the heads.

Always looking for more good advice .... always learning, Robert