Buttstock replacement on a 1950 Long Branch

[JerryEAL]

Get the L and fit it. I started with a NOS butt stock. Tap it into the wrist and see where it needs sanding or filing. Proceed with caution. Some days it seems like rocket science, but really there are so many variables with Lee Enfield. This is where the obsession begins. No one answer to one question!
Keep the brass or steel butt plate.
I altered my 870 Wingmaster to boiled linseed oil and to take a No4 brass butt plate last fall. I shot a few slugs from it and was amazed at the pain level. Its back to original condition again!

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[WarPig1976]

I altered my 870 to boiled linseed oil and to take a No4 brass butt plate last fall.(OBSESSION/STUPID) I shot a few slugs from it

I'm understanding this right, you put a No4 butt plate on a shotgun?.... Why?

[JerryEAL]

I bought the 870 Wingmaster that had a heavily varnished finish with many scratches and dings. I stripped the finish and it had walnut stocks. Oiled them and it looks just like an Enfield stock. The No4 brass buttplate was extremely close in size and screw location. It was an experiment only. It did "look very nice" as brass and walnut do together, but as I admitted not very practical or enjoyable to shoot.

[RobD]

Jerry, fitting the butt is v easy. You need a rubber mallet to tap the butt in, and a file with fine teeth or a bit of medium sandpaper to relieve the wood. To see where metal is pressing, it helps to dust the butt with talcum from time to time. On the No. 4 the metal of the butt socket should not come into tight contact with the wood - there should be a gap about the thickness of one or two playing cards all the way round.

[RobD]

Jerry - I am not an expert, but as I understand it: the No4 butt socket is tapered internally, so the wood of the butt should be tapered to match.
Unlike earlier rifles like the Martini Henry or Lee Metford, where the vertical face of the wrist fits snug against the internal flat face of the butt socket [and in which this face takes the shock of recoil] in the No4 it is the tapered sides which receive the recoil. Now, if your long butt is un-used, even if it is old and dry, the wood fibres have yet to compress with use.
When I fitted a new No4 butt, I was advised [by an expert forummer] to initially leave a big gap [2-3 mm] between rim of metal butt socket and wooden lip of butt. I did this, and at first it looked odd. Then, as I used the rifle, over time I found I could gradually tighten the stock bolt and take up the gap, eventually leaving a fine gap all the way round. If you don't leave this fine gap, then action of the recoil and/or stock bolt tightening can chip pieces of wood off the rim. If you find you have over-done the taper and the gap is zero, then I guess you could put some spacers between the vertical face of the wrist and the butt socket... I have done this on Martini Henrys, I use playing cards - uncompressible and of uniform thickness.