SMLE No1 MkV Restoration (Part's 1 thru 7)

[bigduke6]

a very nice peice of work and will be a very nice rifle when youve finished by the looks of it.
Just a few questions on it though?, how did you go with the clips off the old rear hand gaurd to hold it onto the barrel, did you transplant them across or not worry. If you didnt worry with the clip it makes the new rear gaurd appear to sit up a bit high. Or the no4 timber would that have been long enough to chop it so most of the splice was hidden under the front band?. Either way youve done a nice peice of carpentry that would make many a stock maker jealous.
food for thought
Regards
Fergs.
PS. oops my bad saw in later pics you had put the clip in.
Keep up the good work am waiting with envy for the final installment.

Thanks Fergs,

Regarding the clip and handgaurd, the pic you seen was without the clip it was just to see what all the wood looked like together, didnt want it looking like a patch work blanket (its not far off), in fact that gap is caused by the fore-end being warped, (thats why i chose it for this project, no good for much else, plus was a pain to bed the action and barrel)

The hangaurd (No4) wasnt long enough, so this was the reason for the join, more of an experiment and to test my skills for another project, the original had seperate hand gaurds, but I wanted to keep this one together just to see how accurate I could get it, again its regarding my next project.

its not that far off completion, but wanted to do a range test and post this on the final thread, also the rear sight to complete but will soon have an original one to copy.

Problem I face at present is getting free time in the workshop , plus once I,m in there the cold soon starts to bite, after more than 20 yrs working in a Hot Engine room, I start to feel the cold a lot more than than I used to.

[Beagleboy]

An excellent read.

[bigduke6]

As its coming to an end, just the sight to finish which is coming along slowly, also put some pics of its older brother which I imported earlier this year, few things to point out and also my theory behind a Number of No1 Mk V,s missing there rear sight.

The last remaining jobs were to assemble everything for a final fit and to fit the barrel clip, and fore sight block, unfortunately some of the pics were lost but thought I,d post the ones I took when I was taking some shots of its brother and hopefully will have a range report on Monday.

Still loking for a nice No 1 Butt, to replace the temp No4 one, also to range test it will use my BSA sight that is on my .22, the main thing was the overall cost, as it was more a budget rebuild than restoration, but all the bits used are original Enfield parts, hopefully one the correct bits will come along, but in the mean time, is a usable shooter.







Below the No1 Mk V that I bought on Gunbroker early this year and imported via Brian Dick, it still requires the forward barrel band, I did have one that was purchased when I was looking for one for the original project but arrived many many months late, but is way too small, I tried the one on the rebuild but this was too big, decided to make one in the end, still at the beginning with this, as I,m concentrating on the sight for the first project.

Requires a few more coats of BLO, but cleaned up well with all the old varnish etc removed, also the black paint removed from the mag. The plan was to do the bare minimum with this, The forward hangaurd was a broken one from a SMLE No1 Mk111 but was a good match regarding the colour etc.






The sight after straightening, on the second pic shows the retaining pins and I would guess thats the reason for a lot of No1 Mk V,s being sightless due to these having to be removed before the locating pins can be removed to remove sight, (I straightened in situ, as knocking out small pins is not my cup of tea, too many years working with big spanners and hammers, and I,m no watchmaker) again I didnt need to remove it as a made a jig to straighten it when in position (bit Heath Robinson) but did the job, if was a lot worse then I would of removed it.






For some it may it may of sounded a mad idea to import it from the USA, but as can be seen below, next to its younger member of the family well worth it.

[bigduke6]

Was just waiting for a quiet time at my local club and my mate was shooting a postal comp so was opening up so went down to give it a test run.

The rear sight I borrowed off my SMLE Sht .22 IV, rifle preformed OK and a few tweeks on the sight brought the rounds on target, test ammo was Privi but will knock up some home loads and give it another run also need a bit more work on the bedding etc, but more than pleased with the initial results.





Am in the process of fabricating a rear sight as per original and will make another aperture with wind adjuster, but both will use the same ladder.

After another test with a few tweeks it produced this,

[Kfedick]

Nice project!