Advise on getting a worn MLE Mk 1 to shoot.

[Richard Hare]

Morning Gents,

I have a BSA MLE Mk 1,(1896) looks very nice with a worn out barrel.
Re-barreling a Long Lee isn't as easy as the later models (barrels not readily available)

It sort of Wants to shoot, but the throat is washed out, and the bore rough, but smoothing up with shooting.

Will put 2 rounds very close together at 100 yards, then next a few inches away or off paper.
Best 3-shot group was under an inch, (215 gr Imperial) but two of them were keyholing.
Next 2 rounds missed paper altogether!

Would cast help? It seems the throat could take a .314 -.316" bullet.
If so, I see some bullets offered with plain bases, not made for gas checks. Would these work?
I read that depending on alloy, a plain base bullet can be pushed (with the right lube) a lot faster than I am looking for, as I only want to shoot a 200-215 gr at maybe 1900 -2,000 ft /second.

In new water re. cast and smokeless.....
Rifling in the throat looks more Metford, half gone.

Would like to get this to shoot, and any help most appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Richard.

Information

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[Frederick303]

Check the crown. If it has cord wear or is pitted, rounded, etc you might fine by re-crowning it that it will shoot. I have seen that.

For a worn throat....I dare not say it....... Check out the thread on RX for frosted throat and make up your own mind.

I will say that in some of the worn rifle I have that bullets will long bearing surfaces, flat bases with the biggest bullet I can find (had some old .3135 bullets form argentine pulls) that all helps.

lastly a cordite load seems to help. I have an old 1918 SSA with a bore so worn it will not shoot anything well, you can push a .307 bullet thorough it...but if you shoot it with cordite MK VII, it will shot for a bit with reasonable accuracy until it heats up when it goes back to key holing bullets. Soot a .3135 bullet and it will group again with nitro powders...for a bit.

That said a few of my Lee Medfords are simply shot out, nothing I can do will make then shoot well with jacketed bullets.

[Richard Hare]

Thank you Frederick,

I should have said I did the crown first, as someone had lopped a bout 3/8" off the end of the barrel and left it rough with saw-cuts showing. (!)

This barrel sounds like some of yours....
I do have quite a few Mk 7 cordite, so can try those. Thanks for the idea.

Richard.

[RobD]

A word of caution: I have generally found that a worn out barrel disappoints me whatever I try...
If you decide to proceed with cast bullets, to help you decide what bullet suits your barrel there's a whole complicated process involving slugging your bore and chamber etc. I recommend you should get an expert to help you with this.
For example, if your chamber will accept a case loaded with a bullet with .314 driving bands, you might try this mould Accurate Molds: Custom Bullet Molds
But there are many alternatives...

[Frederick303]

One thing I have noticed is if the throat as asymmetrical wear on the lands, the bore is generally shot no matter what I do.

[Richard Hare]

Rob & Frederick,

Yes, I'm well aware that I may be chasing a dream, trying to get it to shoot! It's a challenge that I accept as such and no cigar may be in order.
That it will on occasion put 2 out of 2 bullets within less than an inch has me thinking it Wants to shoot. (Just over 1/2" sometimes!)......sort of "near and yet so far"!

A pal has offered to send me some .314" to try. (cast) and loading data as well, so will give it a go and see how we come on.
I'll definitely keep you posted, and thank you both for your replies, and thank you Rob for the link!

All the best,
Richard.

[RobD]

Richard,
One more thing - I noticed on re-reading your original post, that the bore is "rough", which I imagine = pitting ( = corrosion in the past).
Pitting tends to cause problems if shooting non-jacketed soft metal bullets.
Here's a rough analogy: Imagine you were using a file to file a piece of lead metal: the file teeth would become clogged and the file would become "leaded". Quite soon the file would would be useless. So most of us only make this mistake once. Same applies to a grind-stone: never grind lead. But if you file or grind harder metals like copper, steel, etc. the metal dust falls away and the file or grind-stone does not clog. Same sort of thing occurs with a pitted bore and lead bullets, I fear: leading of the bore occurs, your accuracy falls off quickly, and you will spend a long time mining lead from the barrel to unclog it.
Rob

[englishman_ca]

i have a tractor with a bald tires that I can see the belts, It still has some tread at the edges and it wants to grip. I might try it on pavenment.

Sorry Richard, I'm just being facetious, but sometime one has to resolve that something is simply worn out. (blank fire only).

But you do have a few options. Much depends on if you want a shooter or a museum display piece. You could do both.

Finding a replacement barrel will be a challenge, however, I just picked up two badly sportered rifles with decent full length barrels. They have some good internal parts but the rest is destined for the junk drawer for my Frankenfield experimentation (sorry, barrels are already used on projects).

Somebody told me that a Vickers mg barrel is long enough to be turned down and converted into a 30 inch MLE barrel. But that is like making a silk purse from a silk shirt.

Another option might be to turn it into a .22 rim fire trainer with a barrel liner.

Or, there is a technique where the barrel is cut off at the reinforce and the resulting stub bored out to accept a threaded barrel blank. The serial numbers and markings could be retained for authenticity.

It is always fun to work on a challenge, but personally, I have restored enough long Lees to think that unless something has a decent bore, the resulting finished project will not be worth the time and effort (restored tractor with bald tires).

[Richard Hare]

Thanks both Rob and Englishman!

I know about filing lead and what happens to the file. :-)
Englishman, Points all well taken. I still have to try though, and maybe get laughed at in the process!
An important point as well, is not having to mortgage the farm for the sake of this. I know of another 'sportered' Long Lee with an excellent barrel, and it would be less expensive to purchase this than sleeve this old barrel...or to get a barrel made!
Will keep you posted on this folly. :-)

[RobD]

Richard, that's an idea.

Call me sceptical, but I suggest you try it on the range, (or see a target that the sporterised long Lee has shot), before buying. Reason is, in my experience, it's unusual to find a long Lee that can group with boat-tailed 174 grain ammo. Hand-swaged 215 grain jacketed bullets cost about 80c each. So, although there are a lot of long Lees still around, somehow we don't see them at the range. My 3 stay in my gunsafe most of the time for these reasons, gleaming bores and all...

Rob