How far to restore

[Ridolpho]

Is it worth the time and money to replace the rear sight with the more traditional flip up rear sight

As far as replacing the rear sight goes, hang onto the Williams sight as you may find you don't like the original military aperture sight for the type of shooting you do. With an aperture of 0.100inch (or 0.175" on many battle-sights) they're no target sight plus there's no windage. Frankly, I find myself shooting easily as good with the SMLE blade sight as the No. 4 aperture sight.

Ridolpho

[donaldrstewart]

I finally took the plunge and made up my mind. The front sight guard arrived today. Two minutes and it was in place. I got the rear aperture sight about a week ago.... but I forgot to order the plunger and spring to hold it up. A real d'uh moment. Now even with the cut down stock, I think it has a real 'This thing means business' look.

[mike16]

check to see that those rear sight screw hole have not been drilled so deep they comprimise the structurl strength of the barrel. I have seen holes drilled completely through one side of the barrel and left divets drilled into the rifling across from the holes. Funny thing is how many times the rifle changed hands over a short period of time and yet nobody knew that there was anything wrong with the rifle.

On the other hand, there are several mnufacurers out there making good barrels. The question then becomes is that particular rifle worth the cost of restoration? there are many that are not only correct but origonal and in excellent shape. cheaper than the cost of a new barrel.

[Sentryduty]

check to see that those rear sight screw hole have not been drilled so deep they comprimise the structurl strength of the barrel. I have seen holes drilled completely through one side of the barrel and left divets drilled into the rifling across from the holes. Funny thing is how many times the rifle changed hands over a short period of time and yet nobody knew that there was anything wrong with the rifle.

This may not be quite the issue it seems on the surface, gas operated rifles all have holes drilled along various parts of the barrel, and some have divots from over drilling as well, it doesn't seem to heavily degrade accuracy in all circumstances. Now it would be important to ensure there is a gas seal for an unintentional port like a sight base and the pressure would be dictated upon location of the hole or "gas tap". While a hole through the barrel may be undesirable, it doesn't necessarily mean a barrel is suddenly ready to burst.

Proper inspection and profession assessment would be the order of the day if a hole was found to enter the bore.

[browningautorifle]

if a hole was found to enter the bore.

Means nothing. I had a 700 Remington that came from the factory with a front sight hole drilled right through. If it bothers you then put a sight screw all the way down, still out of the bore, and wire weld it in place. It means nothing.

[Sentryduty]

Means nothing. I had a 700 Remington that came from the factory with a front sight hole drilled right through. If it bothers you then put a sight screw all the way down, still out of the bore, and wire weld it in place. It means nothing.

Agreed, I always try to provide my potentially dangerous advice with a caution of due diligence on the part of the the individual. I would not be very pleased if someone were to take my statement about holes in barrels and start trying to restore DP Lee Enfields by tapping in some hardware store NPT plumbing plugs and heading to the range.

[Peter Laidler]

My friend and I (another Armourer incidentally), machined a 7.62mm L4A4 barrel down to No5 spec for his shot-out No5. The gas port came out just to the rear of the handguard as I recall so we sleeved it by heat shrinking the thin steel sleeve in place - and hoped! He's still got it, shoots like a dream, kicks like a donkey and the gas hole is presumably full of copper and carbon now. But it's pretty well invisible after all these years.

But I don't think I'd trust a rifle calibre barrel with an accidentally drilled hole in the first 3rd or so of the barrel length. Toooooo dodgy!

[mike16]

maybe I'm a control freek but unless the hole has a purpose.....

granted that mistake or not, if it does not affect the safety or functionality of the gun then maybe there's nothing to worry about....maybe.

"what if" senario's abound.

a friend had a 700 barrel with the holes drilled through, Each time a bullet passed the holes a bit of bullet peeled off and got stuck up in the hole. at some point it all fell back down into the bore and got smeared down the rifleing when the next bullet passed over the shavings. from that point on every shot was a flyer. Cleaning the bore removed some if not all the shavings. but the barrel never shot as well plus the uncertainty that not if but when it happened again results could be just as bad or even , safety wise, worse. and pealing off a bit of each bullet cant help accuracy either.

He paid for a new barrel and the smith installed it for free.

and as others have stated, there may be no ill effect. but sometimes those kinds of sights can create nodle points and change the harmonics of a barrel. it can affect the accuracy of the barrel.

If its not intentional or has no possitive effect then I dont do it. I like to control the outcome of events. or eliminate the variable. its like a tire with a slow leak. plus... its just sloppy work. I'd be pretty T'ed off if it was done to my barrel. I sure would want to know about it anyway.

replacing a barrel would cost as much as the rifles worth, maybe more

[bigduke6]

maybe I'm a control freek but unless the hole has a purpose.....

No your not, just using common sense, there is no reason what so ever a Bolt action rifle should have a hole drilled right through the barrel......... I,ve ditched barrels that have blind holes as some were so deep and others too close to the chamber for my liking........ even the body/ action if I've any doubts I'll reduce the calibre to .22 or scrap it.

[Peter Laidler]

I agree with you entirely Big Duke. But what do you say to thread 17 where we slimmed down a brand new L4 barrel, sleeved the gas port hole and are still using it as a 7.62mm No5. Given that we had the facilities to use it on the Enfield layer/remote firing for the first 10 rounds. Didn't re-proof it of course. I worked on the practical side that it started its life with a sleeved over gas port and although it's slimmed down, the gas port is STILL sleeved over but un-vented this time.