Samething a bit different.

[BurtonP]

I'm curious how it will perform at the range - whether the stock immediately splits! The former owner neglected the draws, presumably expecting the butt to take the recoil. I'm not so confident, so will be building it up so that it has support at the draws and the stock. Any advice would be appreciated on this subject. Does anyone know how the originals were bedded?

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[butlersrangers]

'BurtonP' - I imagine your project's stock will be prone to split and chip like that of an original 'smokeless-powder' Remington-Lee.

("Original Sin" - Photo of a damaged Remington-Lee stock, model 1899 in caliber .30-40, is attached. The 'two-piece' Lee-Enfield stock overcame this weakness of the Lee design).

A remedy might be a 'lug' added to the bottom of the barrel, that abuts a Mauser style stock cross-bolt, located just in front of the action.

Epoxy and a 'hidden' cross-bolt might strengthen your stock, where the rear of the altered receiver contacts wood, in front of the stock-wrist? How is the rear of your action now 'anchored' in the one piece stock?

[BurtonP]

'BurtonP' - I imagine your project's stock will be prone to split and chip like that of an original 'smokeless-powder' Remington-Lee.

("Original Sin" - Photo of a damaged Remington-Lee stock, model 1899 in caliber .30-40, is attached. The 'two-piece' Lee-Enfield stock overcame this weakness of the Lee design).

A remedy might be a 'lug' added to the bottom of the barrel, that abuts a Mauser style stock cross-bolt, located just in front of the action.

Epoxy and a 'hidden' cross-bolt might strengthen your stock, where the rear of the altered receiver contacts wood, in front of the stock-wrist? How is the rear of your action now 'anchored' in the one piece stock?

Hi butlersrangers,
Thanks for your reply. At present the action is anchored in the normal Lee Enfield way, with the wood wedged between receiver and the trigger guard. I intend to put in a cross bolt like the experimental versions which will interact somehow with the remains of the "wrist" where the butt screws in. As I mentioned earlier, I also plan to restore the draws with epoxy for added support. What it doesn't have is a vertical bolt at the rear of the trigger guard, which I believe was a feature of the experimental versions. Also, comparing my stock to pics of an original, I was constrained somewhat by the design of the stock I inherited. It ended up considerably chunkier in the potentially weak wrist, which should help.

[BurtonP]

For those of you interested in what happened to the SMLE in the first pic - it's a work in progress, but here is the 1917 BSA&Co that I completed with parts from a poor condition 1916 BSA&Co rifle. Now, do I order a repro top handguard or carve one myself?


Attachment 110592Attachment 110593Attachment 110594Attachment 110595Attachment 110596

[browningautorifle]

Now, do I order a repro top handguard or carve one myself?

I would save the misery and just order one. Should show up with the spring and rivets...

[BurtonP]

I would save the misery and just order one. Should show up with the spring and rivets...

One person's misery is another's hobby. I quite like the challenge. I have the metalwork already.

[browningautorifle]

One person's misery is another's hobby.

Did you already show us one you had made from scratch?

[Surpmil]

I'm curious how it will perform at the range - whether the stock immediately splits! The former owner neglected the draws, presumably expecting the butt to take the recoil. I'm not so confident, so will be building it up so that it has support at the draws and the stock. Any advice would be appreciated on this subject. Does anyone know how the originals were bedded?

The cure for the one-piece stock was to make it out of laminated "plywood" as Long Branch experimented with later.

Perhaps the lightweight rifle project had been dropped by the time the laminated stocks were being experimented with.