Accuracy

[Havenot]

Not sure about Lithgow No.I rifles however when I got my SSA No.I it's accuracy wasn't quite what I thought it should be....close but rather random groups. My jungle carbine was better and so was my No.4 Mk.I rifle.

I investigated the deal a bit and found that all the parts were there except the spring for the screw that holds the mid barrel band...it was gone. I found a similar looking coil spring and cut it to length and tightened it down. Then it shot just as accurate as the others or better....and this with damaged draws(which I fixed later)

There are a lot of parts screws and springs involved in the No.I Mk.III* forearm/barrel fit. I noted the old SSA still appears to wear it's original forearm(worn walnut) and nosecap while the rest is replacement beech. I sort of figured Commonwealth armorers perhaps tried to keep the original front wood and parts together to maintain accuracy and sight regulation?

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.

[Mt203]

Not sure about Lithgow No.I rifles however when I got my SSA No.I it's accuracy wasn't quite what I thought it should be....close but rather random groups. My jungle carbine was better and so was my No.4 Mk.I rifle.

I investigated the deal a bit and found that all the parts were there except the spring for the screw that holds the mid barrel band...it was gone. I found a similar looking coil spring and cut it to length and tightened it down. Then it shot just as accurate as the others or better....and this with damaged draws(which I fixed later)

There are a lot of parts screws and springs involved in the No.I Mk.III* forearm/barrel fit. I noted the old SSA still appears to wear it's original forearm(worn walnut) and nosecap while the rest is replacement beech. I sort of figured Commonwealth armorers perhaps tried to keep the original front wood and parts together to maintain accuracy and sight regulation?

Havenot; not sure if it was your suggestion, but I took my middle band spring out, opened it up slightly. I also took a little bit off the top handguard ears as they were touching very slightly. Well went to the range this morning and 5 shots is all 1.5" or less with a circular pattern vs the previous pattern.

Only other things I did since the last range trip was another coat of RLO and cleaned the barrel

[Havenot]

Does it have the tension spring and plunger under the nose-cap?

The barrel band spring tension deal on mine was odd....shot so-so with no spring(as received)...I made a new spring and shot it some more playing with the spring tension on the middle barrel band....more so-so to fair accuracy. Took the screw to tight as it would go and she shot pretty decent then.

I will say that this was years ago and I did not understand the LE draws and stock fit all that well. My rifles draws were hammered loose and I did not really figure that out until later. I repaired the SSA rifle's draws a couple years ago and it still prefers the barrel band snugged tight.

I'm just saying that the SMLE rifle has a lot of parts in play just in the forearm!

[Mt203]

Does it have the tension spring and plunger under the nose-cap?

The barrel band spring tension deal on mine was odd....shot so-so with no spring(as received)...I made a new spring and shot it some more playing with the spring tension on the middle barrel band....more so-so to fair accuracy. Took the screw to tight as it would go and she shot pretty decent then.

I will say that this was years ago and I did not understand the LE draws and stock fit all that well. My rifles draws were hammered loose and I did not really figure that out until later. I repaired the SSA rifle's draws a couple years ago and it still prefers the barrel band snugged tight.

I'm just saying that the SMLE rifle has a lot of parts in play just in the forearm!

It does have the tension spring and plunger. Draws are good as this was an unissued Slazenger forend with copper lugs. I'm guessing it was a combination of the middle band tension and top handguard ears touching slightly.