L42 Barrel or Later Commercial Variant? FB613

[Peter Laidler]

The trouble with using one of these barrels, as I have done on my friends L39 is that there is no reinforce bearing. You'd think that on a barrel of this weight and diameter it wouldn't matter or affect accuracy but it certainly did. Even when the rifle was secured and accuracy tested on the Armourers strerile test range from the Enfield rest the bullets would form large diameter groups. The better news was that the reinforce section of the fore-end can easily be floated out, patched and the new reinforce section shaped to suit the new barrel reinforce.

Also fitted one to a No5 rifle too. The barrels were an absolute pleasure to machine down in the lathe to slightly oversize No5 spec (but correct diameter outside the fore-end of course). No accuracy problems there. It was crap beforehand and only slightly less crap after the 7.62mm barrel change!

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.

[Thunderbox]

PH and AJP used these barrel in their T4 and open target-style forends, which were bedded with compound around the reinforce.

[Peter Laidler]

Ah, yes........, TBox has the answer

[Frederick303]

I have one of those barrels on an Envoy clone. Got it cheap as it would not shoot, the fellow selling to me was honest and upfront about it. Took it apart and noticed the No 4 MK II action was actually in a real No 8 forend, with what seemed to be sloppy inletting at the barrel reinforce (not bearing), rear action draws and the fitting of the rear trigger assembly. Fixed the rear action draw and the fit of the wood in the rear using wood hardener and walnut shims. Did not help the ~3.5 MOA accuracy from initial tests. Fixed the front reinforce bearing by cutting out the rounded slop of the stock reinforce and put in a ~30 degree wood shim that did fit the reinforce up to the bottom cutout. Fit it by using sandpaper t get a good fit and then a graphite grease mix. Fixed the accuracy until the rear draws went (in ~27 shots). Still sitting trying to figure out how to fit the rear draws on the forend for a permanent fix without epoxy.

But in any case the accuracy with Australian F4 ball (the stuff that comes in the plastic 5 shot packs) was very good indeed. Less then 2 MOA, close to but slightly larger then 1.5 MOA, 10 shot groups fid from prone. Well on 1.5 groups because the stock went on the 9th shot of the second string, but prior to that it was shaping up to be a clean with a high x count.

Short of using epoxy to fit the draws on this gun I am not sure what to do. The inletting on the No 8 forend is not conducive to conversion to an Envoy format, too much wood is missing between the action lugs (where the trigger and magazine catch attach) draw and the rear of the action (where the buttstock mounts)

In any case my limited experience with this barrel was it shot 144 gr. ball ammunition very well; far better then any of the modern .308 standard target barrels I have tried it in. I should say the F4 Australian ball shot very well in my Lithgow light bullet special barrel (mounted on a 1943 Canadian action) and my Konigsberg Norwegian target barrel (mounted on a CE 41 Mauser action)