Safe to shoot this rifle?

[rcathey]

I think Hatcher talked about those experiments as well.

[Woodsy]

As a gunsmith for over 50 years in a country where the .303 Lee-Enfield reigned supreme for a great many years, I can assure you that, subject to a headspace check, your rifle is perfectly safe to shoot. I have seen many rifles with pits inside and outside that were twice as deep as yours in everyday use with no safety problems. The BSA FTR '53 rifles were widely sold here in the 1960's and I got a new one for my 16th birthday in 1963. I sporterised it and fitted a scope and used it for hunting for several years including a spell as a professional culler and it accounted for 100's of deer, pigs, and goats before I upgraded to a .30-06.

[pisco]

If you were to see the pits in front of the chamber on a smle I am working on you would scratch your head and yes I have been shooting it as I said get it out and shoot it check the h/s if you are uncertain it’s not rocket science

[Patrick Chadwick]

Safe to shoot this rifle?
Hi everyone

Looking for some advice on whether or not this desporterized enfield is safe to shoot? I

It is most important to recognize that no-one here can give you a guarantee that the rifle is safe.
There was once a horror case on this forum where an ex-DP Enfield LOOKED OK but had in fact a hole drilled through the chamber wall. This hole had probably had a pin inserted to prevent rounds being chambered. It LOOKED OK in the photos and fooled the forum contributors.

All contributors can do here is, in the best case, to say that they see nothing negative. The final responsibility always rests with the user.

---------- Post added at 01:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:19 PM ----------

Safe to shoot this rifle?
Hi everyone

Looking for some advice on whether or not this desporterized enfield is safe to shoot? I

It is most important to recognize that no-one can give you a guarantee that the rifle is safe.
There was once a horror case on this forum where an ex-DP Enfield LOOKED OK but had in fact a hole drilled through the chamber wall. This hole had probably once had a pin inserted to prevent rounds being chambered. It LOOKED OK in the photos and fooled the forum contributors.

All contributors can do here is, in the best case, to say that they see nothing negative. The final responsibility always rests with the user.

[Alan de Enfield]

It is most important to recognize that no-one here can give you a guarantee that the rifle is safe.
There was once a horror case on this forum where an ex-DP Enfield LOOKED OK but had in fact a hole drilled through the chamber wall. This hole had probably had a pin inserted to prevent rounds being chambered. It LOOKED OK in the photos and fooled the forum contributors.

All contributors can do here is, in the best case, to say that they see nothing negative. The final responsibility always rests with the user.

I remember that - it happened to align with his thumb, pulling the trigger resulted in blowing his thumb off.

I think that was one of the reasons that the forum tends to work on the philosophy 'never live fire a DP rifle'

[SMLE1927]

I appreciate your honesty Patrick. I totally understand there are no guarantees, especially when we are dealing with a 100+ year old rifle. Just hoping to draw on some of the combined experience here to steer me in the right direction. The bolt is mismatched but will not close on the disc field gauge and no go that I have. Using the method in Rodger wadham’s book, the recoil lugs have good contact, so I’m not too concerned there. Just trying to be cautious as up to this point I have been lucky with my enfield purchases and have had no real external corrosion or pitting (same can’t be said for all the inside of the barrels!).

---------- Post added at 06:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:22 AM ----------

Woodsy I can’t imagine what it would be like to walk into a gun shop and have a brand new SMLE, in full military configuration, straight from the factory! I’m sure they must have been so common no one paid much attention to them. I don’t even want to know what you would have paid for one in 1963, I don’t think I could handle it.

[browningautorifle]

I think Hatcher talked about those experiments as well.

You are correct, it was Julias Hatcher. I just got that book too...not Brophy.

[Woodsy]

]Woodsy I can’t imagine what it would be like to walk into a gun shop and have a brand new SMLE, in full military configuration, straight from the factory! I’m sure they must have been so common no one paid much attention to them. I don’t even want to know what you would have paid for one in 1963, I don’t think I could handle it.

The FTR53 cost 9 Pounds, 10 Shillings (NZ$19.00) in 1963. In 1969/70 the shop I was working at (W H Tisdall Ltd) was selling unissued Long Branch No.4 Mk I* rifles for NZ$29.95, or $35 sporterised. They were in cases of 10 and, apart from having N^Z stamped on the right side of the butt, were in completely new condition. There were 50-60 cases in the store room. I would take a case home on a Friday night and bring them back on Monday fully sporterised for $35.00 per case, which was a good boost to my wages as a young married man.

[Surpmil]

What did a sporterization involve in that case?

By the way, knowing there had been a large gunshop in Vancouver, BC, from the late 1800s to at least the 1930s, named Tisdall's, and it being an unusual name, I went looking and found this: W. H. Tisdall Frederickton NB, makers of fine shotguns in the 1860s | York Sunbury Historical Society I assume he started a branch in New Zealand, or perhaps a son or two emigrated there from Canada.

One of the Tisdalls was Mayor of Vancouver at one time.