Reproduction SMLE stock

[bigduke6]

I had a No1 Mk3* barrelled action and was struggling finding 'bits', I happened to be in my local (very rural) RFD Gun Shop (he sells loads of shotguns and the odd .22rf) to farmers and I saw a Lee Enfield muzzle sticking out from behind a rack of clothing.
Long story short :

It was actually two Lee Enfields - a No1 Mk3 in full wood bored out to 410 shotgun, and a barrelled action No4 Mk1 barrelled Action in 410 shotgun. Picked up the pair for £100 all in.


Sold the No4 barrelled Action to another RFD (who knows about Enfield's) who had been asked by a customer to make him a No5 look-a-like, got £100 so all my money back.

Stripped the No1 Mk3* (410) and used the bits to rebuild my No1 Mk3* (303) so rebuilt it for zero cost.


Took the barrelled action No1 Mk3* (410) back to the original dealer and asked him to scrap it for me (it got it off my licence)

The rural Gunshops, you speak of Alan is where the bargains are to be had, they get items in at times which they don't really know what they are or they have....... I've struck lucky in the past

[harry mac]

Thats a good find Harry and a very fair price I would think, all depends what they modelled the fore end on, early SMLE fore ends with the recess for the volley sight are the ones to go by, the later newer ones without, just don't have the same character and are a bit more chunky.......

Regarding previous posts, The deactivated dealers cleaned up years ago regarding timber etc, only until recently I'd of gone along with what Brain says regarding making them now with the modern Modern Machinery available etc, but a walnut blank doesn't come cheap anymore.......

Its why you see more job lots of barrelled actions etc at the auction, just not cost effective to rebuild etc.

There's also a chap based in UK called Martin Brown doing them in Beech. You'll probably find him on the Facebook page "Lee Enfield SMLE Collectors Society".

[mr.e moose]

PM altadiver on here, he helps Bill at Alberta gunstocks with orders. Bill makes Ross, Long Lee, No.1, No.4 stock sets. Never had to pay more than $400.00 CAD for a stock set although I haven't bought one for a few years.

[Johnluger]

Didn’t realize that the stock I was talking about was in New Zealand and not the UK.

[mr.e moose]

If you go with Alberta Gunstocks get Bill to wipe it down with RLO. The USA doesn't like raw wood coming in even though Bill probably gets his walnut from there.

[eggwelder]

These are hand guards i have made, i also made the rivets and roves for two of the rear hand guards. the rear hand guards that show the clips were the first two i made, they are on the two SMLEs pictured
the decidedly reddish SMLE in the last pic has upper hand guards made by me as well as an extended sporter fore end. will do it differently for the next refurb. the red colour comes from medium brown leather dye. great for long rifles, not really the right choice for SMLEs. the lower almost normal colour SMLE has my upper hand guards and what i call an oversized fore end from Numerich gun parts.
I apologize for the giant photos

[Salt Flat]

Eggwelder, Impressive work. I think making a complete fore stock by hand is feasible, especially when compared to the prices quoted above.

[eggwelder]

Eggwelder, Impressive work. I think making a complete fore stock by hand is feasible, especially when compared to the prices quoted above.

Thank you Salt Flat. i`ve made well over 100 upper front hand guards but only 10 rear.

i have a fore end under construction, but all work is being done by hand, and i`ve already messed up the draws. good thing for Peter Laidler`s information on repairing that area. its not a simple process, inletting several places at the same time and on multiple angles over a length of 30 inches. i have set mine aside for now, will probably get back to it in the winter. i am thinking about casting a fitting template from aluminum, essentially taking a negative cast of the inletted areas.
i don't recommend hand carving if someone wanted to go into production, CNC, duplicators and the other automated forms is the way to go.