No 1 MkIII bedding

[tbonesmith]

HELP! I'm bedding a No1 MkIII with a heavy barrel, and I'm about to lose it!
The wood is off a range rifle that it fitted beautifully but it sits off to the right hand side of the barrel channel. So I pack the back of the wood to the collar, and try to shift it by shimming the draws but still. I've had this problem and sorted it out with numerous no4's but I'm stuffed if I can figure this one.
I don't want to touch glass with this one, seems there are heaps of instructions for no 4's but no1's I can't get information.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. Wood seems straight

Information

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[gunner]

tbonesmith,

i am not an expert on No.I, but for the bedding of my No.4`s i do it this way:
Make sure that the wood under and beside the action and the chamber has a little space for the acryl paste. Than make 2-3 spacers out of plastic or cardboard. With that you can fix the barrel in the forestock. The No. I has a spring under the action wich should add pressure to it, make sure that it can work. Than add some separating wax to the action and fill the acrylc paste in the forestock around the action and app. 1" in front of the chamber. Now take the barrel and set it in the forestock, complete it with upper hanguard and nosecap and tighten the screws. After the acryl is hardened remove the barrel and remove also the acryl that was too much. Now you have to look that the barrel is free in his channel, normally it is. After assemblage the rifle you have to do a few shots till all is seatened. Controll the screws and normally it works.

So that is my way to make a bedding, but i dont know if this will help you.
Good luck!

Regards

Gunner

[tbonesmith]

Cheers that's how I'd normally do it too, but I want to do it without any glass or epoxy, and it seems a bit different to a no4 in that when I put the action in the stock having removed the brass or copper reinforcement on the draws ie so it's loose, I can't get the barrel to centre by packing the collar/rear of forewood, instead the whole forend will move forward . No 4's will tend to "pivot" with packing. I don't want to butcher the stock, I want this to be a professional job, in timber, even though it's more difficult.

[gunner]

That`s indeed a difficult way to do it out of wood. In that case i have to admit, that i have no experiences how to do it. Sorry !

Regards

Gunner

[JBS]

You may check here, and look up other instructions from the Capt.
Summary of Peter Laidler's on-line series of articles....... - Military Surplus Collectors Forums

[UrsisHoribilis]

I have just gotten an Ishapore 2A1 and wish to glass bed the action. Are there any specific instructions for that or the No.1 Mk.iii available on line? I would like illustrated directions, if possible. Thanks.

[Edward Horton]

A little help below in attachments from those two famous American Enfield experts Ian Skennerton and Brian Lubudda. They both prefer Peanut butter to vegemite

The two things that can push the barrel off center in the barrel channel are uneven contact at the very rear of the fore stock where it touches the receiver ring.

Also if any wood is touching the side of the receiver, shimming the draws will not force the barrel to center in the barrel channel.

For the very rear of the stock use feeler gauges and see if they fit between the wood and receiver socket and check to see if the contact is equal on both sides of the stock. (Left and right side of socket)

The sides of the fore stock and receiver should have .020 clearance on each side to allow the rear of the action to move side to side to allow the barrel to center in the barrel channel.

Also if there is any wood crush from the old receiver or the old foot print in the fore stock, this could also push the receiver off center and cause the barrel to cant in the barrel channel.

Please note shimming the draws should force or push the rear of the fore stock into contact with the receiver socket (black angled lines in photo)

[tbonesmith]

Thanks for that, I figured it out and the problem was that there was other contact on the barrel that disallowed proper centering(I'd checked many times for it and couldn't find the contact point until I blacked the barrel so it would mark the wood) , once that was rectified, the standard steps in bedding(like a no4) yielded a very good bedding job in wood.
I was very pleased with the result.

[Edward Horton]

tbonesmith

The No.4 Enfield below was driving me nuts trying to get the barrel centered in the barrel channel. In the photo below you can see it is touching more on the right side, but the real problem was wood touching the side of the receiver and not allowing the barrel to move and center.



This is why you see the wooden dowel pins added to competition Enfields as this helps keep the barrel centered.



Below, .020 side clearance between stock and receiver in order to allow the receiver to shift from side to side and allow the barrel to center in barrel channel. (Dependant on how much is needed to center barrel)

[tbonesmith]

Isn't it funny, how hard you can look for precisely the problem you have(ie. undue barrel/body interference on the fore wood), and not detect it, until after you've excluded it by checking many, many times.