SMLE No1 MkV Restoration (Part's 1 thru 7)

[bigduke6]

a very nice peice of work and will be a very nice rifle when youve finished by the looks of it.
Just a few questions on it though?, how did you go with the clips off the old rear hand gaurd to hold it onto the barrel, did you transplant them across or not worry. If you didnt worry with the clip it makes the new rear gaurd appear to sit up a bit high. Or the no4 timber would that have been long enough to chop it so most of the splice was hidden under the front band?. Either way youve done a nice peice of carpentry that would make many a stock maker jealous.
food for thought
Regards
Fergs.
PS. oops my bad saw in later pics you had put the clip in.
Keep up the good work am waiting with envy for the final installment.

Thanks Fergs,

Regarding the clip and handgaurd, the pic you seen was without the clip it was just to see what all the wood looked like together, didnt want it looking like a patch work blanket (its not far off), in fact that gap is caused by the fore-end being warped, (thats why i chose it for this project, no good for much else, plus was a pain to bed the action and barrel)

The hangaurd (No4) wasnt long enough, so this was the reason for the join, more of an experiment and to test my skills for another project, the original had seperate hand gaurds, but I wanted to keep this one together just to see how accurate I could get it, again its regarding my next project.

its not that far off completion, but wanted to do a range test and post this on the final thread, also the rear sight to complete but will soon have an original one to copy.

Problem I face at present is getting free time in the workshop , plus once I,m in there the cold soon starts to bite, after more than 20 yrs working in a Hot Engine room, I start to feel the cold a lot more than than I used to.