No4 Mk1 T Rebuild

[tbonesmith]

Can someone explain the principle and practice of relief cuts?

I am referring to a narrow cut made about 1mm or less forward of the breechface on a barrel, all the way around, and about 2-3mm deep. It's purpose is to relieve the tension between between the front of the receiver and the barrel shoulder, and make and extremely tight barrel tightly screwed in), easy to remove. It can be done on a lathe or with a hacksaw, and the downside is that the removed barrel is damaged. But I have heard of them being reused with the addition of a suitable washer.
This was of no consequence to me as the barrel is stuffed and I don't want to re use it anyway.

[OxfordAndy]

looking good so far,I would use that paint I showed you on my No5 it seems to emulate that suncorite really close and does not wear off.also I ordered a stirling 308No 4 mag

Any chance on sharing the secret on that paint?

[lee_enfield223]

Here in Australia they only sell 44 gallon drums of Suncorite and it will cost a mint !!! But a company here in Australia called white knight makes a spray paint that's based on epoxy enamel, it's very wear resistant and if you buy the satin black finish you can't tell it apart from the original Suncorite, and the good thing is if you put the finished parts into an oven for half an hour at about 120 deg C it goes rock hard but does not chip, they don't say to do this on the can but it seems to speed up the drying process . and I painted my restored Jungle Carbine No5mk1 with it and it looks the part.

[tbonesmith]

I had to make some changes to my setup to complete breeching up the rifle, and I needed some new tools and bits of kit.
I needed a SERIOUSLY rigid mount for my barrel vice, which I made out of 1" hardwood ply, 2 layers thick at the top and bottom, screwed together with 100mm screws and bonded anywhere anything meets with shop mixed epoxy glue using west 403 powder. I bolted this to the slab in a bed of epoxy with 8* 90mm*16mm hight tensile dynabolts. If this didn't work then I'd have a good time undoing it all, but it turned out that it is an extremely rigid mount.
This allowed me to mount the barrel in the vice and make fine adjustments to the indexing of the barrel using a hammer that is relatively light.
I got the setup information from an article written by Peter Laidler either here or on an old forum(if I've done anything wrong please advise me so I don't do it again).
I put the barrel in previously by eye, and using straight edges to check for wind between flats, but when I checked it on glass using Vee blocks and bar through the rear sight axis whatever it is, one ear of the foresight protector was .003" off the glass, using my new "bench" and barrel vice, wrench and hammer, I corrected this so it's perfect.
I also selected the bolt body I'll use, as it bears well on both locking lugs(I used permenent marker on the lugs and then cycled the bolt repeatedly with rearwood force and the marker wore off nice and evenly), and also the bolthead overturn while not perfect looks acceptable, but if a brand new body turns up soon, I might used that. Headspace is perfect on a "1"
It cost a bit to put the kit together to index the barrel right, but now I have it and it will be easy to do more correctly in the future.

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[viking guy]

Apex Gun Parts in Colorado, USA has original cheekpieces for sale at $90 USD. The fit and exquisite shape of the cheekpiece on an original rifle indicates a master's level of stockmaker's skill. You might want to get detailed photos as well as make a template for final orientation.I recently examined what I believe was a counterfeit and the pedestrian fit of the cheekpiece was one of the faults.

Otto(Detroit)

[Surpmil]

A basement 6x6 post is a good place to bolt a barreling vise.

[tbonesmith]

Howdy, I got an unused wood set last week, and I soaked it in warm boiled linseed oil, wiped it off and let it dry. Then I tried to fit up the forend.
I think I'm a bit less tight than I should be in the draws. Also I have not got the necessary bearing in the reinforce. I had to relieve it all the way to get the barrel to have the correct upward pressure from the forend at the tip. I had to remove some material from the barrel channel, which was not unexpected.
There were a few thing I could think of that would rectify the problem but all are dodgey... ie build up the bearing area in the forend tip, pack the rear of the action bearing area, bed it in epoxy.
But I'm not going to do any of these, I'll sleep on it, but I think I'll patch the draws, mortice in a block in the reinforce, and go again. I feel like an idot, but it is thoroughly recoverable.
The problem is that I can't see how my situation will improve with the relationship between the reinforce and the barrel upward pressure from the forend tip... unless the timber I removed from the barrel channel was the inhibiting factor in the first place, not the reinforce itself

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[OxfordAndy]

tbone - thanks for yet another fascinating installment! This is more absorbing than both my wife's pregnancies

Everyone reading this thread must be willing you on.

Despite the setbacks and challenges, you know that this is going to be well worth the effort when you finish!

[Roger Payne]

Well, Tom, you've made a pretty good show of things so far. I'm sure you'll get it right next time. Wood looks nice, by the way. You're shaming me into doing something with a couple of rebuilds I've had on the go for longer than I care to remember! Perhaps tomorrow night........?!

ATB

[tbonesmith]

Well my problem is identified. I incorrectly assumed that the draws needed to be fitted to the recoil lugs to such an extent that the bottom of the receiver bottomed out and contacted the timber.
Having been set straight on this, I packed the rear of the forend and placed the barreled action in situ. This had the effect of increasing the upward pressure of the forend on the end of the barrel, and also picking up some more areas of interference in the barrel channel.
So, I'll presume for the moment that I can affect correct bearing at the reinforce by replacement of the draws, and by fitting them in a manner that keeps the back end of the receiver off the wood by a little bit.
If it turns out I'm wrong I'll patch the reinforce at that stage.
I used a bit of an old junk stock for the patch, I think it was some type of walnut, and seemed very hard and well seasoned(probably for about 100 years!)
I used shop mix epoxy with west 403 glue powder as the glue.
Tomorrow I will fit up this bugger, and hopefully get it right!

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