Lithgow No1 Mk III (H) Restore

[oldlithgow2]

I own a Lithgow No1 Mk III (H) ,it stared life as a 1917 Lithgow No1 Mk III and was converted in Sept 1937 to the heavy barrel configuration. When I received it "Bubba" had cut the stock and sanded it all to hell and to finish it off varnished the thing. Luck me I have a 1917 Lithgow fore stock and a 1915 (H) marked stock. My question to all is what should be the clearance around the barrel, mine is a snug fit? Also was the mid barrel retaining band hole filled in see photo?

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[Son]

Well, the clearances around the barrel depend on a few things. For starters, the foreends fitted to H (heavy) barreled rifles were enlarged in the barrel channel to accomodate the bigger profile barrel. If you are not sure about how it fits, try sitting a pair of handguards on top and see if they meet at the sides. Both should come to the middle of the barrel.
The other main factor is how the rifle was bedded. This isn't just a case of sitting it on and doing up the screws, I'm afraid.
How much experience do you have with No1 rifles? Do you want to shoot it, and how much accuracy would you expect?

Not sure about the H rifle foreend, but he later HT rifles had a cedar plug fitted into the inner band screw hole.