Hello, New Enfield Owner

[moose67]

Hello,

Have been checking out the site, reading some good post and learning quite a bit, new to Military Surplus rifles, spent some time looking at some different rifles, and then I ran across a nice old, 1914 BSA SMLE No1 MKIII, in need of a some TLC.

Overall the rifle is in good shape for its age, the rifling looks good and clean, the rest of the metal, the barrel has good blueing, the receiver shows some wear and few areas where the blueing is gone, but about what you would expect for a gun of its age and use, the stock needed some work, one of the previous owners sanded it down pretty good, removed a lot of marks, and the proceeded to use some type of stain and shellac or varnish on it.

Took two try’s with citristrip to get it off, then I used some steel wool, and cleaned off the rest, it was really amazing to find a nice walnut stock under all the dirt and crap that was on it, also found a few marks that where covered up that the didn’t get sanded off, and also have a few faint ghost, left from some of the one’s that he did hit with sand paper.

Cleaned it all up, rubbed in a couple of coats of BLO on, and the grain popped right out, put it all back together last night, and looks like a whole different rifle. Also degreased and de-gunked all the metal parts, one thing I noticed is the short upper piece of stock between the sight base and receiver was replaced at some point, that part is a dark blond shade, the rest of the stock is a beautiful chestnut brown I would call it, wondering if any one has some suggestions on matching the color on the one piece to make it match, its not to bad but would like it to all match, open to hear any suggestions.

I don’t have any good picks, tried to take some with my iPhone that did not work real well, I am going to borrow a digital camera, would like to take some good photos of the stamps so, I can post them, and maybe get an idea of some of the history of the rifle that way. But very happy with how it cleaned up, for 180.00 I bought the rifle and a 1907 bayonet, so think I did pretty well on the price end, making the trip to my club this weekend and see how the old girl shoots.

Regards,

Moose

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[mike1967]

Welcome Moose, good little project you undertook, and for $180 with a bayonet what a bargain ! We hope you now realise that you cant stop at one Lee Enfield.
Look forward to seeing the happy snaps.

Regards,

Mike.

[JBS]

Howdy, looking forward to your photos. The replacement wood is part of the history of that LE.

[jmoore]

Eagerly awaiting photos! Also a range report...