No4 Mk1* Refurb

[tbonesmith]

Hi guys here's my most recent refurb. It's a Longbranch No4Mk1*, 1943. It was pretty well all original, with some pretty bad corrosion to the front band and bolt handle as well as the muzzle, and other small parts.
I replaced the barrel with a very good 2 groove second hand barrel, and bead blasted and painted the badly corroded parts to prevent further damage. I patched the draws, removed, cleaned up, reglued, and pegged the original armourers heel repair, removed the varnish sanded and oiled the timber, rebedded the rifle and pegged the patches as in Peter Laidlers articles (first time I've done this from the outside and they look very subtle) thoroughly cleaned and oiled all parts, and adjusted the fit of the trigger guard and crush collar. Also straightened the striker and verified headspace in spec. Trigger a little heavy, but crisp, and I don't mind them not too light, may adjust after range test.
It's come up great. I think it will shoot very well, and I'll range test Saturday.
One thing I may do is paint the forend and front guard metal caps as they are the only things that look ratty still.

Information

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[tbonesmith]

Rifle range tested today at 100m. Performed perfectly. All shooting done standing but groups were good. Needed to hold off a bit as rifle was shooting a bit high (6") and right (6"). Adjusted the foresight after shooting, but will replace with a higher one.
Also hit the foresight protector, and forend and front guard caps with some flat paint and it really tidies it up nicely.
Happy to call this one done! Very happy with the result.

[limpetmine]

Nice job!

[louthepou]

Lots of work done there, tbonesmith, good job!

[tbonesmith]

Second range test at 300m. Rifle is still shooting right about a blade width, trigger is costing points, the rifle is good, but not shooting as well as I'd like. I'll further adjust the sight, and do the trigger adjustment to make it lighter.

[louthepou]

Keep at it, don't give up so close to the finish line?

[gunner]

Good made! Check up the under barrel pressure. For testing use thin layers of cork and replace them in the correct thickness by a piece of walnut wood. Also check how good the rifles system has contact to the forestock and fit it as long as it is really tight. I made it with my Savage No.1*´s and brought both to be excellent shooters from a 5 round grouping of more than 5" down to 1.5".

[Patrick Chadwick]

tbonesmith, one thing puzzles me about that rifle. On the left side of the action body, in front of LONG BRANCH, is the import mark of Frankonia Waffen Würzburg (it's an FWW monogram).

This indicates that the rifle was, at some stage, imported into Germany. In which case, it ought to have German proof marks and a date (maybe coded) somewhere on the action body as well. Please have a look for non-Enfield marks on the barrel (maybe underneath) and the bolt body.


Patrick

[gunner]

A good eye, Patrick!

[tbonesmith]

Some times when I can't put my finger on the problem, I put the project aside and come back to it a bit later. I was bedding another No4 last week, and I'd patched the draws like this one, and fitted it up. It all went well, but the bedding just didn't feel perfect. I get it quite often where the muzzle is sitting as far as you can tell in the middle of the channel, but not perfectly evenly snappy left and right. It's a bit hard to explain. Anyway the last week rifle, I kept at, scraping here and there, and just working on it in the most ridiculously fine increments (because if you go too far and take too much off you have to repatch and start again, and it's SO EASY to got too far...), until it was absolutely perfect. Bearing as it should, muzzle absolutely perfectly centred and even snappy response left and right.
It must be the problem here, the bedding is not perfect, it is very close, but needs to be perfected. TONIGHT!