Lee Enfield MLE sporter

[louthepou]

Hi folks, I haven't been around much lately, but I'm still keeping busy with refurbs.

Lately I bought a sporter, which appeared to be a good candidate for a refurb. Upon close inspection the rifle wasn't quite what was described by the seller and the forend and butt stock were scrap. Oh and someone was creative with a drill.











In another story, I bought (again by mail) a sporter No1Mk3 which was supposed to have a "great bore". Obviously not everyone has the same definition of what that means, because two areas in that bore show deep pitting and deformed rifling. So, I managed to salvage what could be salvaged; and this is where the two stories connect. A nice forend, a nice butt stock... and a naked but complete soprter MLE barreled action.

I stripped the wood, patched the right side of the forend, stained the butt stock to match the forend and refinished with linseed oil. And trimmed the butt plate to fit. Now I have a reasonably nice looking sporter MLE.

Information

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[jmoore]

The Monte Carlo stock just looks a little "club-y". But maybe lose the cheekpad and the white line spacers and it wouldn't be too bad. L-E sporters of that vintage usually look quite slim. But it's easier to trim the wood down than add it back!

At least it's useable.

[louthepou]

I wonder if it's easy to remove the front white line and put the black tip back on. I could try, unless the rifle sells too quickly!

[tbonesmith]

The Monte Carlo stock just looks a little "club-y". But maybe lose the cheekpad and the white line spacers and it wouldn't be too bad. L-E sporters of that vintage usually look quite slim. But it's easier to trim the wood down than add it back!

I like the wood as is, I think the white line spacers make it look "distinguished"...

[jmoore]

I like the wood as is, I think the white line spacers make it look "distinguished"...

It seems to be for sale. But a bit of a bother as y'all are well separated!

I've pulled white line spacers from a number of stocks. As long as you make sure to sacrifice the white portion, it works out generally well. Sometimes a bit of creativity and/or well applied brutishness is required. Start with a rubber mallet. Smallish. "Pop!" Fine chisel is helpful, too.