What am I missing? (No4 front band reoccuring issues)

[louthepou]

I folks,

I've been refurbishing Lee Enfields for a few years now. And on a regular basis, I have the following problem.

The No4 front band is too small for the forend and front handguard.

Now, this isn't an isolated event. It's a regular occurence. In this case, Even if the handguard is properly adjusted to the forend, there's not a single band in the four I have that even comes close to fitting. In the picture below, the screw can't reach the thread even if I try with all my stupendous strength. And even if it did reach, I wouldn't be able to turn it to tighten it, it's too far.

The four bands I have now are the milled types, not stamped.

Seems that, either I'm missing something, or longer screws should have been made to fit. Maybe the bands have shrunk over the years

Any tip to solve this one? Thanks...

Lou

Information

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[Peter Laidler]

Ah, yes...... Common problem Lou. What you have to do is shave away any wood that is standing proud of the top of the 'CAP, fore-end'. You can also do the same to a lesser extent to the proud wood to the rear of the CAP, upper, handguard on the top handguard. This will allow the band to close up more. Just a tad at a time and you'll crack it. This was an everyday problem with new fore-ends/handguards or when they were mixed up for some reason or another

[ssj]

Thanks Peter I was having this issue with a no4 I am de-sporterising as it has new front wood. Plus one or 2 others Ive seen that were "restored" but this cap seemed too small.

[louthepou]

Thanks Peter. I may have to consider some creative woodwork!

I wonder how feasible it would be to have a few longer screws machined.

[Peter Laidler]

As an engineer, longer screws are a palliative and not the cure Patrick. It was an everyday problem for us with what we used to call 'full' woodwork

[Simon P]

I have had the same thing with several South African made No4 fore-ends, the metal endcaps were not fitted correctly and needed removing and the holes pegged and re drilled, the problem was that the cap was not fitted tight against the woodwork, instead there was a gap between the cap and the fore-end of approx 1/16", this made it impossible to fit the front band.

[Patrick Chadwick]

As an engineer, longer screws are a palliative and not the cure Patrick.

I never said a word!

But now that you've woken me up, yes I would find longer screws* easier to use than applying my elementary woodcarving skills.
(Hmmm... maybe you had a case of premonition Peter?)

*2 BA, if you live in a country with civilized engineering supplies. Tough luck if you don't.

[Peter Laidler]

Generally speaking, all of our new fore-ends came as an assembly that included the end cap (and tie strap on the Mk1's) but you'd occasionally see one that didn't - and didn't have the holes either!!!!!! Others would have the holes but didn't seem to align with any of the fore-end caps we had in the trays!

What a job it was to drill the holes so that they both aligned with the cap at the other side. I'm not sure that I ever succeeded! We also had the same with No5 bayonet grips. During the 60's they'd turn up with one screw hole and other times the NO screw hole would arrive. But it was always a good excuse to blame the Ordnance storemen. Same as Bren barrels. At Base workshops in Singapore we used to indent for/order 100 at a time due to the attrition rate. You could be sure that if you ordered 7.62mm for an up-country rush job, then 100 .303 barrels would arrive

[browningautorifle]

100 .303 barrels would arrive

I'd love to have those now...

[ROCK]

Peter,
I've had handguards slip forward during recoil and press against the front sight. This happens with the band fully tightened. What is the proper remedy for that condition?