New Lithgow No. 1 Mk. III*

[dangles]

I purchased this from a guy on another forum. He only had about 6 pictures posted and it looked decent (for a first and likely only SMLE) and the price was great so I bought it. It just arrived the other day. I was able to take it out the next day and shoot it. What an awesome experience! Such an amazing gun!

All I knew when I purchased it was that it was a 1941 Lithgow with what appeared to be mixed parts (which is OK with me). When it arrived I discovered the bore to be in pretty decent shape and the action was nice and smooth. It also has a beautiful coachwood stock! I also discovered a JJCO import stamp. I had no idea about these at the time so I didn't look for the recoil plates before shooting. Well I got lucky - sort of... I stripped it down just a few minutes ago and found it did indeed have the brass recoil plates. However the forend in that area is badly cracked. I'm not sure if the recoil plates were an afterthought by a previous owner or what but here's what I found:




So I'm gonna take an uneducated guess and say I'll need to replace the forend? Even though I didn't strip it down and check prior to shooting it I'm guessing the damage was preexisting. If I need to replace the stock (and I'm guessing I do), how difficult is it to find coachwood forends without cracks here in the US and how much should I expect to spend? Is it safe to shoot in the meantime? Am I risking anything other than further damaging the already busted forend? I'm kind of bummed about the forend but overall I think I did really well for $225 (US).

Here are the rest of the pictures I took with all the stamps and proofs:

'41 receiver, '43 barrel and stock, '42 forend

1941 Lithgow SMLE Slideshow by cjdangles | Photobucket

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Hen's teeth is the short answer to finding a replacement coachwood stock. If you find one it will likely be very expensive. The good news is it can probably be repaired. Others with deeper knowledge will likely chime in soon on the best way to repair the forend. Beautiful rifle BTW.

[Badger]

Some background information for members...

Milsurps Knowledge Library - Lithgow SMLE ... Causes of Cracked Foreends

Milsurps Knowledge Library - Repairing a Split Stock on a Lithgow SMLE

Regards,
Doug

[25-5]

Really nice find. The pics were great as well. I enjoy the Enfield.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Not bad-looking at all.

At a guess, I would say that the spits in your fore-end are the result of a previous "caretaker" trying to remove the butt before the fore-end.

However, as there appear to be no major chunks missing, it should be easy to repair.

Check the sundry helpful links attached to this site for details.

The basic trick is to have the offending areas sufficiently clear of oil so that the adhesive of choice, preferably an epoxy, can penetrate the grain and get a good grip.

[Homer]

Not bad-looking at all.

At a guess, I would say that the spits in your fore-end are the result of a previous "caretaker" trying to remove the butt before the fore-end.
.

I'm not so sure Bruce. The crack on the far left looks to be the beginnings of the entire draw area coming away. Needs immediate attention if you intend go shoot it.

[dangles]

The crack on the far left looks to be the beginnings of the entire draw area coming away.

Yeah I'm not an expert by a long shot but it does look pretty bad to me. I've checked those links out but I'm not sure I want to tackle something like that. Anybody know of somebody who does these kind of repairs? I'd much rather have it done by somebody who has been around the block a time or two.

[ssj]

My 2 cents would be the brass recoil lugs are quite a common addon for southern hemisphere target shooters. Any other target bedding in the channel?

The stock looks complete so even if it is badly cracked I cant see it being that impossible to repair.

One here but its in NZ,

Full Length SMLE 303 Rifle Fore Stock | Trade Me

[Homer]

My 2 cents would be the brass recoil lugs are quite a common addon for southern hemisphere target shooters. Any other target bedding in the channel?

The stock looks complete so even if it is badly cracked I cant see it being that impossible to repair.

One here but its in NZ,

Full Length SMLE 303 Rifle Fore Stock | Trade Me

Probably about 300000 or more lithgows were assembled at the factory with the copper plates and countless thousands fitted later when rifles were returned to stores.

[Peter Laidler]

From an Armourers shop point of view I don't think that we'd repair that but put it to one side for a DP rifle. But personally, I'd fix that if I had to. Into the trike bath for an hour to degrease it, cut out the rot including the copper plate area and glue in a patch. Using aero spec wood adhesive. Look, if it's good enough to glue the wood struts of modern repro aeroplanes and tiger moths/rapides etc AND be approved for certification by the CAA, then it's good enough for your rifle fore-end! Only my opinion...., but epoxy aint! Anyway. The difference if I did it as opposed to a concourse wall hanger is that there'd be a hardwood oak dowel pressed in and glued across the rear. It wouldn't split again........

But that's just me!