No.8 bedding?

[Steve H. in N.Y.]

Today I disassembled my No.8 for the first time in quite a few years. Although it had been shooting very well, I noticed that the barrel is bearing pretty hard on one side of the channel so I've got a little work to do. The user manual states that the barrel should bear straight down with 3-5 lb. of pressure, but I think I remember an old discussion about it being free floating. Can someone clarify this? With such a thick barrel I wonder if it would make much difference either way.

Information

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[Edward Horton]

If it was made to be free floating it will not have a raised section of wood at the fore end tip of the fore stock.

[krinko]

For those as have never seen one, this is a No8.
Unfortunately, mine is gone, so I can't answer the float/no float question.
-----krinko

[Steve H. in N.Y.]

Unlike the No.4, there is no raised section in the barrel channel. I can't remember details of the discussion-we may even have been talking about handguards.

[Patrick Chadwick]

... no shadow of doubt whatever!

The No. 8 barrel must be free-floating. It is NOT the same as a No. 4
(in fact, the No. 8 barrel is heavier!).

If the barrel is bearing heavily on one side, the simple answer might appear to be: rout out the channel until the barrel is free. BUT this is only the right answer IF the wood is warped. If NOT, you would be compensating for one fault by introducing another.

You did say you had dismantled the rifle, so any"set" of the system has already been disturbed, and maybe you weren't the first. I think the trouble may well be in the area curiously termed the "draws". And maybe someone seriously overtightened the king screw at some time.

The old forum contained several detailed descriptions, with pictures, from Peter Laidler et al. on this aspect of Enfield tuning. However, as the No. 8 should not have any barrel bearing at the front end, the matter is not as critical as for a No. 4. In fact, if there is simply a lot of play at the back end (the draws), the answer might simply be as follows:

Loosen the king screw until the wood feels loose at the front end.
Insert a piece of thick card (a.k.a. beermat) between the barrel and the wood at the point where the unwanted contact was.
Screw up the king screw "one-hand" tight. I.e. not with a tommy bar or wheel brace!
Remove card.

IF the trouble was simply play at the back end, there should now be a gap between the barrel and wood at the pevious contact position. If there is STILL contact, you will have to do some fettling of the draws.
Fire a test group to check grouping and centering.

I realize that this quick fudge would cause me to fail the armorer's exam, but it has the enormous advantage of being reversible and non-destructive.

Patrick

[Patrick Chadwick]

Peter,
my posting above, re No. 8 and draws, is just one case where it would be very useful if some of the know-how from the old site could be transferred over here. Otherwise there will inevitably be repeat questions which where comprehensively answered in the past.

Computer experts,
would it be possible to perform a kind of "cut & paste" operation to copy over some of the extensive know-how postings from the old forum?

Patrick

[Peter Laidler]

Patrick and the others are dead right. The barrel/muzzle of the No8 must be free floating from the front of the knox form forwards. Rearwards of that it's the same as the No4 but without the drawers ..., because it hasn't got an as such - and where it bears against the butt socket.

If it is bearing slightly at the muzzle end, bottom or sides then you cure this from the REAR of the front trigger guard screw (it's not and never has been a 'king screw' chaps). This means loosening the fore-end, perhaps clearing/relieving a slight amount of wood, then rotating it at the rear VERY slightly so that this very slight movement at the rear, means a proportionately large amount at the front. I think it's in the order of 3:1 movement or something like that.....

I suppose you COULD just clear wood away from the front but we weren't taught that for one good reason. If you do it that way. it means that the barrel isn't sitting in the middle of the fore-end and it'll be visibly eccentric when you look at it from the muzzle. Not a pretty sight.

On the other hand, if the barrel is touching the fore-end between the last inch of the muzzle area and back towards the knox form, then by all means clear the high spot using a rounded rasp.

Hope this is OK!

[Peter Laidler]

What's that blue 'the plough' flag in your box Krinko?

[Thunderbox]

I'm not sure you have to worry too much about the bedding: a combination of the massive barrel and small bullet seems to make it fairly insensitive to the fit of the forend. I've got a couple of No8s with warped or touching forends, and swapping these out for "perfect" fitting forends appears to make no difference at all to shooting POI or group size.

[krinko]

"What's that blue 'the plough' flag in your box Krinko?"

The flag of Alaska, my native state.
-----k.