Lanchester front sight protector

[Vincent]

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My Lanchester finally came out of transfer and I got to take her home.

Somewhere in shipping the front sight protector was damaged. I am sure the fix is old hat for the armourers who worked on Lanchesters when they were in service. Is there a trick to straightening it back out? Or do I just put it in the vice and tap it back with a brass drift?

Information

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[Vincent]

A few more pictures:

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[Brian Dick]

I would carefully heat it before I attempted to bend it back. I hate it when people don't pack items properly!

[Peter Laidler]

Brian has got it in one! Heat to cherry red and twist it back to shape. All the Navy ones seemed to be bent like that. They were all rivetted on but yours looks liik like it's screwed on, same as the backsight...........!!!!! You's is a Mk2 for some reason. All of those that came through us were Mk1's or Mk1*'s and in any case, all the Mk1's were converted to Mk1* in any case

[Vincent]

Thank you. I will have a go at it tomorrow.

Peter,
It’s what we call a “tube gun”. Build with a parts kit on a registered US made receiver. This one is a Wilson tube. The builder was John Norrell.

I don’t remember reading about a Mk2 Lanchester. It has the Mk1 rear sight and I think the magazine housing is Mk1 also. It doesn’t have the screw to index the barrel. But there’s no screw at the muzzle either!? So, I am wondering how the barrel is indexed?

The firing pin is from an MP28. I will see if I can find an original to slow the rate of fire back down to normal.

[Peter Laidler]

I expect that the barrel will have the indexing mark somewhere around the read periphery. If not, then it's an early barrel and these were fixed with a large dia headed screw that went into the front of the top edge of the barrel into a recess in the casing which was an easy modification. We always changed these out because as the guns were fired, the barrels would try to rotate and the screw would chomp away at the front casing The only ones we had as spare parts were the later ones, retained across the rear flange with a screw down from the top.

To be really honest, a lot of the RAN, NZ and RN Lanchesters that came through us were past their best, even in the 60's. The shore base ones had been flogged to death and the ones from the ships were slathered in oil - which was all very well, but you've got to keep on top of them in that sea water environment especially the ones from the submarines or small coastal ships that used to board the junks and whatever else they did to earn a crust! The Navy had loads of spares and for some reason or other, we couldn't write Navy stuff off as scrap as we could with other weaponry. Repair or return for their own form of disposal! Sorry to go off at a tangent..........

[Vincent]

Nothing to be sorry about, Peter. It’s all interesting information to me.

This one doesn’t have the screw in the front of the barrel or the one that sticks down through the front of the magazine housing into a slot in the barrel flange. It must be indexed some other way.

I will see if I can unscrew the barrel. I have a tool made for the job. I remember putting it in a “safe place.”

[Peter Laidler]

The barrels weren't indexed as such as I recall. Just lined up exactly with the front of the casing and then screwed in further until the slot aligned with the locating screw. Then range tested for feed and ejection. All on automatic fire!

[Peter Laidler]

As a bit of a late afterthought....... I knew someone in England that had an ex film prop Lanchester when they were semi-legal-after-a-fashion......... He cured several stoppage and ammo problems by drilling into the side of the breech block, threading the hole, inserting an allen key grub screw to lock the firing pin block into the breech block. This eliminated the inertia fire mechanism into a fixed firing pin. As another result of the fixed f/p, he had the advantage of API to boot.

As a matter of interest, I have suggested to Badger that in view of the SMG interest on the forum, where SMG matters seem to be scattered around willy-nilly, that there be a dedicated SMG section. The volume of stuff will never set the world on fire but maybe there'll be sufficient to keep an SMG thread ticking over - especially with the US contingent appetite for Sht barrel rifle variations

[bigduke6]

As a matter of interest, I have suggested to Badger that in view of the SMG interest on the forum, where SMG matters seem to be scattered around willy-nilly, that there be a dedicated SMG section. The volume of stuff will never set the world on fire but maybe there'll be sufficient to keep an SMG thread ticking over - especially with the US contingent appetite for Sht barrel rifle variations

Would be an interesting forum, (probably a bit frustrating for us in the UK and other countries) but still good for those who can possess them, or for a lucky few who can have access to fire them on occasions, looking for something the other day and I was directed to a site that produced a "tube gun" in the USA, the price was a bit eye watering at $8000, don't know the laws etc over there but surely you could build a Sten from scratch for very little ?? only mention the Sten as the Blue prints are available in the Knowledge Library see link below.

Milsurps Knowledge Library - Blueprints/Drawings