Restoring a sectionalised SMLE No 1 Mk III*

[twj42]

Hi All
I am just starting restoring what I believe to be a sectionalised SMLE No1 Mk III*, Enfield made. As you can see from the photos, it is in pretty poor condition, with some quite bad pitting on the barrel and receiver, covered in a bad black paint job :-( The plan is to remove the paint, in as gentle a way as possible (I will try paintstripper, but I guess it will come down to wire brushing of some sort). The bolt I believe can be cleaned just using 0000 wire wool and oil, for the stock, there is good advice in this forum, and I will follow that, finishing up with linseed or Tung oil. I will buy a selection of replacement screws from DS Solutions.
What I am interested in is any advice on how to finish the metal parts, once the cleaning is complete. I am looking for a reasonably authentic finish, and while I know some had a black paint finish, I'm not keen on that. The sectionalised parts will of course be painted red, and that may dictate the finish - I will go for matt black paint if I have to use paint.
I am also interested in any comments on the authenticity of the parts - the screw holding the rear of the trigger guard is obviously wrong, the screw holding the safety and the cocking piece look suspicious to me. All comments gratefully received!
Cheers, Tim
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[Peter Laidler]

I'd strip it right down loosely assemble it and/or wire the oidds and ends to it with some copper wire then send it to a metal finishers and ask them to chemically strip it town to bright steel and dunk it in the chemical black bath for the requisite time. It'll come back shining like a black babies bottom. They'll have dunked it in hot oil so you properly degrease it and paint the sectioned bits in a red enamel. Re-assemble properly, making sure that the whole action is exactly to the correct mechanical spec. Polish the working surfaces too..... Then sit back and enjoy.

Not authentic as when we rebuilt them (hundreds of them during the WARP programmes) they were bead blasted and phosphated as opposed to being chemically blacked