Reproduction SMLE stock

[bigduke6]

190 pounds does not convert well to AU dollars

I can't see someone making them for less...... there is a Guy in NZ who does a good job but don't think he mass produces and does more of a one off.

[Flying10uk]

I did buy a NOS front hand guard for a SMLE by Slazenger off eBay from someone in the States, at a reasonable price, about a year ago. At the time he had several available but all are probably sold now.

Another method I have used to acquire the top hand guards for a U.K. deactivated SMLE for which I needed a complete wood set for was to convert No4 top hand guards. I realise that this may sound far-fetched and it may not be suitable for live rifles but it was do-able for me and, although not perfect, resulted in a reasonable set of hand guards. Basically the "donor parts" which are needed are 2 No4 rear hand guards and one front hand guard. One of the No4 rear hand guards is reshaped into the SMLE rear hand guard and the front and the other rear No4 hand guards are glued together with an overlapped joint. It is then cut and shaped to size and small, thin slithers of wood may need to be glued to the inside of the hand guards. Obviously, I have massively simplified my description of the procedure in order to just give an idea of what's involved in the conversion. The point which I am making is that it is possible to convert the common No4 hand guards into the not so common SMLE hand guards if it's only going to be fitted to a deactivated rifle. As already stated this procedure may not be suitable for live rifles.

[browningautorifle]

Flying Pig has taken on the challenge of reproducing Ross stocks but possibly has encountered this. Nothing like spending 10 hours and then having a chunk of wood blow out and have to start over again.

Yes, I haven't heard much from him about this subject in a while.

[Colonel Enfield]

There are people out there making reproduction stocks. However, some buyers think that they should be available at surplus stock prices.

Not an entirely unreasonable view, IMHO. Obviously they're not going to be super-cheap, but when they cost almost as much as a brand-new rifle there's a point where you can understand why people don't want to pay that. I'd be interested to know the feasibility of using synthetic material for a full SMLE stock too - that might be more affordable that working with wood?

[tatou]

Anyhoo, what would be good is for a commercial stock maker with a multi-spindle three axis computer controlled machine to bang some out. The code for the program would take a bit to produce, but once done, stocks could be produced by the truckload. Sell them world wide.

Boyds gunstock in the USA already produce sporter stock for the Lee Enfield and also full military stock for the Pattern 1914. I'm guessing adjusting their program for a full length Lee Enfield forend would not be too difficult for them since they already have the rear inletting portion figured out. I tried sending a request on their ''request form'' but if not enough people ask for them it might be futile.
Like you said... a lot of people want them at 1990 prices.... not gonna happen.

[browningautorifle]

a lot of people want them at 1990 prices

New made wood wouldn't be cheap.

[Bindi2]

Just like they want to buy rifles at immediate post war prices in factory new condition. Yeah right, lithgows in Australia are approaching $1,000 the snipers $6,500 +, XPs $10,000+ get used to the increases.

[martins8589]

There was a complete fore woods for a MkIII on that site with acrutments (Bands,Nosecap etc) $586.00/AU plus postage............ can get a reasonable shooter for that.

And did it sell for that price?

[CINDERS]

# 18 That was the final sale price after 27 bids on fleabay + $25 postage so over $600 smackers thank you very much I heard the person that sold it had to be taken to hospital because they could not stop clapping

[BushyFromOz]

A multi spindle CNC machine would be the key to reproducing stock sets. While it is possible to do them on a pantograph the time and labour is considerable.
I stopped doing them years ago due to the time needed to produce one and the inherent possibility of a imperfection in the blank rendering a stock into a piece of firewood.
Flying Pig has taken on the challenge of reproducing Ross stocks but possibly has encountered this. Nothing like spending 10 hours and then having a chunk of wood blow out and have to start over again.

Im actually looking into a cnc router with a manually indexed 4th axis. So much open source stuff out there, its not overly expensive. Digitizing a stock is the more difficult problem

---------- Post added at 10:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:25 PM ----------

Boyds gunstock in the USA already produce sporter stock for the Lee Enfield and also full military stock for the Pattern 1914. I'm guessing adjusting their program for a full length Lee Enfield forend would not be too difficult for them since they already have the rear inletting portion figured out. I tried sending a request on their ''request form'' but if not enough people ask for them it might be futile.
Like you said... a lot of people want them at 1990 prices.... not gonna happen.

Due to the 100 dollar export limit, you would never get it out of the states unfortunately.