Full Epoxy Bedding

[Mit]

Hi,

Long time lurker first time poster. To be honest, every time I have had a question I have searched the archives and found an answer in no time, so I hope that my searching skills haven't failed me this time.

I am in the process of building a no1mk3* into a "range rifle". I have my original and "collectable" Lee Enfield's but wish to put them aside to both reduce wear and to try and get that slight advantage against my comrades K31's, M38's and M1903's.

I have acquired most of the parts including an unused Lithgow heavy barrel, sights (PH5a, windmill foresight), opened up nose cap and a set of wood work already reamed for the H contour barrel.

The draws in the rifle were completely degraded and I had to chisel them 10mm to get to hard timber.

I have previously rebuilt draws for my old target rifle and also that of friends but this time I wanted to do something different and epoxy bed the action. This is partly due to the wide ranging conditions in which I shoot. I was inspired by this video; by Nathan Foster.

My question (after the long winded intro) is.... can the bedding compound take up the gap in the draws.

I own and have read Roger Wadham's excellent book as well as Skennerton's and have searched the net. Most information in relation to epoxy bedding Lee Enfield's is centred around spreading the load of the contact surfaces and not on actually bedding the action in the stock.

Cheers,

Mitch

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.

[CINDERS]

Umm welcome to the forum the vid does not work for me anyway. It may be an interesting thing that but I am not sure how you would form it up to the 70 degrees (I think) of the draws and given the width of them they may not stand (The compound) up to the constant recoil forces. Others will chime in I am sure. I have Wadhams, Skennertons books also all of Nathans books (6 of)as well, in fact met up with him when in NZ and had a pleasant day on the range shooting his 308, 7mm Rem Mag and his 7mm Practical a really top guy he knows the ropes.

[Doco overboard]

Watching that video and reading here about these types of rifles has my interest in obtaining one all of the sudden. Fitting the stocks correctly and the knowledge associated with or without the use of epoxy and understanding the recoil characteristics and how they are related or being transmitted is extremely fascinating.

[mrclark303]

A couple of points I have found from doing this in the past, not saying this is correct, but it has worked for me.

A No4 I bought cheap a few years back had really bad draws and splitting, in a really poor state, I replaced the forend eventually, but in order to see how it shot I took it down to the workshop, glued and pegged the splits, then cleaned with degreaser and ruffed the contact points and draws.

Made a really strong mix of repair fibreglass paste, carefully applied to the prepared areas, covered the underside of the barreled action with oil and quickly fitted the the rifle up and tightened everything up.

30 mins later carefully seperate the action from the woodwork and you should have a "perfectly" bedded rifle..

There are variables of course, like the wood being a natural medium and moving around with heat and humidity and the 2 pack fibreglass material that won't move, not such an issue here in the UK, but it could I would imagine be a real problem in some countries.

How long will it last, that's a question, it depends how well you prepared the woodwork, what paste you used and how you mixed it, but it should last for a good long time.

By no means a substitute for proper bedding, but it has it's place.

[Mit]

Thanks for the information.

I will try and bed it and leave the gap between the draws and stiple the timber surfaces to try and maximise adhesion. I was going to use a purpose made bedding kit for the majority of the work but also thought about using PC-7 or a similar thicker "putty" type adhesive to build up the draws before doing the pour.

If I later find that the epoxy draws are starting to crack, give way or am otherwise unhappy with them, I can grind them out and replace them with timber (or even copper block faces?).

I will use the wrist/fore-end contact and the height of the action resting at the front trigger guard screw for reference points.

If any one else has tried this method let me know.

And sorry Cinders, I fixed the video up and it should work now.

[Strangely Brown]

I have acquired most of the parts including an unused Lithgow heavy barrel, sights (PH5a, windmill foresight)

Windmill foresight?
This is something I haven't heard of before, I assume it's an Aussie made sight or modification?

[Mit]

I'm not sure if it is a solely Australian modification but they are relatively common of range rifles. It is a 4 bladed foresight in which all the blades are equal in height but have either different thickness, profiles or have Bisley dots/Miller lines. There is a spring tensioned detent in the rear that is pushed with in to allow the sight to rotate. I have attached a picture of mine.






Attachment 80137

[Strangely Brown]

Thanks Mitch,

That's a new one on me and windmill aptly describes it!

[CINDERS]

They come up on flea bay from time to time and command a good price.

[30Three]

Would you consider bedding the rifle in the old fashioned manner; as the rifle would have been modified for target shooting in period.
Maybe a more challenging project! But probably more satisfying when it comes right.