Troublesome Long Branch

[Peter Laidler]

As a bit part, not too experienced old time real Armourer I can't believe what I'm reading in this thread. It seems to defy all that I've learned about metallurgy - and small arms engineering - over the past one or two years.

[nijalninja]

Apologies Mr Laidler but I know nothing of metallurgy at this moment, hence I'm not jumping into it. Am I going about it the wrong way you reckon?

[stencollector]

I strongly suspect the little "L11" is either an inspectors mark or a batch mark when the rifle went for rebuild or refinishing at LB. I have found similar marks on LongBranch (and British) stens out of Canadian service, but only on the ones that are refinished to the grey park. The mark will normally consist of a letter and 2 or 3 digits.

[nijalninja]

Thanks Sten Collector I guess I might find such marks on future rifles.

OK so I don't mean to drag this thread on but the subject matter is still the same and I don't see any reason to start a new one, so I guess I'll just continue the journey of diagnosing this rifle here.

So I pulled it down today and had a close look at everything and there are a few things that are not 'in-spec' or perfect. So to start with I looked at the bearing of the barrel and knox form in the fore-end: There is plenty of up-pressure at the muzzle (I don't know specifically how much but some), but the barrel seems to sit slightly to the left for almost the whole length of the barrel (It is however still free floating properly where it should be). Looking right at the end of the fore-end I noticed the black marks from the barrel sitting in there and there was more black to the left than the right, then I compared that with the barrel wear and noticed the black was also more worn on this right side. So that is one problem.
Attachment 91698Attachment 91699Attachment 91700Attachment 91701

The draws are shiny and pressed back a little but the fore-end is still very tight to pull off and squeeze back in, so I am leaving them for now.

The action bedding in the fore-end looks like it is bearing properly gauging by the discolouration of the wood towards the front and back of the action recess. Green light.

Trigger guard seems to not quite be bottoming out but looking at the circle which approaches the collar as you tighten it you can see there is a faint ring which looks like the shape of the collar, which leads me to think it is close to bottoming out. Couple that with the fact that when you secure the guard by the rear screw and leave the main screw out it doesn't 'spring' out of the recess, which from what I know it is meant to do (Or is that just a MKIII thing?). Discolouration of the wood indicates it is bearing strong at the front and rear but loose in the middle, which is correct for the No4 right?
Attachment 91702Attachment 91703Attachment 91704

Final thing that I find a little confusing honestly is the trigger and sear bent surfaces: They are blacked over instead of polished. Its my first No4, but I am fairly certain that is not normal. A certain Mr Laidler indicated when I first got this rifle that it had likely been refinished in britain at some point with a bead blasting process (Please excuse me if I am wrong). Surely they would not have refinished every single surface of the rifle including these surfaces which are meant to be slippery, or has this rifle been bubba'd by someone wanting a black gun?
Attachment 91705Attachment 91706

[CINDERS]

I should say as you have discovered nijal it is bearing on one side of the fore end which would tend to disperse the group, not sure on the blackened surfaces on the sear and trigger all mine are mirror like.

[nijalninja]

BUGGER I meant to say "Bearing to the right". Serves me right for rushing it. Thanks for confirming Cinders, my only question is how to fix it without replacing the draws? Is it possible the stock is just warped in that direction? Yeah I think I might try and remove the blacking on these surfaces, since they really are not that slippery. The rifle doesn't have a super heavy or draggy pull but this could make it a little nicer I reckon.

I also meant to ask whether the old graphite powder in the barrel bearing is actually a viable way to help the barrel return to as close a position as possible to its 'normal' position after each shot.

[CINDERS]

I am not that qualified to say how to repair the fore end but would first of all have a look along it from the front to see if the stock warps to the left (Hence Rt side touching barrel) if this is the case then there are the armourer's here that will advise of you of the best course of action to take.
As these old girls have given sterling service to countless shooters across the decades its the least we can do as enthusiasts is bring them back to how they were meant to be.

[tbonesmith]

You are going to do more harm than good messing about with this. The bedding looks fine and probably just needs some finessing and crush collar adjustment.
That is a common look on your trigger parts. No bubba there, no bubba tell tales anywhere that I can see.
You can tinker with the bedding all you like, but it’s your barrel that’s had the hairy banana.

[nijalninja]

Yeah the bedding I agree looks fine, and yes the barrel is the most obvious problem, but how does one fix that? Is there a certified armourer's how-to on non centered barrels? The collar I want to examine a bit more to make sure it is actually crushing onto it before turning it down.

[Baal]

I’m no Enfield surgeon, but I think Peter is inferring that the barrel is toast and needs to be replaced.

As for centering the barrel in the channel I think it’s a matter of removing a very small bit of wood from the rear of the fore end. And then possibly repairing the draws after that if needed. But barrel first.