Lithgow SMLE Accuracy project

[AradoAR234]

Thanks for all the tips and advice on stock finishes everyone. As this is more of an accuracy project as opposed to a restoration, I was tossing up using tung oil on the interior of the timber as it appears to dry and seal better than linseed oil. The weather in Tasmania is pretty ordinary, with lots of rain, snow, sleet and assorted moisture that gets inside full wood timbers after hours of exposure to the elements. Once I get it shooting as well as possible, I intend taking it deer Hunting in the highlands next season, as I have done with my Remington P14 for years. I didn't want to have to disturb the set up too much by stripping it down to dry everything out afterwards.

Plus rust seems to form on everything over our long winter inside the gun safe, so I need to liberally coat all the hidden metal surfaces with a film of relatively thick oil which I don't want seeping into the timber work when everything heats up from firing. Believe me, I have been hunting with my service rifles for nearly 50 years in the worst possible weather, and I understand why synthetic stocks are so popular. No way would I fit one to my Lee Enfield though

My last BSA ( circa 1920 ) was so oil soaked that repairing the fore-end around the receiver was very problematic and I ended up just living with it instead of risking more damage.

Back on topic though, the timber on this reproduction stock is very hard, much more so than coachwood, and the grain appears to be very dense, particularly on the butt. Being new, untreated timber that has never had a finish applied represented a bit of a novelty after always working on much older seasoned timber. I found the raw linseed oil application ( as per the original treatment ) acted differently on the separate pieces. I actually did seal up a length of guttering to use as a bath for the fore-end and handguards ( I used a new piece...the house renovations can wait ) and a large deep baking dish for the butt. Keeping the fire extinguisher handy, I placed the containers on a barbeque plate so no naked flame was directly on them, and heated up the oil until it was nearly too hot to touch then put in the pieces.

I don't think the armourers at Lithgow will be falling over themselves to duplicate my set up, but it worked for me. Pretty labour intensive, as I had to wear welding gloves and keep removing the oil baths before they got too hot, build up or dampen down the fire in the barbie, and try and keep the heat as constant as possible. When I took them out hours later, I let them stand vertical in a tub for all the excess to drain off overnight.

Although all made from the same piece of timber, the for-end absorbed and dried out from the oil much faster than the other bits, with the Butt appearing to be the most dense grain of all. It was sticky days later, so I wiped off the excess with a turps rag and is now dry to touch. So all the inletting , screw holes and impossible to reach parts of the wood have been thoroughly soaked as per the "official" treatment, and I'll let them sit until my next lot of days off come around ( I'm a shift worker ). Sealing the inside of the fore-end might end up being a mixture of tung oil, beeswax and linseed/turps mix heated up to a paste like I used on the internal timber of my P14, but I have the rest of what passes for summer here to decide.

Sorry no photo's yet....I've taken them but am still waiting to get them uploaded....

[AradoAR234]

Leaving the woodwork for now, one of the issues I was going to run into was accurate windage adjustment. Even though I have modified a front sight adjuster for an AK47 to fit the Lithgow sight blade, it still mean removing the nose cap every time, which is something I'm trying to avoid. With the fore-end fully assembled and bedded correctly, I really would prefer to leave it as is.

No way was I going to pay the exorbitant prices they want for WW1 Lithgow windage adjustable rear leaf, however I did manage to find one for half the price they had been going for. I have used them before and found them very precise, and so much simpler and quicker to use than drifting the fore sight left and right. Even though I'll have the mounting plate for the Central range sight fitted, it is still about accuracy from a standard issue rifle.

I always thought the sighting set up on the 03 Springfield was overated and a little fragile, and the first batch of Lithgow rifles ( 1912 onwards----) had a very robust and practical military sight. The windage feature was dropped in later rifles for a number of reasons but for this project it will be invaluable.