Safe to shoot this rifle?

[SMLE1927]

Hi everyone

Looking for some advice on whether or not this desporterized enfield is safe to shoot? I acquired this NRF (1918?) No1 mk3, FTR’d 1953, a few years back and finally collected all the parts I needed to restore it. Now I know most of you probably don’t find the BSA post war rifles all that interesting from a collector stand point but I’ve always personally enjoyed them as they are built on the original receivers but always seem to have a new 53’ barrel. I feel like you get the best of both worlds, an old battle rifle but a total refurbishment from the factory. Plus I don’t feel as guilty shooting them. This one was built on a National rifle factory receiver but has the cypher scrubbed for some reason? The inside of the barrel is pristine and clearly didn’t see very much shooting from its previous owner. My concern is when I bought the rifle it was clearly not stored properly and had active rust on the Knox and barrel that had to be removed. Hopefully you can see the attached pictures that show this. The pitting is not very deep on the Knox, not much deeper then the armourer marks, but towards the muzzle they get a little deeper. My question is this level of pitting something I should be concerned about? Is the rifle safe to shoot? I sit behind a desk most days and my knowledge of metallurgy is non existent. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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[BurtonP]

Id have no concerns about shooting it. The metal is very thick where the pitting is.

[CINDERS]

The pressures towards the muzzle will be a lot less than at the chamber and just in front of it, however best to wait until one of the qualified persons here weigh in who work or have worked on the Lee line Brian Dick if he sees this thread will no doubt chime in. Nice looking rifle will out last all of us and then some if looked after.

[ssgross]

For comparison, here are some pics of a No. 4 Mk.1* I brought back to life - a lend lease turn that saw some wet somewhere. It pulled on my heart strings and I bought it out of a crate. Deep exterior corrosion on most all wood-to-metal contact points.
https://www.milsurps.com/showthread....l=1#post466576
That exterior corrosion looks way worse than it actually is. Compare your pitting to the depth of the cut for the front sight cross-pin, or a dovetail on other rifles, or any blind tapped hole in the barrel for front or rear sights, barrel mounted scope block, or any other reason to drill or mill a barrel exterior. Now Compared to these, our exterior corrosion pits are just scratches.
Go shooting, and have fun.

[scharfschutzen63]

Shoot it. I would.

[browningautorifle]

Agreed, should be good to go.

[pisco]

I can’t see a problem I have shot rifles with far worse pitting the that

[limpetmine]

Nice find of an FTR's NRF rifle, too. Collectable in its own right.

[Singer B]

Classic Firearms sent me a 91/30 much worse than that. I did have my gunsmith check it out and she said it was safe so I would assume yours would be safe also. Enjoy it!

[SMLE1927]

I really appreciate the reply’s everyone, I’m starting to see a consensus form. I am not too worried about the Knox pits with the thicker metal but more concerned about the few deeper ones down the barrel. I take your point though CINDERS that the pressure would start to diminish as you go down the barrel. Nice job on the No4 ssgross, looks great. I was pretty happy to find a NRF for the collection limpetmine, it goes well with FTR53 SSA and 1944 dispersal I found! All with great bores. I’m just sad that the cypher was scrubbed on this one and it looks like it was done at BSA. Can’t imagine why you’d do that? You guys are slowly building my confidence!