Enfield cavalry carbine

[Emb145]

Can you send Me the link as is a Lee Metford Carbine
Carl

[tatou]

Link Sent
Btw i wanted to mention that i am not affiliated with then, nor do i know if they are good to deal with.
I just found them online a few weeks ago and was planning to maybe buy a set later this winter... so if you buy a set it would be nice if you could let us know how things went and if the quality is as good as the picture.

[tatou]

I have converted several magazines.

Had a look at the link... all i can say is wow.
That is quite a set up and no wonder it turned up so good.
Btw, i was the one who purchased your LEC unfinished project, about two years ago. That is how i got one of your mags.
Since we cannot seem to find the original post, here's a few pics of that mag.
It's the bottom one, or the right one in the pics. (i knocked off the small link loop while playing with it )
Also i had a spare follower and MLE spring... so i fitted them to the mag.
Only down side is with that spring the mag will only accept 4 rounds now... an acceptable compromise for the moment.
Attachment 121119Attachment 121120Attachment 121121Attachment 121122Attachment 121123

And here's a pic of the carbine as of right now.
You probably don't recognize it... after talking with a couple of gents we came to the conclusion that the rifle had in fact been converted to a RIC.
So i decided to finish it as such, instead of a LEC
Attachment 121124

[Bluenoser]

Thanks for the feedback. You did a very nice job on that carbine restoration. As I recall, it has a very nice bore and I must confess to not having recognized it as an RIC conversion. The carbine mag conversions are more challenging than the Lee Speed mag conversions because the carbine floor plate fits between the sides with four dovetails for alignment whereas the floor plate on the Lee Speed mag is just brazed to the bottom of the sides - much less fiddly work. It is interesting that the magazine will only accept four rounds now that the earlier follower and spring have been fitted. The body dimensions of the reproduction should be identical to those of an original. I will compare an original carbine follower and spring to those of an MLE magazine.

[Emb145]

Nice wood here did you get it ?
I am going to use Smle screws at least for the time being 1.50 a pop from Apex
Carl

[tatou]

Thanks for the feedback

Thank you.
To be honest i would never have recognized it as a RIC myself but after talking with Doug Munro about another of my RIC he pointed out some BR stamps on it, indicating it had gone through the Birmingham facility.
Which was the place some the RIC's work was reportedly done.
Add to it the barrel was slightly shorter than a regular LEC we agreed it was very likely an RIC.
So with that in mind, last winter i had a friend machine me a barrel bushing.
I also had a stock set from an earlier failed attempt at a restoration so i adapted it to this carbine. I saved your stock for any future project.

The MLE followers are identical to the carbine ones.
But the springs are shorter on the carbine... which explains why the difference in number of rounds that could fit in it.
Your replica is 99% identical to an original, so no worries there
The only noticeable difference is with the feed lips ... and those are very close.
You really have to put it next to an original to see it...and then you really need to know what you are looking for.
If i was crooked enough i'm almost sure i could pass it for the real thing.

Interestingly when i took the mag out again tonight i went looking through my spare parts bins and found another spare spring.
That one had a bit of different curvature to it.
It seems to have lost some of it's tension and i could bent it slightly by hand....
Not sure if it loose it's shape again but once i fiddle with it a bit and installed it, the mag now can now hold 6 rounds again.

[tatou]

Nice wood here did you get it ?

Indeed regular metal screws are way less expensive than these repro ones.
I'm still not sure i'll go that route myself.
I'll wont probably have my stock set until early next year so i'll decide then.

The butt stock is from Long Lee sporter i had.
Any markings had been sanded so i made a patch where the butt plate tang was.
The handguard was on a restored carbine i purchased and i had replaced it with another i had made.
I reshaped it a bit to fit this RIC
The fore end was originally a SMLE Mk III fore end that i had cut and reshaped in the past....
10 years + ago i had started a restoration and had purchased that stock to do it. (that is the failed project i sometime talk about)
Keep in mind that at that time SMLE Mk III NOS fore end's could be found very easily and were quite cheap (paid $60 usd back then)
So anyway i still had it and decided to finally do something with it.... even though my stomach hurts each time i look at that wood that would now be worth in the 3 figures

[Bluenoser]

I saved your stock for any future project.

Just to be clear, that forestock is not my handiwork. It was on the rifle when I purchased it. The rifle also had an original hand guard and nose cap, which is why I purchased it. I needed the nose cap for a LMC Mk. 1 restoration I was doing which, based on the serial no., would have been issued to the RNWMP. That restoration really needed original hardware and, after almost 50 years fooling around with carbines, this is only the second original nose cap I have come across. The first one belonged to a well known and now deceased retired armorer who, wisely, would not part with it. The hand guard will go to one of the other carbine restorations I have in the queue.

Apologies to Emb145 for kind of hijacking the thread.

[tatou]

Apologies to Emb145 for kind of hijacking the thread.

Indeed... apologies too Emb145, but i hope you enjoyed the chat as much as i did.

[tatou]

not my handiwork

Well that is somewhat of a relief... i was wondering how someone could be so good with metal work but so average in wood work
I still think it can be salvage on a future project.
You must be talking about Englishman_ca...
The handguard on my above RIC is his work.... so is the nose cap.
The HG came on one of his restoration i purchased but it wasn't finished and the wood wasn't a perfect match... so i made another and kept this one.
The nose cap is a reproduction he finished for me and added some ''age'' and wear in a trade for a real MLE nose cap i had. (with a few other things in the trade but i can't remember what they were)

I am also restoring a LMC Mk I myself at the moment... i wish i had all original bits but unfortunately, as you know, it is next to impossible.
I started a tread on it but any further updates will have to wait until i receive a stock set.
Still it should be a fun build and a nice addition to the lineup.