Recently in General Rifles Category

Part 1 of the Saga is here.

Part II

Eventually the Go gage showed up, but useless until today...

The replacement bolt showed up from GunParts today.

I assembled it and picked up .010...not enough. The NO-GO still closes.

I stuck a bit of shim stock at the rear of the locking lug....026. When the bolt is rotated down, the shim (wedged between the lug on the bolt and the receiver body) was enough to push the bolt up just enough. The GO goes, and the NO-GO no-goes.

I don't know what more to do except put a bit of spot weld on the receiver body (or rear of the lug on the bolt) and smooth it to the right height so the bolt gets pushed forward enough. Unless I can find a vendor who will mike bolt bodies for me and generate one long enough.

I can't shoot it while it is doing this to brass.

I saw some brass split at the base when I took the SMLE out last weekend. The firing sequence is as follows.

1. The firing pin shoves the case forward, rim against the breech.
2. The primer detonates. If it's not heavily crimped in place, it backs out, shoving the bolt and barrel as far apart as it can.
3. The thin, forward part of the case expands to fill and grip the chamber while the bullet moves out of the case and down the barrel.
4. The solid case head can't expand and grip the chamber, so it moves rearward, re-seating the primer, stretching the case walls just forward of the head, and stopping when it hits the bolt face. (In rear-locking actions like the Lee, the bolt and receiver also compress/stretch to add a little more movement. The higher the pressure, the more they move.)
5. If (and only if) the amount of head movement exceeds the elastic limits of the case, the cartridge separates into two pieces.

I was getting a lateral split, 180 degrees around the case, about an 1/8th inch from the base. There was also a slight angle to that 1/8th inch relative to the rest of the case...almost as if the ejector was trying to twist the base off. I've ordered go - no go gauges from Midway. Apparently there are 5 different bolt heads you can get to adjust headspace (update: the bolt heads are for the IV, not the III that I have)...or I had some bad brass. I was using factory Remington, so I wouldn't suspect the brass right off.



...and getting onto an Enfield forum gave me the answer.

And I am told the yellow paint was "tropical" camo and I shouldn't had taken it off. Tough, it was butt-ugly, covered the proof marks, and the rifle is certainly not a collector-grade piece anyway. I need to find a longer bolt-body. Something substantially longer than 5.493.

Anywho, the rifle was made in Ishapore in 1916 as a Mark 1 III with the mag cutoff and volley sights, referbed at Ishapore to the Mark 1 III* pattern in 1940, and referbed again in '67 or '68.

I have disassembled the SMLE again to work on polishing the remaining paint off the small metal parts.  Remember that when I got this, all metal parts were painted a faded yellow.  You can see in the picture that bits and pieces of paint  remain. I've hooked up a polishing wheel to my benchpress with #6 high gloss cleaning and polishing compound.  Over the next few days I will try to clean this puppy up more.

OK, I got MT installed and imported most entries and comments.  Now I need to work on the design.

Gun Stuff:

OK, it was a fight with the NICS check, but I finally got the SMLE MK1 III* to it's new home.&nbsp; The bore is amazingly clean and bright with sharp rifling.&nbsp; Apparently all metal parts, including what was under wood, was painted yellow a long while ago.&nbsp; The paint has faded to a dull brown.&nbsp; <i>A Cadet Rifle possibly?</i>&nbsp; What I thought was a patina of brown rust on the barrel turns out to be paint with a beautiful blue below.

Although it is a pain to take off, the paint protected the metal and there is a deep smooth blue under the paint.&nbsp; So far, no rust or even pitting that I can see.

As I remove paint, proofs and markings are coming to the surface.&nbsp; All the serial numbers match so far. 5 digits 18xxx with the suffix Z.&nbsp; It must have been renumbered, cuz I found a spot marked 2-228 with the 2-228 over struck with a 18xxx Z 

I'm not sure where it was made yet as the only thing I've found is a Crown over GRI over crossed flags....hinting at British proofing at one time (the crossed flags are a British proofing mark).&nbsp; Another spot on the stock socket has No. 1 MKIII&nbsp; FR&nbsp; 40 struck in.( 1940?)&nbsp; As the paint comes off I hope to find more.&nbsp; I'm also going to need to buy a book on these.&nbsp; I've found several crowns, TTSH, 39, 98, NF, .303, and TONS stamped on the barrel.&nbsp; I also found a broad arrow -&gt; which usually denotes British ownership.

A lot of work cleaning this old girl, but fun.&nbsp; She has been completely disassembled and all the small parts are soaking in thinner outside the back door...and I am scouring the Int3rw3b looking for information on markings.

OK, I'm going with Indian Ishapore manufacture (prior to independence) on this although I don't see any RFI (Rifle Factory Ishapore) markings. The broad arrow is in 3 places including the stock disk cut in the wood. The GRI stands for George Rex Imperiatus and was specific to SMLEs made in India.

This old lass is bought and paid for...and I should be able to pick it up this week. The NICS lines were down and I couldn't take it with me.




Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk 1 III*...such a smooth action.
When it is in my hot hands I'll check the numbers and proofs to get her story...then off to the range.

Update:  Thursday. Haven' t gotten it yet.  PITA.  They've got someone in repairing the line to the NICS.  I was supposed to pick it up today.  If I can't get it tomorrow or Saturday, I have to wait until next Thursday when they're open late again.

Justin picked up one of these in a private sale...

An 1873 Winchester in .32-20 manufactured in the early 1890s.



He's already got some replica SSAs, a Winchester 62 from the 30s he restored, and a Marlin 336 in 30-30 - I can see him collecting these older pieces all of his life as he can afford them.  He made a good deal, paying about a third of what a like specimen is running at Collectors

Mayhaps mine will  be a classic one day...a Marlin 1894cs in .357.  Mayhaps not, but I like it.

The international stock showed up. I am stunned at how nice the 1022 looks now. I don't want to even shoot it - it might get dirty. I got a new stainless barrel with the deal. I've got two other stocks now, so I just need a receiver/bolt and a trigger group to make a whole new rifle.  Maybe about $200 or less. 






Update:  And so it starts.  I just bought a trigger group for $54.  I've seen receivers for $75, and bolt assemblies for $37.  So for a total of $166 I get a new Ruger 1022.  The new stainless barrel (with sights) I got for nothing.  I've got a composite stock that came on the original rifle, and a spotless wood stock I bought at a garage sale for $10 last year.  A couple of bucks for a scope mount and I'm good to go.

I'm going to need to get a new 1022 built...this one is too pretty to shoot.