General Rifles: November 2007 Archives
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. The bore is amazingly clean and bright with sharp rifling. Apparently all metal parts, including what was under wood, was painted yellow a long while ago. The paint has faded to a dull brown. <i>A Cadet Rifle possibly?</i> 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. So far, no rust or even pitting that I can see.
As I remove paint, proofs and markings are coming to the surface. All the serial numbers match so far. 5 digits 18xxx with the suffix Z. 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). Another spot on the stock socket has No. 1 MKIII FR 40 struck in.( 1940?) As the paint comes off I hope to find more. I'm also going to need to buy a book on these. I've found several crowns, TTSH, 39, 98, NF, .303, and TONS stamped on the barrel. I also found a broad arrow -> which usually denotes British ownership.
A lot of work cleaning this old girl, but fun. 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.
Gun Stuff:
OK, it was a fight with the NICS check, but I finally got the SMLE MK1 III* to it's new home. The bore is amazingly clean and bright with sharp rifling. Apparently all metal parts, including what was under wood, was painted yellow a long while ago. The paint has faded to a dull brown. <i>A Cadet Rifle possibly?</i> 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. So far, no rust or even pitting that I can see.
As I remove paint, proofs and markings are coming to the surface. All the serial numbers match so far. 5 digits 18xxx with the suffix Z. 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). Another spot on the stock socket has No. 1 MKIII FR 40 struck in.( 1940?) As the paint comes off I hope to find more. I'm also going to need to buy a book on these. I've found several crowns, TTSH, 39, 98, NF, .303, and TONS stamped on the barrel. I also found a broad arrow -> which usually denotes British ownership.
A lot of work cleaning this old girl, but fun. 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.
