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My No.1 MKIII SMLE - Restoring begins! 10/22/17

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    Posted: October 25 2015 at 3:40pm
Back in 1983, when I was 14, I inherited this Lee Enfield from my Great Great Uncle. Someone sporterized the stock but left the rest untouched. I got some ammunition for it, shot it a few times and put it away. About a year later my brother asked if he could shoot it. When he went to check the bore it looked obstructed. He said I probably shot corrosive ammo through it and the barrel was ruined. I put the gun back away and didn't touch it until a couple weeks ago. I ended working on cleaning it up and decided to see what was wrong with it. I pushed an old jag and rod through the crud. To my surprise it wasn't rust that came out, it was dirt. I pushed a glob of dirt with a cocoon like thing out of the barrel. Whatever it was made a nest in it! LOL Long story short after some elbow grease it came out shiny and clean and no pits were visible at all. I took it to my gunsmith buddy and he checked the headspace. It is right at .004 over. He said shoot it! I was so excited that the barrel was not ruined! I bought some Prvi Partisan 180 SP's for it from Midway. They drop in the chamber and the bullets muzzle check about two thirds in. I also acquired some Igman 180 FMJ's. They drop in as well but muzzle check about three quarters of the way in. I can't wait to shoot it! These rifles are AWESOME! I just wish I would have inspected it a long time ago. I could have been enjoying it for the past 30 years! SmileSmileSmile
 
Brad
 
 
1917 NO1. MKIII ShtLE
1942 NO4. MK1 four digit BSA

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote White Rhino Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 4:40pm
I had got 3 barreled actions that were full of dirt , it looked like they had sat in a closet for a long time before the guy I got them from traded them to me !!!
I was worried like you when I looked down them they looked bad, but when the first patch came out covered with dusty ghost turds I was a bit relieved .....
"White Rhino"

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote hoadie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 4:41pm
Is there anything stamped on the I.D. disk?
Loose wimmen tightened here
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BMP Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 5:48pm
Originally posted by White Rhino White Rhino wrote:

I had got 3 barreled actions that were full of dirt , it looked like they had sat in a closet for a long time before the guy I got them from traded them to me !!!
I was worried like you when I looked down them they looked bad, but when the first patch came out covered with dusty ghost turds I was a bit relieved .....
 
Thumbs up!
 
Brad
1917 NO1. MKIII ShtLE
1942 NO4. MK1 four digit BSA

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Canuck Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 5:50pm
Dusty ghost turds? Now there is a term I haven't heard before! NICE rifle, BMP!
Castles made of sand slip into the sea.....eventually
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BMP Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 5:50pm
Originally posted by hoadie hoadie wrote:

Is there anything stamped on the I.D. disk?
 
1917 NO1. MKIII ShtLE
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BMP Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 5:59pm
1917 NO1. MKIII ShtLE
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BMP Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 6:02pm
Thanks Canuck!
 
Brad
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1942 NO4. MK1 four digit BSA

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bear43 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 6:04pm
Nice looking rifle! I've been there before on the ghost turds!...lol.. What is stamped on the right side of the wrist, under the bolt handle? I am curious on the year and manufacturer, especially since it had an early style cocking piece on the bolt.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BMP Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 6:06pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BMP Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 6:09pm
Hey bear I posted one above your post. It's kind of fuzzy. It looks like it is a SHT LE????
 
Brad
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BMP Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 6:56pm
The bolt says 1476 on it.
 
Brad
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2015 at 5:43am
Probably a mud dauber wasp had nested in there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_dauber
They love little tight tubes.
Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Pukka Bundook Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2015 at 6:30am
Although cut down, these old L-Enfields still look attractive to me!
 
Very pleased the bore is good!
I once bought a Kar '98 at auction. looked good on the outside but we couldn't see through the barrel.
Got it for $50. 00 on spec.
Turned out it was a small roll of tissue paper in the bore just in front of the chamber, and the bore was As New! Not a mark in it , just perfect!
Sometimes we land on our feet....
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote hoadie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2015 at 8:23am
..my "Vimy Vet" was much the same. Stuffed up with bits of old oily rags & stuffed into the barn.
Porcupine - or something - got into the barn @ some point & chewed the wood poles on the Nazi general's flags my x-fiancés father had put in there, along with all the old rifles her grandfather had.(Guess the mice made homes out of the flags.)
It was a miracle that the critter didn't chew - up the Enfield, too.
When I finally got the thing unstuffed, it turned out to be a beauty!!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote White Rhino Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2015 at 9:54am
Originally posted by Shamu Shamu wrote:

Probably a mud dauber wasp had nested in there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_dauber
They love little tight tubes.


Those Dirt Daubers are bad here !!!  Left some work gloves laying out in the shop !!  went to put them on, they had a dirt dauber nest in each ringer !!!!
My Mother and the kids decided it would be nice to clean the wood shop for me one time , when they finished they had filled 4, 5 gal. buckets with dirt dauber nests and spider webs !!!!
Now its just as bad as it was then !!!  guess thats the price you pay to live out in the swamp like I do !!!
If Im not knocking dirt dauber nests of things, Im getting stung by the red wasps, or transferring a snake or an Alligator on down the road ... or fighting with a racoon or possum for control of my barn and shop !!!!!  oh cant leave out the Armadillos !!!! they destroy a yard in no time !!
As for the Foxes , Coyotes, and other critters. they only take all the chickens and other fowl , they leave ya alone after that !!! until you get more !!!!
Good thing the Black bears that live around me have not decided that my place is a grocery store !!!
"White Rhino"

"Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer." --W. C. Fields
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