Enfield barrel relining/sleeving |
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rondog
Newbie Joined: November 28 2012 Location: Denver, CO, USA Status: Offline Points: 9 |
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Posted: October 03 2014 at 8:28pm |
Has anybody ever had an Enfield barrel relined or sleeved? Comments, pros/cons, recommendations?
I have a 1917 No.1 Mk.III SMLE with a toasted barrel that I'd like to save. Thanks!
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Shamu
Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 17603 |
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First you have to find a barrel, which isn't easy!
Check out the Criterion thread here for some more info. |
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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rondog
Newbie Joined: November 28 2012 Location: Denver, CO, USA Status: Offline Points: 9 |
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Uh, I HAVE a barrel! The one on the rifle that's NFG. I'm asking about having it drilled out, then a sleeve inserted, re-bored and re-rifled. This was recommended to me, I'm asking if anyone here has had it done and can recommend someone to do it. And the Criterion thread is about NEW barrels for the No.4 Mk.1 rifles, not the No1. Mk.III SMLE's.
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SW28fan
Special Member Donating Member Joined: July 02 2007 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 2951 |
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Some SMLE were sleeved to 22 RF to make Trainers. Marstar in Canada has barrels they will be fairly Pricey and take an extra week to get across the border
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Lithgow
Senior Member Joined: October 25 2005 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1417 |
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I have sleeved plenty of .22 barrels but no centre fire. I have heard of it being done and I guess the process would be the same.
Get a liner drill the barrel and solder the liner in. Re chamber and bobs your uncle. The chamber end would be a little different on a 303 as it would be larger than the rest of the liner. |
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DairyFarmer
Senior Member Joined: July 19 2014 Location: In The South Status: Offline Points: 555 |
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Don't know much about interchanging barrels, but at http://www.enfield-rifles.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7081, Canuck has a #4 with a worn out action.
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hybridfiat
Senior Member Joined: January 17 2014 Location: Western Austral Status: Offline Points: 175 |
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My guess is it would cost as much if not more than a new barrel and deliver poor accuracy.
Remember that to make a sleeve is very much the same process as a normal barrel but with narrow stock. Then there's the drilling out and the soldering and chambering. More processes than a straight swap. No-one makes sleeve barrels so you would have to start with a new .303 barrel and turn it down.
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Lithgow
Senior Member Joined: October 25 2005 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1417 |
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.312 liners are available but they are only 1/2 inch dia so not really an option in my opinion. You would be starting with an original barrel and turning it down to make the liner.
Cost would outweigh practicality in my opinion. I can understand that you would want to keep original serial numbers but personally, I would just rebarrel |
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Zed
Special Member Donating Member Joined: May 01 2012 Location: France Status: Offline Points: 5585 |
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You could find a kit to convert to .22 which is great if you need a .22 but I'd change the barrel.
I don't think trying to sleeve it back to .303 would be economical, and personally I would be concerned about reliability as these barrels aren't very large anyway so there's not much to work with. But I'm not a gunsmith so it's only a point of view!
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DairyFarmer
Senior Member Joined: July 19 2014 Location: In The South Status: Offline Points: 555 |
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TRX
Groupie Joined: November 20 2009 Location: Arkansas Status: Offline Points: 86 |
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Last time I checked I couldn't find any place with .311-.314" barrel liners. .308, .22, and a bunch of old-style slow twist liners for repairing black powder rifles seem to be all that's out there at the moment.
To keep your existing barrel you'll either have to turn the OD of a cut-rifled .311 blank or a barrel from a different gun down to 13mm or 1/2" to make your own liner. You could probably find a shop that can rebore and rifle to a larger caliber - 8mm/03 or .35/03 being the likely choices. Of course, the loading dies and the chambering reamer would be expensive; you don't see much "freshing" of barrels any more since the labor usually exceeds the value of the rifle.
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klr
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englishman_ca
Senior Member Joined: September 08 2009 Location: Almaguin Status: Offline Points: 1089 |
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I am sure that it can be done, but how much money do you want to spend? I know it would be way cheaper to find a replacement barrel than repair the old one.
I restore older Lee Metfords/Enfields and Martinis, and have looked long and hard to find a way to recover worn out, or cut down barrels. I typically need a full length 30.2 inches. Replacement barrels other than old used take off ones are just not out there for sale.
However, keeping the original barrel on an antique rifle is important for collectability. Not difficult for me to swop out barrels if I have a replacement, but I am working on 'collectable' guns that are worth a bit of money. Changing a barrel would make the gun shootable again, yes, but would hurt $$ value. Crazy, eh? The SMLE barrel is quite slim with not a lot of meat in there to drill out to fit a liner. Finding a liner is another adventure. I gave up on the idea of relining after talking to many seasoned gunsmiths. It can be done yes, but not many customers could afford the shop time, certainly not me! I could try to do it myself but the results might be questionable, I would not be comfortable doing it. Installing a .22 liner, no probs, but a 303?? No pictures to show you, but I have a possible solution. I have a project where I will be cutting off the original barrel ahead of the barrel reinforce and boring out the resulting threaded stub. I will then turn down the end of a a new barrel blank (a Vickers MG barrel) to fit into the stub. Once sweated together (or heat shrunk) I will cut the new chamber and reprofile the outside. Not my idea, some smiths have done this method of rebarreling for years. This looks to be the most viable option for me with the tools that I have in my workshop. This way I will keep the original serial numbers and markings but will have a new bore. I have recently seen one example on a Martini and it was very well done, the joint was almost invisible, just looked like a turning mark.. Still 'pie in the sky' right now. When I get my lathe set up, I'll let you know how it works. |
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A square 10
Special Member Donating Member Joined: December 12 2006 Location: MN , USA Status: Offline Points: 14452 |
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nice to see you here again , appreciate your input ,
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