I knew it...… Americans are weird……
Throw away a Lee Enfield… Weird…
I'm glad you showed some common sence and saved it...

 

you are right! I think I must have some Swedish blood in me that's why I rescued it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

That is pretty cool, looking forward to the updates!

 

I know very little about Brit Enfields. I've had a lot of them and shot a lot of them just for fun. I have a 303 barrel, how do you tell what model it's off of? I was in a embarrassing situation once that I forgot my rifle on a bear hunt. A Canadian friend offered to lend me his
Bear gun a sporterized 303. His family had killed piles of bears and all with 303s. That's the only time I've carried a 303 hunting.

 

What year? Who made it? I got reference material on all the markings.

 

I will have to look at the markings. but it is a no4 mk2 made at the fazakerley plant in 1952,,,,,,,,,,,

 

It could be one of the "Irish" contract. But they had contracts with several countries. Rob should be able to look it up. The mk2s made in the 50s were (in my opinion) the best of the bunch.

As far as barrel differences go.....if it has the 2 bayonet lugs at the muzzle, then it's a #4 barrel. If not then it's a #1 mk3 barrel. That's presuming that it has not been cut down.

 

What would be the barrel lengths of a #3 & #4 barrel? I got the one I have in with some 03A3 barrels I bought 20yrs ago. It does look
hurt. I bought them off my Gunsmith. I know he did some customs on P17s but I don't recall any on Brits. Back in 70s there was a mini craze on 458 Americans and P17 was popular donar.

 

Just off the top of my head I seem to recall 25" for either.

 

Im eagerly following this thread. I cant wait to see it restored. Those are just great rifles, so glad you got it and are able to restore it!

 

This is a 303 Brit barrel. I know what 1917 barrel is, we call them P17s around here, I don't know why. I you said 1917 most guys wouldn't know what you where talking about. I didn't think about it till your post but there was some 303 Brits on same 1917 pattern. Barrel stub would be similar but this one is for a Brit Enfield I'm sure, just don't know which one. The only 303 Brit I ever
paid attention to was 1895 Wins. Never been into Milsurps except 03s & 98s for actions or nice Krag Sporters. Every thing else goes to trade pile.

 

The metal finish is way above average, the 52 rifles may have seen service in Korea, looks likes yours has not seen any action, but rather the wood is beat up from being tossed about as it was added to the surplus process. New wood, is really going to set that rifle off as first rate. Congrates on the rescue of an iconic rifle .

 

Good luck finding new wood, it has almost become unobtanium and what is out there, for a set, sells for almost what the complete rifle does.

 

Sarco among others has new wood for that series. Some of the earlier marks, as indicated are very hard to find. For example working on restoring a "sporterized jungle carbine Mark 5" to some version of original conditioned required significant modification to a new Mark 4 fore wood to make it appear to be Mark 5 wood, since Mark 5 wood is not out there.

 

I have walnut wood on the way. walnut is almost impossible to find, there is some beech wood still to be had. I had to pay more than I wanted but I have nothing in the rifle to speak of,,,,,,,

 

Beech would be more correct for that mk2.

You have a point regarding the price of the rifle.

 

well I don't know about that, they had walnut stocks. the wood I am getting is original,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

An lee Enfield 1952 made in the fazakerley plant would be a beech stock, Savage production early in WW 2 of that variant model would be a walnut stock.

 

The next time a guy wants to throw a gun away. call me!

 

I restored one or two in my time. Parts are easy to get here, but some can be pricy. I have a small number in the box, shout if your stuck for anything, never know..

 

1950s #4 mk2 Faz stocks were beech. After WW2 there just was no more walnut left in Europe so beech was used. Some stocks from Pakistan, not beech, have been coming into the country. This is from their past mk2 production. Whatever the species, consider yourself lucky to get a set, especially the forearm.

 

thanks for the info! I still prefer walnut, but I have seen some nice looking beech wood,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

I just got the wood today, it was very dirty but I think it was never put on a gun. I cleaned it up with oxy-clean any hot water. then I dried it and reoiled with BLO and turpentine. then let is soak in then rubbed in straight BLO it looks great! I will post photos of the wood tomorrow, then next week I will start on the metal. stay tuned,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

I am very old school on dealing with original finishes on military rifle wood. I will not nor advise anyone to "clean" the wood with any kind of soap or solvent. I've seen more gorgeous original finishes ruined by well meaning types. Once you take the original aged patination off the wood...it's boinkered permanent like. Had a buddy many years ago that had a penchant for rubbing down nearly every rifle he got with acetone. He thought he was cleaning degreasing the wood...well he was at the cost of the original sheen and color. He acquired a gorgeous bolt mismatch mauser standard modell rifle. Standard models of the 20's and 30's had a flat out beautiful red orange walnut finished stock set...just one gorgeous deep color !. I offered to buy that rifle then for $300 . When he got tired of it he gave me a call and I went over to get it. Had to decline it as he rubbed the stock down with "cleaner" and it took that gorgeous red/orange down a huge bit and it no longer had that age old sheen to the finish it had. Just ruined it - for it will forever look like some bubba cleaned it up. Have a gorgeous '42 lonbranch I've been trying to find a butt for for several years. I have found new old stock with zero finish - nope. Or beat up cleaned examples - nope. Trying to find one that is period finish not drug through rocks and or scrubbed up is really hard anymore. Gone are the days when I used to be able to find sacks of military stocks at old time smithy's or bubba deer rifle builders. Seems anymore the first thing people do when they get an old military rifle is "clean it up" and more often than not they take value down more than a couple notches.
Took a very collectible 98k with SS marks in the wood to a reputable wood guy to fix a bad duffle bag cut. Explained to him the importance of not touching the original finish - in writing. Yeah you guess it he about belt sanded it and to me destroyed any collector value it had. He wound up paying me a decent sum to make the whole thing go away.... never used his "wood services" ever again. My method of "cleaning" any original finish wood involves one way and one way only. I take a large tub of Vaseline and let it melt in a pan in a high temp environment for a long spell . A lot of the "liquid" type oil in it leeches out leaving a more waxy like thick Vaseline . I rub that onto wood and rub it in then off with old cloths. I don't let it sit more than 30 min . This method cleans a lot of verdigris from the wood exterior and does not harm any original sheen/finish... that's how it should be.

 

I'll never forget the saleslady's comment at Pac-Nor barrels when I told her I had my own chambering reamer and I was sending it along with my action. "Why a 303" she said, like it was from Mars or Jupiter.

Because it's killed every animal on Earth and every race of Man, I told her. Three of my rifles now have a tight commercial chamber, and I own a matching RCBS full length sizing die. I was tired of huge Wartime chambers. Got a min spec SAAMI reamer from JGS for $86.

 

I got my walnut wood for my no4 all cleaned up and oiled. I have to say it is some nice wood and the photos dose not do it justice. next week I will bead blast all the metal and get it painted, I should have it all back together at the end of the week if all goes well,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

Lookiiin goood!

Before you paint it a great primer is Os-Pho, a near home Parkerizing. It's a phosphoric acid based primer steel treatment. Heating the metal prior to spraying or brushing it on accelerates the process.

AC

 

well this wood was unused, it had no "patina" just funk from sitting in storage for the last 60 or 70 years. so all I done was get the crude off. now it will age on the gun and no body but me and the Lord will ever know the difference,,,,,,,,,,,

 

OLSKOOL your check is in. The mail
Thanks again.