Restoring ANOTHER Enfield, and have No1*** questions

I lucked (?) into an utterly bubba'd No1*** Enfield. I usually restore to Military condition, but this one is too far in the weeds for that. The barrel has been cut back to 19 and a quarter, the stocks were that ATI crap, and the stock bolt had been replaced with a lag bolt that was too long, with a spare socket for a spacer.

No, not kidding.

My gunsmith has already fixed the buggered threads in the receiver, I have a new bolt head on order, because APARRENTLY bubba thought it should be ground down with a sander outside of the extractor/spring area. Not to mention every screw head in that rifle is jacked up.

I have ordered replacement parts from Numrich, (for a No1 Mk3, because that is the closest match I can find) and have been getting wood off ebay, UNTIL my fore end came in the mail and it was a No 4 Mk1 sporter, NOT a No 1 of any kind.

Since this is going to be a sporter, and there will be bedding involved in the action/barrel channel will this fore end fit?

I had already sanded off the cracked enamel finish (so I probably can't return it) when something looked familiar, so I got the No4 out of the safe and checked the fore ends. Damn if they didn't match.

I can't find any answers on the web so here I am again.

Please help a rifle that didn't deserve this.

Not a good photo, but that is the lag bolt through a stanley 3/4 socket.

The ATI stock by itself is bad, but that's just nasty.

That is the sorta dovetail that was hacked into that poor barrel.

You can see the utter lack of a safety mechanism on the port side, as well as the lack of any of the finish.

I actually like the cleaner look of the #4 forend. I'm Trying to find a barrel band to fit with no top wood. There was an Enfield here on THR that had one, but I have no idea where it came from.

As far as sights, my smith already has a set of Winchester model 70 adjustable sights reserved for me.

Better look at the dovetail, which actually has two levels.

Smith is going to fill in that mess and file flush.

Better shot of the left side, you can see all the gack still in there.

Found the pic of the barrel band: it's in the "Who Bubba'd your Enfield?" Thread, and it was posted by user named MR BorLand.

Well, here is a photo of the mangled bolt head:

And another view:

And the new bolt head:

It's more like my hobby really. I find these neglected rifles and try to turn trash into treasure.

I talked some with my gunsmith, and we worked over how to mod a No4 forearm to work with a no1. He will just remove the king screw bushing, drill out the hole, fill it solid with a walnut insert, and redrill in the right place for a No1. As well he will be filling in the lightening cuts with more walnut, to give strength to the forend for the sling swivel.

It's really just a little woodwork on the fore stock, replace some dinged up parts, new sights, and a little work on the muzzle. After which she gets a new finish in semi-gloss black Aluma-Hyde.

This will be a one-of-a-kind rifle when I am done.

Oh, by the way, I just remembered that I had promised pictures of my other Enfield from my first thread way back when. I'll be putting those up soon as well.

EMC45 said:

It looks like the dovetail was cut with an oxy/acetylene rig.

Click to expand...

A good bit of that, and the front sight mess, is silver solder that the dodo who performed the botched surgery couldn't apply properly. Evidently, according to my gunsmith, the dolt didn't clean off the surfaces that were to be soldered on to the rifle properly.

The good news is that she is safe to shoot. The former owner has video of he and a friend shooting it.

I have a good five months(ish) of wait time until he gets to my Enfield. The backlog from EVERYBODY wanting their boom sticks tuned, all at once, is fairly impressive.

The relatively short barrel only leaves about six inches or so in front of the forearm. He traded me a not perfect condition No 1 stock with buttplate and screws for a new old stock walnut butt for a No 4. I found an NOS brass butt plate for a No 4, and the plate along with the Walnut butt will be really something.

I am contemplating a scope mount in addition to the iron sights. I am thinking about the Addley mount, since it replaces the ejector screw for one mounting point, and corrects off of the stripper clip guide. Only problem is that the stripper clip guide is long gone. I will just have my Smith use a pair of levels and calipers to mark the holes I guess.

This will be really something.