SMLE, first time to the range....

[loner5667]

I bought a SMLE about 15 years ago, tore it down to do a serious clean job on the thing cause it was DIRTY!!!! and miss layed some of the parts. While cleaning out my gun room during a move, I found a butter tub with the long lost parts in it. So, to make a long story shorter, I finally got the rifle back together and scooted out to the range with a box of 180 grains to see how it shoots at 50 and 100 yards. Just as I was getting things on paper at 50 yards, I got peppered with a little burnt powder. I checked out the case, and the firing pin had actually pierced the primer. I checked out several other cases and noticed that the primers are flush before being fired, but proud of the base after being fired. And the neck on the fired cases are expanded as well. Obviously this is not good, so how do I fix it?

After I got the sight picture right and was getting the shots on paper, the rifle shoots to the right. Is the front sight the only way to adjust windage on these rifles?

Shooting open sights with my old eyes is a real challenge. I need to find a scope mount for this rifle both so I can see what I'm aiming at, and also to get the thing to shoot where I point. Where do I find a mount for a 1" scope?

On the band that separates the butt stock from the rest of the stock, on the left side is stamped 'No.1 MkIII*', then below that is F.R. 46. Does this mean that it was made in 1946?

Thanks

 

[DougW]

Last to first:

The FR is for a Factory Repair, probably at the Ishapore factory in India.

Check out Brownell's , MidwayUSA, and Numrich for a no drill scope mount. There are a few made that will not require drilling and tapping your classic rifle.

Windage is adjusted with the front sight. Tap it the direction the shots are going.

Pierced primers could be a few things. The firing pin might be a bit sharp instead of having a rounded tip. If the primer is backing out of a military round, then the headspace is a bit loose. A #1 takes a bunch of work to fix a headspace issue. The bolt heads do not interchange with other #1's to fix headspace. Each bolt head was ground to the rifle. The #4's were made to interchange (an improvement).

The cases on the .303 will grow and streach, as the headspace is on the case rim, not the shoulder. Streaching to fire form to the chamber is normal, but again, excessive headspace will also show this sign. The pushed out primers are also a sign of a low power load too. I reload .303 with a lighter than issue load, and I get primer push back on my cases, even with a rifle that has "good" headspace. If those were factory Remington loads, then they are low pressure low power loads, and I would expect some possibility of a primer push back.

My only suggestion would be to see if you can secure a few bolt heads from Springfield Sporters or Numrich's and try to find one that is "longer" than the one you have. Although this is not the accepted norm, it may be your only hope of fixing the issue. If you reload, you could try neck sizing the fired brass and reload some to a mild load, and see what the results would be. Good luck!