SMLE stock fit woes

[Justwatching]

I've only shot my SMLE once and it didn't exactly impress me. I didn't measure it, but it must have been a 12-18 inch group at 100 yards with PPU factory ammunition. Home loads faired a little better but still far from acceptable. The bore looks decent and should be capable of better than this. Accuracy is the accumulation of many factors though and I'm dimly aware of the rather complex bedding set-up of Lee Enfields. I purchase a book titled The 2012 Complete Book on Lee Enfield Accurizing by Roger Wadham so I could learn a bit more, and the more I learn, the more I see reasons for poor accuracy in my rifle; the stock fit is incorrect almost everywhere!

Starting with the wrist, my rifle has the fairly common problem of unequal contact. I've packed paper shims into the gap and hope this will be sufficient as I don't really want to get into the epoxy/resin options.

I relieved (slightly too much) wood between the front and rear hand guards as they were contacting each other. I've also used a 4 thou. feeler gauge to ensure I'm not getting contact around the sight base from the front hand guard.

Now we move onto what I'm having difficulty with. The front hand guard and forend had a gap the widened in the middle between the barrel band and nose cap. I laid the hand guard on a sheet of sand paper and slid it back and forth to remove high spots and get the mating surface level. But rather than getting a nice tight fit, I've ended up with a more consistent gap down the whole length!

Everything's done up tight and it's a firm fit that doesn't move, yet still the gap! I can only think that it's fouling the harmonic barrel band thing inside the stock.

[Justwatching]

Now to the nose cap which is contacting the barrel. According to my book, it shouldn't. Factory set-up was no contact (minimum 2 thou. clearance all around), but apparently some target shooters have also managed to make a contact fit work. It should be consistent in anycase; complete contact or no contact. My rifle has muzzle contact with the nose cap at the top and 2 o'clock position.

Since this photograph, I've managed to relieve contact at the top using electrical tap as a packing material in the nose cap behind the rear screw. It still contacts around the 2 o'clock position though.

[jjvc]

The muzzle/end cap contact was a problem on a SMLE I purchased years ago, I took off the end cap and the rifle grouped fine. I then had the end cap relieved so there was no contact and problem solved.
Joe

[Justwatching]

I may well end up doing exactly that, but I worry it's plastering over a symptom of something else, like the barrel not being centred in the stock or something. Surely it didn't leave the factory like that.

[dromia]

I think that you can be pretty certain that almost no firearm of that vintage is now as it was when it was new, especially if it was military issue.

[Justwatching]

Well, the hole in the nose cap can't have gotten smaller, so it can't be the actual problem. That's what I was getting at.