Dougan wrote:Rearlugs wrote:I doubt that you will find a replacement military No4 barrel in reasonable condition and which fits your action - they are very scarce even in used condition. The new Walthar Lothar barrels from Fultons are about £350+?
I would first check the bedding (forend fit) and the bolt set-up; many/most 4(T)s in UK circulation are civilian rebuilds, and some are very poorly fitted. Your shooting group can be wrecked simply by an ill-fitting handguard, or one of the recoil faces in the draws having become slightly indented.
If the rifle still has its original barrel with the H&H index mark and (usually) the rifle number on it, then I would put it to you that you probably will significantly reduce its investment value by altering it. If you've got c. £4,000 tied up in a 65-year old collectable rifle, then the "its a rifle so rebuild it & shoot it" advice is not appropriate...
That's thrown a spanner in works - Good post Rearlugs
As you seem to know your Enfields - a question if I may...On an SMLE there are a couple of screws that go through the front wood work from the underside of the rifle...how tight should these be?
Working from back to front:
1. The front trigger guard screw (sometimes nick-named the King screw) needs to be hand-tight firm but not gorilla'd. This screw provides the receiver bedding function, and protects the forend from splitting;
2. The next screw along is the rear sight protector screw. This just holds on the metal rear sight protector wings, and therefore just need to be firm.
3. The next screw is critical. This is the inner band screw; it is connected the a metal band that pulls the centre of the barrel down onto the forend bedding points. This screw is not intended to be tight: if you take it out, you should find a small 3-coil spring. This spring is intended to provide vibration damping for the barrel, and is part of the method they came up with to accurise the No1. Some - but not all - No1s are very sensitive to the tension in this screw/spring, ie 1/8 of turn can sometimes make the difference between a 6" group at 100 yds and a 2" group. With any No1, its a good idea to tighten up the screw so that its just biting on the spring (alternatively, tighten it so that the spring is fully compressed) and then fire a series of test groups - tightening/untightening the screw by a 1/4 turn in between each group. If the rifle is sensitive, there will be a sudden change in group size somewhere in the spring range. You can then go back and forth by 1/8 turn in order to find the sweet spot.
4. The rear nosecap screw needs to be firm, because the nosecap is compressing a spring that is supporting a stud that is pushing the barrel up at that point - another part of the bedding system. Always a good idea to check that the spring and stud are actually present, as they frequently drop out un-noticed when someone takes the forend off.
