Rebarreling Lee Enfields No.1's and 4's

[Cookisan]

Fingers crossed.....I may be in a position to rebarrel my No.1Mk3* and No.4Mk1* .410 shotgun/rifles?

My thoughts are, to rebarrel the No.1 in .22LR to use with a number of BSA model 9's and AG Parker 9G's, as a training and/or small bore competition rifle. The No.4 to be returned to .303 to allow the full potential of the round to be explored, rather than sensible loads in my existing .303's (which are venerable old ladies who I don't want to upset!). Even...god forbid...fit a scope on it to see just what it will do!

I have seen No.4 barrels advertised by Criterion and I'm sure I've heard of a New Zealand firm (True Flite?) making them. The No. 1 is a bit of a blank, especially as the bolt and firing pin will need modification or replacement as well.

Does anybody know of/or can recommend gunsmiths to go to? I've seen Highwood and Devizes advertise Lee Enfield rebarreling, but again seems to be No.4's only.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Alpha1]

Contact ovenpaa on here or his wife Christel the moderator they may be able to help.

[GeeRam]

Chris Goodwin at CG Firearms will do SMLE's (as well as No.4's)

And of course, there's always Fultons of Bisley.

[glevum]

You could also try Armalon

[Ovenpaa]

I have barrelled No1Mk3 and 3* rifles and they are easy enough to do. Personally, I would look at a Lothar Walther barrel above all others for the rifles and I would not be able to even consider taking additional barrel work on for at least 6 months. Nor profiling or fluting right now.

[rox]

Thought about sleeving? Keep the original bayonet lugs, patina and markings and just put fresh .303 rifling in.

[Cookisan]

Thanks for that, just had a look at CG Firearms website. Totally forgotten about Fultons.

Does Armalon have a website or have they gone over to Facebook?

I'd also forgotten Walther. No worries Ovenpaa, its all very early days! Out of interest for a .22, do you modify the existing bolt assembly or are new bits made/bought? Out of interest, did you ever finish your cut down No.1 project, was it called Rascal?

I thought sleeving was for much smaller calibers. I assume you turn down an existing .303 barrel to suit a .410 hole and glue/weld it in?

Thanks again.

[Ovenpaa]

A completely different bolt although I have come across examples that had been modified to suit a rim-fire conversion. For a .22 conversion a liner can be glued in and Henkel/Loctite have a good range of adhesives and superb technical team that are unphased by anything ready to help you.

The Rascal is a 2A1 based thing and yes, it is near finished now :)

[Cookisan]

I was reminded of your Rascal at Christmas, when watching the BBC's "His Dark Materials" series as one of the characters appeared to have shortened version of a no.1.

Makes sense Loctite would be an option, we play with quite a few of their products at work.

[TRG-22]

How were No. 8's done, OOI?