SMLE restoration update.

Getting there.... pictures paint a thousand words. And ‘painting’ is literally what I’ve been doing!

I’m real happy how the stain has worked out so far. Still lots more boiled linseed coats and then bedding the receiver and trigger guard to go. Plus dozens of other little jobs. But it’s been a journey and learning experience since November working on restoring my 1942 Lithgow No1 Mk3*.

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That is an impressive colour match on the new wood.

Keep up the good work and perhaps we can start a Home Guard unit.

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Originally Posted by Kiwi Sapper

That is an impressive colour match on the new wood.

Keep up the good work and perhaps we can start a Home Guard unit.

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Dad’s Army episodes keep on coming up on my YouTube feed all the time now, due to the 303 and 1907 bayonet vids I’ve watched.:D

Nice job mate, good to see how the old girl is looking. I found her to be quite accurate, should be a good service rifle contender.

That’s stunning. GREAT job and look forward to reading the rest.

Are you bedding the rifle yourself?

What bedding compound are you gonna use?

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Originally Posted by Seventenths

That’s stunning. GREAT job and look forward to reading the rest.

Are you bedding the rifle yourself?

What bedding compound are you gonna use?

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Cheers.
I was tempted to ask TJ to do it. :D
But I’ll go very carefully with the Acraglas kit from Reloaders.
It’s only small areas to bed to keep it Service Rifle legal.

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Originally Posted by dogmatix

Cheers.
I was tempted to ask TJ to do it. :D
But I’ll go very carefully with the Acraglas kit from Reloaders.
It’s only small areas to bed to keep it Service Rifle legal.

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TJ also does original rust blueing aswell so your rifle would look brand spanking new.

Based on what you’ve done, you’ve planted a seed so I might have to rebirth an old .303

Could you PM me please where you got your stock furnature from?

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Originally Posted by Seventenths

TJ also does original rust blueing aswell so your rifle would look brand spanking new.

Based on what you’ve done, you’ve planted a seed so I might have to rebirth an old .303

Could you PM me please where you got your stock furnature from?

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Rust blueing is totally inappropriate on the Lithgow rifle of that period as they were Parkerized. The rifle actually has a large amount of original finish and looks really good!

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Originally Posted by gundoc

Rust blueing is totally inappropriate on the Lithgow rifle of that period as they were Parkerized. The rifle actually has a large amount of original finish and looks really good!

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That’s good to know & yes it does look superb as it is.

Good on ya mate! Returning it to its former glory. Have you noted how much Lithgows are worth in the USA?


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Originally Posted by Burb122

Good on ya mate! Returning it to its former glory. Have you noted how much Lithgows are worth in the USA?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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That’s a surprise!

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Originally Posted by Huntfisheat

Nice. I once spent hundreds of hours refurbishing a 1907 Winchester .22. Great winter job. Hand cold re-blueing is very time consuming but cathartic.
That's looking mint.
When are you going to shoot it and give us a report?

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Will do.

I've got a copy of setting up the sights, I'll try and scan then send to you.

The two-tone look would have been really popular in the 1980's! :P

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Originally Posted by grunzter

The two-tone look would have been really popular in the 1980's! :P

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With the stoned wash jeans! :XD:

I’ve noticed that the cross bolt on the nose cap has a badly misaligned hole. So when the bolt is tightened up, it twists the cap causing it to touch the barrel.
So my next job!

With 150gn S&B factory soft points it still shoots them the best, although with a much higher (8 MOA) POI at 100m now.
I’m not going to change the front blade for factory ammo, so will use them up for practise.

The Greek surplus 303 ammo has the elevation spot on, but shoots 3” left. I will adjust the front blade windage. Groups were average due to the mentioned touching barrel.
No POI change with the P1907 bayonet on.

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The Greek cases I had pulled due to wet powder were reloading with new Fed primers and 45.5gn of ADI 2209.
They actually shot well, with a 4” group, but were about 10” high! :wtfsmilie:

The front top handguard was actually still a bit sticky from the last coat of linseed oil I put on yesterday morning.
But I soon had the barrel hot enough to cook the oil and guard dry! :D

So still more little jobs to do with the cross bolt. One day I’ll finish!

so.......have you tried putting foresight in very bottom of rear groove???? dropping POI by a little....or maybe you need to adopt a 6;00 hold???? I seem to recall seeing that a 6:00 hold is correct for some types of open sights as it makes picture clearer than trying to aim in centre of bull.......sort of balance the bull on top of front post.
rifle looks awesome.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

so.......have you tried putting foresight in very bottom of rear groove???? dropping POI by a little....or maybe you need to adopt a 6;00 hold???? I seem to recall seeing that a 6:00 hold is correct for some types of open sights as it makes picture clearer than trying to aim in centre of bull.......sort of balance the bull on top of front post.
rifle looks awesome.

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Affirmative for all MD :D

I could get better groups with better targets, but today was a day to just shoot it finally. It’s been a long wait. Made longer by me f**king up the finish by not letting a layer of linseed oil dry properly and having strip it ALL off.
So the finish you see on the recent photo is not the one from earlier.

:yuush:

the old girls were well known for printing different loads to different points of impact....IF I had listened to that bit of advice instead of being young,dumb and F.O.C. the goats running around farm when I was young fella wouldve been in much more trouble than they were...used to take half a box of ammo till I worked out where she was shooting. as said Y,D N F.O.C.

She sure looks a lot different from when I had her! good job mate.

Finally got out my proper camera.
This shows the wood colours better. I still want to do few more boiled linseed layers on the top front and bottom woods, topped with a Danish oil layer to properly moisture seal them.

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And yes, I've now been told the bayonet frog is upside down.... ;) :)

Best I managed today with the No1 Mk3*.
2.23” at 100m with resized Greek brass and pulled FMJs but new Fed primers and 37.5gn of ADI 2206h powder.
Just need to get a new taller front sight blade.

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Was 3.43” with 36.5gn as well.

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Originally Posted by Mauser308

What number blade do you have?

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0

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Originally Posted by dogmatix

0

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as in 0 fuck i missed😂😜

shoots way better than my BSA E p14 with scope with that same ammo.

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Originally Posted by Mauser308

So you need how much taller in 0.015 increments? There's a formula to give the correction, you've probably listed the error higher but if you can give it again I can probably find the correction table. What type of blade do you need, the 'legged' type or the solid wedge?

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The .045 or .06 blades should fix my issue.

Not sure, looks the same as this.

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