SMLE No. 4 Mark I is heading to Nebraska
Posted: 03 May 2016 07:45
My recently purchased No. 4 Mark I, a spur of the moment purchase, is boxed up and heading to Boses Guns in Nebraska to become a "modern" black rifle. This 1945 SMLE has been slugged and chamber cast to death and finally I was able to get some range work in to determine the accuracy potential this two groove old soldier. After a long way to get there, I'd have to say that it is very accurate.
The chamber is on spec as far as I can tell from the cast, but I will have Mr. Bose go ahead and check the headspace as the rifle is 71 years old. The groove diameter is .314 starting at the step and slowly tapers to .313 until it is 4.5" from the end of its 25½" barrel. At that point it rapidly drops to .311" and that has caused some issues with .312 jacket bullets. Note to self, It is also why you are supposed to start at least 10% below max with a new load! Because of the change in diameter the muzzle end of the rifle does see copper fouling rather quickly. The good news is that I'm going to have 5½" lopped off the end of the barrel anyway for a new length of 20".
For the shooting, the rifle was setup with a Weaver T01 base which uses 3/8" groove rings. Not having any and not wanting to buy any, I tried to make do by securing a ramp front sight with a hose clamp and the flip up peep sight. That didn't work out real well but I also felt that the muzzle needed a little work as it looked like a typical South Texas hunting rifle, too much time with the muzzle down on the floor of the truck. So I took a file and flattened the end of the muzzle down to new steel and then used a large brass round head, slotted screw with two grits of lapping compound to crown it. I shot it again but that hose clamped front sight was not going to work out. Below you can see the dressed muzzle, the Texan engineered front sight, and the copper fouling from a half of dozen shots with the Hornady 174-grain RN.
I broke down and bought a set of Weaver Tip Off 1" rings off of eBay and had to wait for them to arrive. No one had them locally and with the mount back on got a scope on the rifle. Luckily I have a very old Weaver K4 to use as the larger eye bell on modern scopes won't clear the flip peep sight and there are no choices of height when it comes to the Weaver Tip Off rings. The base and rings place the scope 2" over bore so I also slapped a God'A Grip stick on cheek pad on the comb of the stock and then laser bore sighted the whole mess at 25'.
Up the hill to the range I shot twice at 25 yards and made an adjustment. Two more and 50 yards, made another small adjustment. One shot at 100 yards and laced it through the bullseye and that was good enough for me as I was putting a lot of my chores on hold for this.
So the rifle is boxed up and on its way. Rob Bose is going to:
I've been using the Crown's export stamp proof pressure and not the 49.0K PSI SAAMI limit, thank God!
The chamber is on spec as far as I can tell from the cast, but I will have Mr. Bose go ahead and check the headspace as the rifle is 71 years old. The groove diameter is .314 starting at the step and slowly tapers to .313 until it is 4.5" from the end of its 25½" barrel. At that point it rapidly drops to .311" and that has caused some issues with .312 jacket bullets. Note to self, It is also why you are supposed to start at least 10% below max with a new load! Because of the change in diameter the muzzle end of the rifle does see copper fouling rather quickly. The good news is that I'm going to have 5½" lopped off the end of the barrel anyway for a new length of 20".
For the shooting, the rifle was setup with a Weaver T01 base which uses 3/8" groove rings. Not having any and not wanting to buy any, I tried to make do by securing a ramp front sight with a hose clamp and the flip up peep sight. That didn't work out real well but I also felt that the muzzle needed a little work as it looked like a typical South Texas hunting rifle, too much time with the muzzle down on the floor of the truck. So I took a file and flattened the end of the muzzle down to new steel and then used a large brass round head, slotted screw with two grits of lapping compound to crown it. I shot it again but that hose clamped front sight was not going to work out. Below you can see the dressed muzzle, the Texan engineered front sight, and the copper fouling from a half of dozen shots with the Hornady 174-grain RN.
I broke down and bought a set of Weaver Tip Off 1" rings off of eBay and had to wait for them to arrive. No one had them locally and with the mount back on got a scope on the rifle. Luckily I have a very old Weaver K4 to use as the larger eye bell on modern scopes won't clear the flip peep sight and there are no choices of height when it comes to the Weaver Tip Off rings. The base and rings place the scope 2" over bore so I also slapped a God'A Grip stick on cheek pad on the comb of the stock and then laser bore sighted the whole mess at 25'.
Up the hill to the range I shot twice at 25 yards and made an adjustment. Two more and 50 yards, made another small adjustment. One shot at 100 yards and laced it through the bullseye and that was good enough for me as I was putting a lot of my chores on hold for this.
So the rifle is boxed up and on its way. Rob Bose is going to:
- Go completely through the rifle and replace worn parts.
- Cut the barrel to 20", thread it, install a flash hider, and install a front sight ramp with a dovetail blade.
- Parkerize the metal flat black
- Install the XS Clifton Scout Mount
- Fit and install the ATI synthetic stock.
- Install a grind to fit Pachmayr Decelerator to the stock
- I'm also going to have the bolt dressed up a bit, haven't quite decided yet but probably the pattern finish that Savage uses to match this rifle to my Savage 10FCM Scouts.
Oh yeah! Not only that rule but also really check the bore the first time you shoot after a chamber cast! I had made chamber casts of this rifle and my 600 clone No. 5. I had cleaned the No. 5 up pretty but a span of a week to 10 days past on me shooting the No. 4. My memory slips a bit now and I chambered and shot a load that I had been using in the No.5. It is a 40.7 KPSI load with the Woodleigh #68 Round Nose. At the shot, it thumped the heck out of me, I knew that I had screwed up as it dawned on me that the barrel and chamber had not been cleaned. I'm sure there was a lot of debris in there from the Cerrosafe. I could not get the bolt open offhand, it took a bit of work. It took more work than needed probably, I didn't think of it at the time, as I bet the safety had be knocked slightly from a fully seated "Fire" position. When I did get the bolt open the extractor spring fell out broken, extractor was intact, and the spent primer fell out as well with the case remaining in the chamber. I pushed it out with a cleaning rod and then started the clean up. Everything seems fine and the extractor pulls the case out and as long as there isn't a magazine in the rifle, it drops free. All these parts will be replaced.Ranch Dog wrote:Note to self, It is also why you are supposed to start at least 10% below max with a new load!
I've been using the Crown's export stamp proof pressure and not the 49.0K PSI SAAMI limit, thank God!
