SMLE MKIII .303 British question

DONDALINGER

I inherited a sporterized .303 Enfield from my Grandfather who recently passed. It has good wood and decent metal except for the bore. It is severley pitted and basically shot out. Numrich has new replacement barrels for $67 and used barrels with supposedly a "good" bore for $20. Two questions. If I decide to replace the barrel, can I do it myself or should I leave this up to a gunsmith? Has anyone rebarreled one of these and how did it turn out?
I've worked on guns for about 20 years, but have never replaced a rifle barrel. Any special tools needed other than a headspace gauge?

1022man

The gun itself for resale value isn't truly worth rebarreling, but.. There are enfields being rebarrel in 45/70, that might make it a little more worth while. But to rebarrel in 303 isn't much as a problem as long as you have the gauge to check on headspace. Another note though, can you see rifling in the barrel? Have you tried cleaning the barrel? Have you shoot it? I have bought guns before that you could not see any rifling, run a patch and bruch through it and cleaned up nice. I also have a mosin nagant rifle that the bore looks like a sewer pipe, but it shoots 2 1/2" at 100 yards.

DONDALINGER

You can see rifling in the barrel ,but it appears to be very thin. I did shoot the gun off hand, but I have not tested it on the bench. The rifling looks more pronounced from the chamber all the way to about the last 6 inches of the barrel where the rifling is almost not there. I have never seen a barrel this bad. I think maybe someone shot a bunch of corrosive ammo or tracers through it and let it sit for years. It would be worth it to me to rebarrel it for $67 plus shipping if I can do it myself. I did try to clean the barrel using a .30 cal brush and it did not help much at all.

select-fire

I would take it to a gunsmith and let them install it. If I would be in your shoes NO money could buy it since it was my Grandfathers. Fix it right.

heavyiron

Hi,

I have never rebarreled a rifle myself but I think I know some of the fundamental steps and unless I had some good equipment at home in the workshop, I wouldn't attempt it by myself.

I think you will need a good barrel vise and reciever wrench. If the barrel is rusted at the reciever, good luck, it may not be worth the frustration. Once the barrel is removed the threads on the barrel and reciever should be chased with a tap and die to make sure the new barrel seats tightly. As others have mentioned it will also have to be headspaced while installing the barrel.

On the other hand if you are real handy and have the tools then this would just be another weekend project for you.

Also I would agree with all the previous comments about cleaning the barrel first to check its condition. The Enfields seem to be the worst for crudded up bores. I have two No. 5's and both had terrible looking barrels. The rifling was missing in some parts of the bore and it appeared that the bore was worn out because the interior looked wavy and irregular with grooves showing only here and there. After about 2 days (it was soaking in oil and solvent 23 hours each day) of cleaning the copper came out first, followed by about 3 days worth of carbon fouling. When finished the bore ended up having fairly decent rifling -not sharp, but slightly worn, but much improved. Even the grooves were visable again.

It just might be worth it to give the rifle a good cleaning and then determine the condition of the bore.

Regards,

Heavyiron

DONDALINGER

Thanks for the replies. I have been working on the gun this evening. I have run several patches with Butchs bore shine and they keep coming out blue. I am going to keep at it for a few days and see what I can do. I called my gunsmith and left a message. Still waiting to hear how much he is going to charge to install a barrel if it needs it. I am willing to spend some money to get this gun in good shooting condition. Grandpa was a deer hunter all his life and if I can get this thing grouping decent, I'll take it out this fall. [:D]

codenamepaul

I was stunned at the crap Blue Wonder took out of my 1917 Enfield. I would recommend giving it a try. It's good to have around anyway.

11b6r

Dr. Don- if you can find a product sold under the name of KROIL, plug or cap the muzzle, brace rifle vertically muzzle down, fill the bore, let it soak for 24-48 hrs, and prepare to be amazed at the crap that comes out. Non-corrosive, it is a penetrating oil. Lack of rifling at the muzzle MAY be due to cleaning rod wear. If it REALLY is badly worn, I have seen some success in boring the last few inches out to a larger diameter- usually using a reamer. May be effective, may not be, but is probably less than a new barrel. Do not attempt with a hand drill! Good luck to you.