Originally Posted by AlleghenyMountain
Originally Posted by dallased
Check the forestock and make sure it does not wiggle when you depress the trigger after releasing the firing pin. If the forestock moves when pressing the trigger all the way back it might need some work to bring into good order. The "draws" are the key to accuracy in Lee Enfields. Check out Skinnerton on that issue.
Also, pull the bolt and turn the bolt head counter clockwise. If it moves more than 16 or 18 degrees then it should be replaced. That means there would be stress on the thread of the bolt and the bolt head. These are fixes that can be made, just add to the eventual cost of getting it up and good running order. Also, good price negotiating points. Find everything wrong you can and then make your offer. wink


Thanks. I like the sights on this one, they appear to be the original style. The Skennerton book has a lot of information to take in, but I like learning something. I looked at a Lithgow SMLE online today and considered it but I need to be more knowledgeable.


Well, if you do buy a Lithgow SMLE, and if our borders open up again, you'd be able to go to LSAF and see where it was made. The factory's still going, and it has a museum with lots of interesting stuff, including some of the machinery and the first-offs, as well as examples of some of the prototypes and special versions, and a lot of other stuff. FWIW when LSAF was set up to make SMLEs it was a state of the art gunmaking facility. It's continued to have some pretty advanced stuff as time went on - I actually worked there for a while.