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It was already bubba'd |
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Goosic 
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Joined: September 12 2017 Location: Phoenix Arizona Status: Offline Points: 8842 |
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 Topic: It was already bubba'dPosted: March 29 2019 at 8:01pm |
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Awhile back,I had purchased a No4 barrel. The previous owner started to hacksaw the barrel just behind the lugs. Just deep enough to cut into the rifling. I inherited a cute little mini lathe not too long ago. 1+1=2. I decided to see if I could still operate one and that barrel looked like it could use some help. I started with refacing and recrowning the muzzle. Flipped it around and refaced the chamber end by removing .0003". I took Emery cloth to the barrel and removed all the surface rust,followed by 220 grit wet dry sand paper, and ended with 0000# steel wool. Casey's Super Blued the barrel until I achieved the desired result. I measured the bore at the muzzle and was very delighted to see it is at 304.5" . I haven't played with a lathe in over 30 years so it came as a slight shock I didn't ruin anything,so far...
  
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britrifles
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Joined: February 03 2018 Location: Georgia, USA Status: Offline Points: 8404 |
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Posted: March 30 2019 at 7:06am |
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Looks good! Have you got another project going that this barrel is getting installed on?
I’m very curious how it will shoot. I was reading recently on how quickly the Mk III SMLE and Patt ‘14 sniper rifles lost their accuracy shooting cordite ammunition in WWI due to erosion of the throat, accuracy life was given as approx 800 to 1000 rounds. I’m also curious how sensitive bore diameter is on accuracy. Reynolds book “The Lee Enfield Rifle” on page 91 - 94 discusses trials conducted in 1902 on the SMLE to assess variables in barrel bore diameter, groove depth and throat depth, bullet diameter, charge weight, case dimensions and cap charge weight. Although no specific data on the results are given, it concludes that bullets to the high diameter (.312) and barrels made to the low limit of bore diameter (presumably .301?) shot best.
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Goosic
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Joined: September 12 2017 Location: Phoenix Arizona Status: Offline Points: 8842 |
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Posted: March 30 2019 at 7:45am |
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No projects yet. Just getting back into using a lathe. I have a Belgium FN.308 barrel I have to rethread to fit another No4 receiver I'm waiting for. I couldn't let this barrel sit on a shelf any longer in a state of disrepair. If someone has a project of their own and need a very decent sporterized enfield barrel with a fairly decent crown job well,there ya go...
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Bear43
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Donating Member Joined: August 11 2010 Location: Doland, SD Status: Offline Points: 3500 |
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Posted: March 30 2019 at 9:42am |
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You do good work, Goosic. It sucks to see bits bubba'd but it is nice to see someone making something useful out of it too. I think I am going to start adding a few sporters to my collection just to have some good examples of ones converted to full time hunting arms.
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Shamu
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Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 20510 |
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Posted: March 30 2019 at 10:14am |
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I loved the old green "Unimat" mini-lathes.  |
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Goosic
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Posted: March 30 2019 at 10:18am |
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Mine came from Harbor Freight
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britrifles
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Joined: February 03 2018 Location: Georgia, USA Status: Offline Points: 8404 |
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Posted: March 30 2019 at 11:04am |
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I haven’t used a lathe in over 35 years, I appreciate your abilities Goosic. So many uses! I’m surprised how affordable these are, I’m adding this to my Christmas list!
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A square 10
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Donating Member Joined: December 12 2006 Location: MN , USA Status: Offline Points: 16998 |
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Posted: March 30 2019 at 7:18pm |
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i donated my lathe to a local machine shop back around the turn of the century it was a 1923 with new turret and many revisions over its life before i inherited it , i would love to be able to do things like this but life does not allow , i respect and conmmend those that do ,
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Goosic
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Posted: March 30 2019 at 7:52pm |
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The last lathe I used on a daily basis was an old Southbend engine lathe in my machine shop class back in 84'-86'. I am fairly certain I am going to have some serious fun with this little guy...
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hoadie
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Posted: March 31 2019 at 5:07am |
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I remeber some old lathes in my high school machine shop.
Later on I was working @ St.Catharines Screw Machine products (its gone now), & we had a big beautiful lathe in the maintainance shop. (One of my co-workers made a complete chess set on it). Anyway, it still had the plaque attached: AVRO Canada Mr.Court had purchased it when they closed down the production of the Arrow.(Little piece of history, there) I wonder where it ended up when they closed the Screw?? 
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Loose wimmen tightened here
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pisco
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Posted: March 31 2019 at 6:39pm |
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hi there is definitely a bit of satisfaction doing the work yourself i have a old mitche!! lathe made during or just after ww2
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A square 10
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Posted: March 31 2019 at 7:55pm |
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i think you will have a great time with that machine , do enjoy it - it looks caable of great things ,
my old machine came out of a manufacturing company back in the 60s , my father got it out of a storage area being junked , it had been used to turn artillery she!!s in WWII back when every american company was working for the war efforts , he made a lot of upgrades and built a lot of added equipment , he started out in tool and die before the war and came out as an engineer to become VP of mfgrg back in the 50s for this company , did a stint in the aircraft plants before pearl harbor before enlisting tho , he loved these old machines , we had an industrial band saw as well of about the same vintage that i also donated to that local shop , the guys that owned it were very good friends that did a lot of work for me over the years ,
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Goosic
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Joined: September 12 2017 Location: Phoenix Arizona Status: Offline Points: 8842 |
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Posted: March 31 2019 at 10:25pm |
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My other passion besides the Enfield rifle is R/C and Control Line airplanes. Especially the old Cox .049 powered planes. Those tiny one cylinder Heml's that run on 35% nitromethane are a blast to goof around with. I turned the outside cylinder wall down,along with the glow plug and made a custom drive plate for the one pictured here on my new Harbor Freight mini lathe...
 
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Zed
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Posted: April 01 2019 at 3:56am |
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I inherited my Stepdad's old bench top lathe a couple of years ago. But I still haven't made the space in the workshop to set it up yet. It has the old belt drive made up of belt sections and rivets, so you can change the length or fit the belt without removing the drive wheels. Lot's of tool bit's and gears with this lathe. It has a brass plaque detailing thread cutting speeds etc. I can't remeber the make but think it's probably pre WWII. Haven't used one since 1980 during my apprenticeship; prior to that we learned how to use them at school in metalwork class. There we had a line of full size lathes by the workshop windows. It seem that almost once a week some numpty would switch the lathe on with the key still in the chuck; and lob it through the window! We had some hard board panels cut to shape to put in the holes because it was happening so much! Teachers used to swear more in those days!
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