Originally Posted by
beemer
Ballistics in Scotland, that scruffy old gentleman would be the one you wanted beside you in the trenches.
The first SMLE I owned was a Lithgow of the WW2 era. It was in decent shape with a good but not perfect bore and the headspace was correct, I did invest in a set of gages. I also bought the little NRA book British Enfield Rifles, it goes into great detail about bedding the Enfield. I spent a lot of time scraping, adjusting, assembling and firing. I started with surplus and finished with reloads, the rifle that wouldn't stay on a paper plate at 100 yds. would put 5 shots in 1 1/2 in. The rifle was fitted with a scope and eventually traded to my brother, he hunted with it for several years. I prefer #4 but have yet to find one that does much better than that old No1.
Speaking of The Great War, the family has the helmet my Great Uncle wore while in France. He was in the 1st Army, the 16th I believe, you can still make out the 1 on the helmet. I heard him tell about holding off the Huns from behind a rock wall at Cantignay in France, he said that they burnt out 3-4 barrels on their machinegun that day. He was a crusty old character.
Dave