Hi GDDM -- Welcome to the forum! I really enjoyed reading your original post. I myself am a Lee Enfield No.1 Mk. III* fan, and own several in various conditions from "as-issued" to "completely sporterized." They are such a nice, smooth, fast action and chambered in such a completely adequate cartridge that they're hard to resist. As they were your Country's service rifle for some years, followed by the No. 4 rifle, they are doubtless as nostalgic to Canadians as the M1903 Springfield is to us south of your border. In fact, I killed my first whitetail buck with an as-issued model back around 1958 or 9. 215 gr. JSP, Peters brand. There are some fellows from Canada and Australia that post on this forum and who have reworked many of the No.1s. A couple of them are masters of the craft.
Your comment about the telltale odor of Hoppe's solvent is funny. I sometimes clean handguns at my desk in the office attached to my house. About two months ago my daughter visited, and the minute she walked in the front door, two rooms away from the office she said, "Hoppe's No. 9!" A fellow named Tom Gresham has a radio program down here on which he discusses guns and related subjects, and he used to have a little radio play about a beautiful girl who comes to the office of a Private Eye seeking help. After the consultation she leaves, and the P.I. says, "After she left I realized I never should have let her go. Her cologne was Hoppe's No. 9!"
Well, then, about the bore -- I am one who absolutely can not abide a pitted bore, and among a rather large assortment of long guns which I possess you will only find a couple with pitted bores; and that's because original barrels are not available. Pitted bores to me are like fingernails across a blackboard, etc. But, in all honesty, sometimes pitted bores will still shoot far beyond one's expectations. So, the truth of the matter is that the only way they can be gotten rid of is to re-barrel the firearm, and if they shoot well for you and you don't lay awake at night with shivers and cold sweats thinking about the pits, then just live with them. Your choices for a re-barrel job would be a new issue barrel (hard to come by and expensive), or any of many aftermarket sporter barrels. And since it is already sporterized, that would be the route to go.
As for the stock, I'm going to add my voice to the chorus urging you to get a semi-inletted stock from someone like Boyd's Gunstocks and go with that. There are black plastic drop-in stocks available, but how uncharismatic is that? A No. 1 Mk. III should have nothing other than a walnut wood stock. A semi-inlet will involve you doing some minor inletting to make it fit properly, but that's good experience and it's unlikely that you'll ruin the stock beyond usefulness. A good place to learn and perfect some stockmaking skills, and something you'll be proud of when trudging across the muskeg looking for a reindeer. Forest, looking for a moose? Whatever. Here it would be mule deer. In any event, stay away from the stock blank without a mentor. I think the one in the photo below was a Bishop semi-inlet stock, but that company is long gone. It's been about 25 years, and I don't really remember.
Well, best of luck to you. It's really great to have a hand-me-down firearm. I have a couple, and handling them always brings the former owner back to memory.
DG
Attachment 243392
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) , the bore looks leagues better than it did. I have JB non embedding bore cleaner compound on its way and will hopefully be able to get a polish on it too.
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I figure i've always got the old stock that's still functional, if the new one doesn't work out so well! I will definitely see if aftermarket ones are something i might be interested in
Originally Posted by Der Gebirgsjager
