303 British Sporter Bedding

[caseyboy]

Anyone have any recommendations on where the LE No.1 MkIII* should receive bedding on the forearm? Barrel free-floated? Pressure point? What has your experience found with this?

caseyboy

[Boz330]

Look at the sticky on the Enfield at the top of the page, last one down. While it is for the milsurp the principles should be the same.

Bob

[wiljen]

If memory serves, the SMLE was designed so the nose cap provided a bit of upward pressure on the barrel so if sporting it with a shorter stock sans nose cap, I would expect a bit of upward pressure at the front end of the stock to be a good thing.

[BerdanIII]

I got a Ramline synthetic sporter stock when the fore end on my No. 1 Mk III* shattered into 4 or 5 pieces through the recoil pads. I thought (and think) the fore end fit to be generally poor, especially at the recoil pads (draws) so I bedded the barrel into a blob of RTV gasket maker (the blue stuff) at the tip of the fore end, just ahead of the barrel band. The rest of the barrel is free-floated from the Knox form to that point. That silly rifle shoots as good as ever. I got the idea from a Precision Shooting article on accurizing No.4 rifles.

[JeffinNZ]

I have 4 LE action rifles and every single one likes foreend pressure.

[caseyboy]

Thanks for the replies. The reason I ask is that the project rifle I am working on actually shoots not to bad but it does tend to string vertically. The receiver is bedded in epoxy from about 1.5 inches from in front of the front trigger guard screw to about an inch past the front trigger guard screw. Other than that, the barrel is free floating. I do have the front barrel band for it but before I put that back on, I will stick a piece of leather under the barrel at the front of the forearm, and then wrap that point with tape (around the barrel and forearm) to simulate the barrel band. I will keep you posted.

caseyboy

[caseyboy]

The barrel taped/wrapped at the front of the forearm seemed to help. Still a bit of vertical stringing but not quite as bad. There is still a bit of movement of the barrel in relation to the forearm so that could account for the vertical groups. I have reinletted the barrel band. This is the type that slides onto the barrel and is attached to the forearm with a screw that comes through the bottom. This is definitely more secure. I will try again tomorrow. The groups today were about 1" wide and about 3" tall. Previously I was getting 2" wide and 5" tall.

caseyboy

[caseyboy]

With the front band installed and a leather piece between the forearn and barrel in front of the barrel band I was able to shoot 1/2" groups at 50yds and nice round 1.5" groups at 100yds. The wind was a bit blustery so I am very pleased with the results. It is safe to say that this LE like the barrel band and free floating between the receiver and the band.

[lead Foot]

There is a book called the British Enfield Rifles. (American Rifleman. reprint copyright by NRA 1990) The auther is Major E. G. B. Reynolds.This is an excellent book and shows you how bed a No1 MkIII.
There are two ways ~ the english and Indian. Both work fine.I have bedded lots of them to the point I can't stand to see an other. It is a bit to evolved to show you how to do it. The best way is to find the book. The Indian way is best for the sporter ~ you put a presure point 5" forward of the reinforce. A 3- 5 lbs lift is required to rase the barrel from seating. An other point I have found is if the barrel is not dead traight in the stock it won't shoot. I have taken these guns from minute of barn door to minute of angle. Your 1 1/2" @ 100 yards is good. It take's a lot of work to get it better. Hope this helps.
Lead foot;

[Boz330]

For a military rifle 1.5MOA is outstanding. For me when it gets to 2MOA I'm as happy as a pig in you know what. Of course my eyes and hands aren't any better than that not to mention the 3MOA sights on some military rifles.

Bob

[Multigunner]

The barrel taped/wrapped at the front of the forearm seemed to help. Still a bit of vertical stringing but not quite as bad. There is still a bit of movement of the barrel in relation to the forearm so that could account for the vertical groups. I have reinletted the barrel band. This is the type that slides onto the barrel and is attached to the forearm with a screw that comes through the bottom. This is definitely more secure. I will try again tomorrow. The groups today were about 1" wide and about 3" tall. Previously I was getting 2" wide and 5" tall.

caseyboy

The main points of bedding the action body are to leave the center section of the rails free of contact, the action bedded securely at front and rear.
Unless the action body is properly secured the barrel bedding will shift.

Vertical stringing at closer ranges was not uncommon for the Enfields, but due to the unusually effective compensation factor of the long slim SMLE barrel the groups would tighten up vertically at longer ranges.

With the front band installed and a leather piece between the forearn and barrel in front of the barrel band I was able to shoot 1/2" groups at 50yds and nice round 1.5" groups at 100yds. The wind was a bit blustery so I am very pleased with the results. It is safe to say that this LE like the barrel band and free floating between the receiver and the band.

Fine results there, sometimes it takes very little to correct a problem. So long as this remains consistent you've got the situation licked. Don't be too suprized if groups loosen up later on though, and if they do you should see to the action body bedding before going further.

Sometimes just being sure everything is screwed down tight will correct a bedding problem, wood shrinks over time and the rifle that shot fine decades earlier can go off a bit after many years of storage due to shrinkage alone.

PS
One thing I found out the hard way. If the trigger guard magazine well rails were bent or twisted even a little then it throws the bedding out of kilter. The bedding may be perfect till the trigger guard king screw is tightened up, then the twist throws every thing off to one side.
This usually results in horizontal spread.