Lithgow .303

[Evoken]

Evening gents,
My little brother passed away roughly a year ago, bummer. I have his old .303 brit and decided to pull it out of the sage and start cleaning it up to hopefully load and shoot.

It is marked lithgow mark III☆ 1942. The receiver and bolt have matching numbers, and the buttstock has the mark iii and date of 1943. I have no idea if it is all original. It looks like at some point, someone used some type of lacquer on the stock. It is kind of a gummy mess. Also most of the parts are painted black, although most of the paint is flaking. The bore slugs at .315, and looks like it has had old corrosive ammo shot in it and not cleaned properly.
I am trying to get the bore cleaned up, and keep getting more junk out of it. It is beginning to clean up though.

Here is what I know about it: The lithgows were made in Australia. It has a 1 in 12, 5 groove bore. It does not have the magazine detach plate. It is much smaller an lighter than the Enfield I carried as a kid.
Any assistance in cleaning it up, and further knowledge than what I know would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Ken

[Der Gebirgsjager]

That's kind of humorous, Ken. Unless the L.E. you carried as a kid was in full battle dress, and the Lithgow has been cut down, they should weight just about the same. I've found it to be just the opposite--the older I get the heavier the rifles get.

I'm not sure what you mean by a "magazine detach plate". Do you mean the magazine cutoff? The cutoff was eliminated with the No.1 Mk. III*, and the star on your nomenclature is the same as the asterisk used in the British nomenclature.

My reference says that the armory in Lithgow, New South Wales was established in 1912. The Lee Enfields were dated from 1913-29, 1938-45, and 1953-56, so yours should fall into one of those date spreads.

Apparently there were very few modifications from the British produced pattern, with the exception that some of them had rectangular cuts in the front sight protection ears to allow adjustment or removal of the front sight without removing the nose cap.

DG

[Evoken]

DG,
The Enfield I carried deer hunting many years ago was a full stock model with the ears around the front sight. This lithgow is perhaps considered a carbine? I will have to measure the barrel but I would guess it to be 24"-26".

Yes, the magazine cutoff is what I was referring to. I will have to post a few pics so you guys can better get an idea of it. The stock is much shorter than the one I remember and stops near the front barrel band. It kind of reminds me of the picture I have seen of the mark v (?) Jungle carbine, but does not have a muzzle brake. The 2 dates I found on it are 1942 and 1943.

[Evoken]

277209

[Evoken]

277210

[Der Gebirgsjager]

It appears to have been sporterized by cutting back the fore stock, removal of the nose cap, etc. So, that would make it lighter.

DG

[Evoken]

So it has been cut down.....shoot. I was hoping that it was intact. Either way it is an interesting piece.
Hopefully I can get the bore cleaned up enough so that it shoots. The rifling appears to be intact, but there is some small pitting in the bore. Doesn't look terrible, but not great either. Hopefully with some big, fat cast boolits i can get it to pattern better than a 12 gauge.
Thanks,
Ken

[Bad Ass Wallace]

The barrel will have a 1:10" twist and should shoot 190=220gn boolits very well. If the bore doesn't clean up try firelapping!My 1915 Lithgow shoots well with cast.

https://i.imgur.com/K1Eu3Oo.jpg

[Ray1946]

My Lithgow from 42' is 1/10" and has a .314 groove...........................

[higgins]

Most wartime Lithgow stocks were made of Coachwood, whereas maple was common prewar. Coachwood is more brittle and prone to crack at the back of the forearm and at the guard screw, so keep an eye on that. If it starts to crack at either location repair it before it splits. Since your forearm has been cut down you can employ a variety of methods if need be, and not worry about hiding the repair so the forearm will look like original condition. All that being said, it could have any kind of wood the other UK countries used, like walnut, beech, or maple; I dont' know what the Indians used at Ishapore, but their ultimate fix was to put a wood screw through the stock where it might at some time crack.

[Evoken]

The bore is slowly cleaning up. Spray some foaming stuff in there, let it sit a day, scrub crud out. I've been at it for about a week now. The rifling looks fairly strong even if it's got some pits in it. I can see one nick in the rifling that is not that deep, but it is there.
I just need to get some big, fat boolits and see what is what. I will have to get some bigger sizers.
I have the lee mold for sks?? that drops .315, maybe a couple coats of pc will fatten it up enough to at least try out.

[303Guy]

It looks like your Lithgow has a full length barrel. That would be 25". Once all the crud and rust is removed you might want to dull the rust pit edges so they don't scrape off lead. As you say, fat boolits and you should be good.

I have a Sportco Lithgow chambered in 25-303. I need to get it shooting again. It was amazingly accurate.

[pan957]

I have used JC Bore cleaning compound to clean out the crud.

[TNsailorman]

I have been amazed in the past at the amount of burned carbon, jacket fouling and just crud in general that some old military rifles had in the barrels. I have cleaned for days on some of them. I clean with a combination of Hoppe's to get the powder out. Then switch to Sweet's for a couple of days and then finish up up a few patches with JB Bore cleaner. I cleaned for almost 2 sold weeks on one 1917 Enfield that had been used in graveside services by The American Legion Honor unit. That blank ammo had also severely eroded the bore throat also. I have never and will never shoot blanks in a rifle that I own. james

[hornady308]

Evoken,
You may want to look at the NOE 316-165-FN-N5 mold. I use these in a 1916 Lithgow with good results when sized to 0.3155" and pushed by 18.2 grains of 2400.

[Bigslug]

Last one currently in stock of this classic: https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop/314-316/316-213-rn-o1/316-213-rn-o1-4-cavity-gc-brass-316299/

If the barrel and front sight are still original, repro wood can be found: https://www.prestigiouswoodstocks.com/collections/lee-enfield-mkiii-parts-and-sets . . .and the metal bits aren't hard.

The forestock bedding layout / barrel harmonic hardware is a bit weird if all you've ever worked on is the twin vertical action screw format of Mausers and their descendants. Would recommend you spend some time with Roger Wadham's The 2012 Complete Book on Lee Enfield Accurizing.