I got most of it together only to realize there I was staring at a odd screw/spring assembly. Hmmm...
Turns out it goes here...
It's a spring meant to supply pivot pressure against the nose cap, for reasons I can't discern, and goes in that rather large hole in the underside of the lower forend. To get it on I have to take nearly everything back off... which for most parts wouldn't be too much trouble but the assembly of the trigger guard requires some magic incantation second only, in my experience, to the frustration of trying to get a bolt back into a Mini-14.
Don't forget the candles, incense and prayers (Anglican!) while working on SMLEs, Webleys, and Vickers.
ReplyDeleteAnglican! That's why I'm having a problem.
DeleteYep, Presbyterian, Methodist or even American Episcopalian won't work :)
DeleteYou know, I never tried any Southern Baptist! There's nothing like Hell, Fire, & Brimstone!
DeleteOh man, that is gonna be a PITA... Kinda like an old Winchester with the screw up against the barrel to dampen vibration!
ReplyDeleteYup! I honestly don't know what that spring is for.
DeleteWonder if the 'racing stripes' are a version of the Austrian flag.
ReplyDeleteActually I found out what they mean. This stock was taken from an Ishapore manufactured SMLE. The Indian forces would take excess rifles and make them ready for "DP", meaning "drill purpose". DPed rifles were made inoperable in one way or another, and the stripes were to indicate it had been DPed. Obviously as the rifles were nonfunctioning, once scrapped they were sold for parts all over the world. So this stock came off of an SMLE that didn't work.
DeleteLooks good. Get those DP stripes off (yeah, that's what they were) and bring that critter back here to shoot.
ReplyDeleteSad thing is, most DP rifles were perfectly good until someone decided to drill holes in them and otherwise make them "non-functional".
Shooting it is on my list, ML. I'll give you a heads up once I have time.
DeleteIshapore! I just got one too, a G.R.I. 1942 No.1 MkIII* in .303 - in 1942 with the Japanese advancing unopposed through Singapore and down the Malay Peninsula, things looked pretty grim for the Old Colony.
ReplyDeleteThe arsenal is still around making modern guns now, including a High-Power clone: http://rfi.nic.in/start.html
That's really interesting.
DeleteOf course it takes magic to put it together, it's British. Just be glad it doesn't have an electrical system.
ReplyDelete1.) I remember reading a Guns&Ammo(?) article some time ago (more than a few years) about shooting a bunch of WWII surplus rifles with the bayonet attached! Outcomes: the SMLE shot the best and with the least POI change. The Germans (Kar), US (Garand), and Japs (Arisaka) all shot wildly innacurately. and varied considerably from bayo-on to bayo-off.
ReplyDelete2.) A trick some of my old gun-club buddies who are into accuracy is they like to add some under forearm pressure upwards on the barrel, a screw or a folded business card sometimes gets the rifle to settle-in and shoot better, so I wonder if that's an old-time SMLE trick, institutionalized.