Hi,
I am brand new to this forum, it's an amazing resource just from the few posts I've read.
Just got my hands on my dad's old No. 4, Mk.1. He bought it mail order back in the late 50's or early 60's, shot it a few times, then stored it, he got too old to shoot it, I finally thought to ask him for it and here it is. (The reason he settled on it is that the Lee-Enfield was his service rifle when he did his time in the Latvian army in the 1930's, albeit in a much earlier model). It has not been fired in close to 50 years, handled little, and was reasonably well stored. Everyting seems to function properly, though I do plan on giving it a thorough servicing/cleaning before operation. This brings up my questions:
1) After such an extended storage, to what extent do you recommend I break it down? Should the bolt be disassembled?
2) The one thing that seems not quite right is that there's a little bit of play at the end of the barrel-- it'll jiggle up and down in the forestock/handguard by maybe 1/16" I'm assuming this isn't normal, what do I do to fix it, shim the stocks?
3) He still has about 5 or 6 bandoliers of old military ammo, I believe from WWII. Is it still safe to shoot? I know it would be corrosively primed, so if I ever shoot it I'm ready for the cleaning chore, but having shot plenty of blackpowder I'm used to ugly cleanups.
I'm sorry if some of this has been covered elsewhere in this forum, I took a look but had trouble digging up answers. I have never shot this rifle and am entirely new to the Lee-Enfield (except for occasionally handling this one when I was a boy), so pardon me if my questions are naive.
That said, I am excited to finally get her out of the safe and into the habit of doing what she was built for!
PS-- I don't have it right in front of me, but I believe it to be Birmingham Small Arms 1942. It has a dizzying array of markings, which is I suppose a topic unto itself...
I am brand new to this forum, it's an amazing resource just from the few posts I've read.
Just got my hands on my dad's old No. 4, Mk.1. He bought it mail order back in the late 50's or early 60's, shot it a few times, then stored it, he got too old to shoot it, I finally thought to ask him for it and here it is. (The reason he settled on it is that the Lee-Enfield was his service rifle when he did his time in the Latvian army in the 1930's, albeit in a much earlier model). It has not been fired in close to 50 years, handled little, and was reasonably well stored. Everyting seems to function properly, though I do plan on giving it a thorough servicing/cleaning before operation. This brings up my questions:
1) After such an extended storage, to what extent do you recommend I break it down? Should the bolt be disassembled?
2) The one thing that seems not quite right is that there's a little bit of play at the end of the barrel-- it'll jiggle up and down in the forestock/handguard by maybe 1/16" I'm assuming this isn't normal, what do I do to fix it, shim the stocks?
3) He still has about 5 or 6 bandoliers of old military ammo, I believe from WWII. Is it still safe to shoot? I know it would be corrosively primed, so if I ever shoot it I'm ready for the cleaning chore, but having shot plenty of blackpowder I'm used to ugly cleanups.
I'm sorry if some of this has been covered elsewhere in this forum, I took a look but had trouble digging up answers. I have never shot this rifle and am entirely new to the Lee-Enfield (except for occasionally handling this one when I was a boy), so pardon me if my questions are naive.
That said, I am excited to finally get her out of the safe and into the habit of doing what she was built for!
PS-- I don't have it right in front of me, but I believe it to be Birmingham Small Arms 1942. It has a dizzying array of markings, which is I suppose a topic unto itself...
