Thread: LEE Enfield Carbine restoration

I was given a sporterised LEC rifle, with original NZ marked receiver and bolt (matching numbers but the bolt has been re-numbered to match, assuming an arsenal job) that someone had fitted an SMLE barrel and side mounted QD scope mount. I'm trying to refurbish it back to a faithful representation of the NZ cavalry carbine, using original parts where available, or at least period correct ones.

The mount was soldered on, so the rest of the solder will have to be removed, and the holes left from the screws either welded up, or (and makes more sense to me) the screws put in permanently and heads ground off so they are flush with the side of the receiver and then the bluing touched up.

I picked up a project carbine which had been sporteised too, but still has the original barrel and rear sight. Someone had sadly gone to great lengths to remove all signs of military use it seems; the bayonet lug has been ground off the nosecap, the lug which holds the dust cover on has been ground off the bolt, and the serial numbers and markings have almost been completely ground away, but L.E.C is still just visible on the socket. The magazine is a cut down one, not an original.

The front sight is not original, but a local collector gave me a worn spare one that he had.

We believe this rusty one is actually off a Martini Enfield artillery carbine, almost identical but the post/blade part is longer, the said collector has one of each rifle so we compared the sights side by side.

So, work that needs doing:
Good receiver with present markings tidied up
Barrel fitted to good receiver
Front sight tidied up, blade re-shaped, then brazed on to replace current sight
Fit a different rear sight. The some early carbines were retrofitted, and later ones built with a different rear sight to match the trajectory of the shorter barrel, new ammo, or whatever, these sights are marked EC/88. As the serial number is so high (1616, the highest recorded numbers are in the 1700's, even though there were apparently only 1500 carbines made, maybe they left gaps in the numbers between batches, go figure) I think the later style sight is appropriate.
Acquire a stock. The butt from the sporter carbine is a good representation, and I have reproduction top wood. I'm looking into getting a front stock made.
Find an original nosecap, or weld a bayonet lug (if I can find one) onto the cap on the sporter carbine.

Will update with how it goes, open to suggestions or leads on parts.
Cheers, Tom

I'd like to get one of the types like yours without the rear charger clip and the bolt mounted safety and turn it into a nice smooth sporter.

I had an original Lee Speed sporter made by BSA on this action.

Had a well worn SMLE “H” barrel.

Factory stock was military pattern butt and a schnabel forend with very light chequering.

You could go this way if you cannot find all the military parts you need.

Acquired the rear sight I wanted, and started to shape the mystery front sight, might need built up a bit before final sanding and bluing but that'll be a good test of my TIG welding skills (or lack thereof).

Almost complete, have repro front wood on order

An old engineer who is friends with my folks gave me a hand with in exchange for some manual labour. TIG welding is still new to me, but we got there, you can hardly tell the receiver was ever drilled for a scope mount now.

Brazed the proper front sight back on, doing so exposed the barrel to a lot of heat but I figure A: they were apparently originally brazed on so its been through it before and B: if I shoot it it won't be with full noise ammo, maybe just light cast lead/trail boss loads.

TIG welded the bayonet lug from a long tom nose cap back onto the NZ carbine nose cap. I realise it is heresy to defile antique parts like this, and there is a special hell reserved for people like me, but I had to right the wrong of whoever thought it OK to sporterise an NZ carbine. Probably needs a to be revisited with a small file but now it needs to be used for reference for restoring the front stock.

Keep up the good work!

Originally Posted by gundoc

Keep up the good work!

Cheers, here's a question for you: should I be concerned that the barrel around the e front sight got red hot, or close to it, while brazing the sight on? It was allowed to cool slowly at room temperature after. I'm keen to shoot it with reduced loads if it's safe to do so.

Originally Posted by tommygun

Cheers, here's a question for you: should I be concerned that the barrel around the e front sight got red hot, or close to it, while brazing the sight on? It was allowed to cool slowly at room temperature after. I'm keen to shoot it with reduced loads if it's safe to do so.

No, the barrel will be fine. Many barrels had brazed on parts and the strength of the steel is more than adequate for full power loads. The high pressure is only in the breech end for a few inches and then it decreases rapidly towards the muzzle. Keeping the temperature below full red is not a problem. Bright red/orange/yellow is the problem area and it also produces scale which affects the surface. I prefer to soft solder such parts with Brownells High Strength solder which keeps the temperature well below red heat but still giving a very strong bond. Silver solders like EZFlo are a bit hotter but still quite safe and only in the low dull red range.

Man, Has there always been Bubba's and Fudd's around to desecrate old rifles

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

Man, Has there always been Bubba's and Fudd's around to desecrate old rifles

There has, but not in this case. It is a restoration, rebuilding a desecration!

Looks like a great project. I'll be following closely.
I have an old and severely bubba'd Enfield of some sort (I'm not up to scratch on my history) that I have been meaning to do something with. I ran into an authentic .22lr trainer no.3 that was very cool, so maybe something along those lines.

Almost there, just waiting on the repro stock so I can chop the front off and splice it onto the original!