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Should I restore my enfield?

5K views 40 replies 18 participants last post by  bbqznbeer 
#1 ·
Just bought a no. 4 mk 1 this weekend and it's looking rough, question is should I refinish the wood and reblue it?
 
#4 ·
I'm of the opinion that it's up to you. It's your gun and if you want it restored to look nice then do it. It's not like you got it for it's collecters value and its not up to you to preserve it for future generations. I know I did one of my old Mausers and I'm glad I did.
 
#10 ·
Once you master the aperure sights you will have a hard time liking notch and post again. Kinda like learning to drive a stick.. Once you do, automatics suck..

Congrats on the enfield. Great rifles. I used to have a #4 mk 1 just like yours. I left the metal alone and put a new stock on it from Numrichs. Shot lots of paper with it and killed a deer and 2 hogs too. And a number of feral dogs (strays) at the land.
 
#11 · (Edited)
How much should that lighten the stock up?
Murphy isn't a stripper or a thinner, just a liquid soap designed for cleaning old wood. It will remove any dirt and age "above" the original finish. I've used it on lots of firearms and furniture. As always, start small in an innocuous area, clean it off with water on a slightly damp rag.
 

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#13 ·
For stock cleaning and scratch removal, you can try mixing equal parts of linseed oil, vinegar, and turpentine and gently clean the wood with 0000 steel wool soaked in that mixture. It will even out the color while nurturing the wood. Any deep dents can be steamed out using an iron and wet cloth. I worked for a curator of the Natural History Museum while in college and he used this concoction on everything--even as a furniture polish followed with a coating of bees wax.
 
#14 ·
I, personally, would do it. I am not a collector, I am an accumilator so if I get a deal on an old gun that is plentiful and isnt rare, then I might go ahead and re-do the furniture and clean up the metal as best as I can. I dont do the re-blue because usually it costs more than I paid for the gun.
I re-did the wood on a couple of Mosins and a few other guns and they look great. Others.. I keep as they are. I got a 1944 Ithaca M1911A1 that will only get some TLC and some CLP
 
#15 ·
I agree with the others that say go for it. I recently bought a No. 1 Mk.III with chopped up (sporterized) and very dirty, greasy furniture. I debated, like you are, about restoring. I decided to do, and I have no regrets. I also plan to purchase a new upper and lower foreend to return it to original design, although with unmatched numbers. I don't plan to sell any of the rifles that I buy, so the value and collectiblity are strictly mine to decide.
 
#17 ·
Here is my No.1 Mk.III, I haven't ordered the forend yet, but I did go over the wood with coarse, med, and fine steel wool. Some spots I had to take 320 grit sandpaper, I was just extra careful not to destroy any of the markings.

 
#18 ·
Hey i think it looks great! I just started using steel wool when i rehabed a little rocking chair given to me in 1955 by my grandmother and has gone thru 6 of my grand kids. It works so well im sold on it. An old man i knew told me about a wet rag and steam iron for the dents and it does the job well.Thats why i like this forum, learn sumpin new everyday.
 
#19 ·
I think there is a big difference between turning a historical rifle into a bubba rifle and restoring a historical rifle to it's former glory. Why would you drive around in a roughed out classic car when you can restore it to it's prime?
 
#20 ·
Here is my No.1 Mk.III, I haven't ordered the forend yet, but I did go over the wood with coarse, med, and fine steel wool. Some spots I had to take 320 grit sandpaper, I was just extra careful not to destroy any of the markings.
Congratulations! That's a nice looking piece of work.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Thank you ehparis, I really loved the feel of that rifle when I held it the first time, I couldn't let it stay in it's former condition. I felt the need to rescue it from it's destiny of becoming scrap or someones truck gun that gets the snot beat out of it everyday.
And just a f.y.i. for everyone. a cheap way to clean up brass, such as the buttplate on an Enfield, is ketchup and wostershire sauce. Mix 50/50, rub it real good and let her sit for about an hour. Then take a toothbrush, or similar scrubby thingy, and go to town. Worked great, and didn't taste that bad.
 
#22 ·
Thank you ehparis, I really loved the feel of that rifle when I held it the first time, I couldn't let it stay in it's former condition. I felt the need to rescue it from it's destiny of becoming scrap or someones truck gun that gets the snot beat out of it everyday.
And just a f.y.i. for everyone. a cheap way to clean up brass, such as the buttplate on an Enfield, is ketchup and wostershire sauce. Mix 50/50, rub it real good and let her sit for about an hour. Then take a toothbrush, or similar scrubby thingy, and go to town. Worked great, and didn't taste that bad.
Tastes like A1 Sauce...
 
#26 ·
Look for some replacement bolt heads, the no 4 has bolt heads marked 0-3 although mine is marked 0 it is in the 3 size spec by length, so you will need to measure the bolt head to be sure it is a good length. I was getting case sepaerations. I went to a bolt head one hundreth of an inch longer and the bolt still closed on a cartridge!! Now I have no more case separations with the longer bolt head. How is the ejector not working right?
 
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