No4 MkI* Long Branch 1942 a WWII rifle?

[OLDNEWBIE]

Trying to figure out if my 1942 Canadian Enfield possibly saw WWII or Korean combat?

If mine was "over there", how might it have made it's way back over here?

Don't know details but my Dad first had it in the 1980s at least if not earlier.

BTW, it's not mint but it doesn't look like it was in a war either. 

[No_0ne]

Interarms bought most of the surplus Enfields during the  50's and 60's.  By the time the GCA act of 1968 was passed, they owned more Enfields than anyone else in the world.  Even today, the primary market for these rifles is here in the USA ...

[DaveTN]

Well it almost surely saw Military service, but no way to really know if it saw combat. That’s true of most any rifle of that period unless someone knows the soldier that had it.

They sure are fun to research and work on. There is no lack of information on the net.

[OLDNEWBIE]

50 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

Well it almost surely saw Military service, but no way to really know if it saw combat. That’s true of most any rifle of that period unless someone knows the soldier that had it.

They sure are fun to research and work on. There is no lack of information on the net.

Yeah, I should have said "if it was in a theater of war" or stayed in Canada.

[1gewehr]

It most likely did go overseas.  In those days recruits were issued rifles that they kept through training and deployments.  Relatively few rifles stayed behind in Canada during ww2.  It was not like today where a soldier gets a different rifle in basic, specialty training, and each duty station.

[Ramjo]

Interested in this topic too since I have one just like it.

[OLDNEWBIE]

2 hours ago, Ramjo said:

Interested in this topic too since I have one just like it.

I hope your bore isn't rusted out like mine. I got this a looooong time ago and never looked down the barrel or shot it. Just put it away and "stored" for many years.

Storage was in a dry climate controled place so damage might have beeen present all along. all other metal is nice.

Have been trying to clean it and I now think it's a two groove rifling. Hard to tell with all the crud.

 

 

 

[Garufa]

6 minutes ago, OLDNEWBIE said:

I hope your bore isn't rusted out like mine. I got this a looooong time ago and never looked down the barrel or shot it. Just put it away and "stored" for many years.

Storage was in a dry climate controled place so damage might have beeen present all along. all other metal is nice.

Have been trying to clean it and I now think it's a two groove rifling. Hard to tell with all the crud.

 

 

 

Sounds like it might have been put away after shooting corrosive ammo without proper cleaning.  Keep scrubbing but don’t be too aggressive.  It will probably be ok.

[OLDNEWBIE]

1 hour ago, Garufa said:

Sounds like it might have been put away after shooting corrosive ammo without proper cleaning.  Keep scrubbing but don’t be too aggressive.  It will probably be ok.

I finally ran a .45 brush through it a half dozen times as well as tons of patches and that revealed the rifling.

I'm kinda thinkin shooting it might help.

Any secret solvent anyone knows besides the usual?

 

 

[Garufa]

57 minutes ago, OLDNEWBIE said:

I finally ran a .45 brush through it a half dozen times as well as tons of patches and that revealed the rifling.

I'm kinda thinkin shooting it might help.

Any secret solvent anyone knows besides the usual?

 

 

If you shoved a .45 brush through a .30 bore that many times I’d say that’s enough.  Personally, I’d go through it a couple of times with an 8mm brush, then continue as usual with a .30. 

There is no magic solvent.  I’d just push a sloppy wet patch through the barrel of CLP or Kroil and let it sit for a day.  Wipe clean, then repeat.

I’ve fussed with mil-surps long enough to know they will never be clean.

[OLDNEWBIE]

This brings up a topic I've always wondered about.

I've heard others express concern over using oversized brushes.

Although nothing I would do regularly, I have on occasion with used them on cruddy neglected bores.

Doesn't firing a round cause much more wear than an oversized brush?

Anyway here's an update. Took furniture off so I could really get messy with the cleaning. Almost have a bit of shine first 3 inches!, then rough and pitted badly for a few inches with no discernable grooves gradually improving towards muzzle to an acceptable possible safe to shoot rough bore.

Took your advice and will overnight it with liberal amounts of CLP before proceeding.

 

15 hours ago, Garufa said:

If you shoved a .45 brush through a .30 bore that many times I’d say that’s enough.  Personally, I’d go through it a couple of times with an 8mm brush, then continue as usual with a .30. 

There is no magic solvent.  I’d just push a sloppy wet patch through the barrel of CLP or Kroil and let it sit for a day.  Wipe clean, then repeat.

I’ve fussed with mil-surps long enough to know they will never be clean.

 

[Ramjo]

22 hours ago, OLDNEWBIE said:

I hope your bore isn't rusted out like mine. I got this a looooong time ago and never looked down the barrel or shot it. Just put it away and "stored" for many years.

Storage was in a dry climate controled place so damage might have beeen present all along. all other metal is nice.

Have been trying to clean it and I now think it's a two groove rifling. Hard to tell with all the crud.

 

 

 

My bore is minty and the rifling excellent. Not shot out like many lee Enfields that can be found around. 

[OLDNEWBIE]

3 hours ago, Ramjo said:

My bore is minty and the rifling excellent. Not shot out like many lee Enfields that can be found around. 

Mine looks like an ancient sewer pipe.

I'm suddenly interested in them now for some reason though.

I'll be looking for another if this one won't shoot decent.

[Ramjo]

On 2/16/2019 at 6:35 PM, OLDNEWBIE said:

Mine looks like an ancient sewer pipe.

I'm suddenly interested in them now for some reason though.

I'll be looking for another if this one won't shoot decent.

Both of my Arisakas have pitiful bores.