May I Present and Stay Tuned! More to Follow!

66 thoughts on “May I Present and Stay Tuned! More to Follow!”

1. Mr. BCE:

   Do another for sure, get the one with a bolt already present and ready for duty. BTW you can raise some of the wood dents with a little heat to expand the wood fibers. Is The Pretty Wife doing ok?

   Spin

   P.S. What are your thoughts on the drones flying around the country?

2. Well done, lad. A man after my own heart. Lock me in a room with one of those 1000 piece puzzles and I will die of boredom. Slap a rusty old war horse on my work bench, and you will have to remind me to eat.
   Have you ever used a hot iron and a wet cloth to steam “pop” dents out of a wood stock?

   1. I have actually, and in the case of Dis Ole Hoss, I’m not doing it. I’m leaving his “Battle Scars” on him…
      They give him a sense of age, history and honor, in that he IS STILL a ‘working weapon of war’
      I’m proud to have brought such a warrior ‘back from the brink’ so to speak

3. Excellent work! Now do a G98 Az…

   1. So I have a barelled K98 AZ that had a horrible stock. Bought a Yugo stock and rebuilt it as a mismatch. Its a cool rifle!

4. SG ammo has 303 brit both box and case qty of varying weights and material.

   1. I second SGAmmo,good family business. If you can put together a 200.00 dollar order shipping is free.

   2. Sam Gabbard is the MAN!!!

5. The main reason I never added an SMLE to my collection is due to the ammo being so hard to find these days. Even military grade 30-06 is starting to become scarce.

6. Look on AmmoSeek dot com for your 303 ammo.
   It’s a compilation site that shows you many other sites.
   Ya done good. Leave the dings and nicks, let the War Horse show it’s linage.

7. Exquisite work! The brass badge in the stock looks great…did you “age” it or not? It should age over time if not. Bravo, well done.

8. There’s plenty of ammo online, not hard to find at all. I’ve never had a problem buying it that way.

   1. It’s not that, it’s paying $20-25 a box, and depending on -who- you buy from, the LOWEST shipping is like $15. Then figure FL tax, it’s like $40-45 or worse $50 a box per 20.

      1. Gotcha.

         1. Yah… seeing that the first time out is going to be the “test”… I do NOT want to buy in bulk

            Yet…

            Jes’ Sayin’

            1. If I could I’d send you a few rounds but I think it’s prob not legal.

            2. Kemp,
               Do a little research, sending ammo through the USPS might not be illegal.
               And even if it is…….
               If YOU don’t say nuttin’, it’s fer sure I won’t say nuttin’.
               Just pack it so that nothing rattles, should be good.

      2. Might be worth checking a upcoming gun show.

   2. Midway shows “in stock” .303 Brit today.

9. Pingback: A Thing of Beauty

10. We have to have LOTS of 303 up here in Canada. 😂👍

    You’re right, it takes a .311 boolit… and it was before I started reloading… but I think the classic load for it was a 174 gr. Spitzer going around 2600 FPS…? I can’t remember… but tons of horsepower to dump a deer! Or a Zulu, or a Hun or a Boer, HAR HAR HAR! Whether it’s a deer or some smelly wog… the Smelly is your gun!
    😊👍

    Rob at British Muzzleloaders on OyTube came up with an excellent recreational target liad for his old Lee Metford he ran a hard cast round nose at sedate velocity and had a ball with it.

    If you ever feel like doing a Martini Henry… let me know. That gun is the King of British surplus guns.

    1. Slotting floppies!!!

    2. You in Canada May have ammo, but your Communist Cuban leaders taking all your guns! How is it, he’s still “ A Thing?

       I was amused Musk Recently Posted the Truth, the DoucheBages,A Tool,

       Praying your you Canadians swift recovery from the nonsense.

       Dirk

11. The guys at buymilsurp.com may be able to find some ammo.

    https://www.buymilsurp.com/contact_us.html

    and some Endfield stuff
    https://www.buymilsurp.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=303%20british&inc_subcat=0&sort=20a&page=1

    8440 Ulmerton Rd. Suite #500
    Largo, FL 33771

    Hornady sells a 303/7.7mm Arisaka bullet for handloading. They come in closer to 0.312.
    Same one is used for ARG Mauser.
    Or, you can use 0.311 SIE Prohunters which fly ok in the old Enfields.

    Those are huge lands in the old guns and just like the Mosins et al. that might come in at at 0.315 grooves the bullets can be described as “land riders.”

    Which brings up the possibility of pulling bullets from a 7.62x54R and reloading in the 303 brass if you can find some. That will definately work.

12. Free shipping w/6 + boxes ($200+) from these guys…good, American made ammo…

    https://steinelammo.com/all-available-calibers/rifle-ammo/303-british/303-british-174gr-fmj/

    1. https://www.sgammo.com/catalog/rifle-ammo-sale/303-british-ammo

       Free shipping over $200. I’ve bought from Sam for years.

13. Great job Sir!
    Don’t sell it. There are many like it, but this one is yours.
    … not for nuttin, you ever think about this as a side-gig? You’ve got the skills, tools, and experience. Buy a beater for cheap, put a couple new parts on it, sell it for 10x what you paid? Beer money…

14. SG Ammo . com out of Oklahoma is a good ammo source.

15. I’m telling you brother, there is a huge market for people who can do restorations and aftermarket stuff. Get your FFL, it is really pretty easy, and start a side-gig doing this. Retail sales of OEM guns is crap right now because everyone can undercut you but there is a real opportunity to make some shekels doing something you enjoy and are good at.

    1. Unfortunately, time is taking its toll on some of the go to guys for restorations and they are no longer around. There is still a need for such gunsmiths, though, so it could turn into something more than a side hustle for someone with skills.

16. I picked up an 1917 enfield at the cmp south store last spring.
    They hadn’t had any of those for years but had gotten a few that had been in a VFW locker apparently for decades.
    Cleaned & inspected, made some mild 30 06 & went to the range.
    The battle zero on these was 480 yards according to two different tech & history books I had.
    Yeah at 100 its about 14 inches high & 5 inch group. I got two taller front blades
    that project is stalled for now.
    Plan to get back to it after Christmas.

17. Have a Canadian No. 4 bought out of a “bargain barrel” decades ago in Michigan. Lot of rack wear, but the barrel and action were top notch and all the serials matched. It went to Europe, since was re-arsenaled at Fazarkley from a Mk I to a Mk II. Deciphering British marks is a whole hieroglyphics exercise. Finally broke down, got a set of dies and started reloading it. Shoots on the sights if I reload as close to Mk VII ball specs as possible. Use 174 grain .312s. Feed ramp likes spritzers, round nose, not so much. Get some strippers and enjoy a “mad minute”. For the strippers, polish the inside with a little crocus cloth and little layer of lube applied with your finger. Will load much more smoothly. Never had problems with rim lock.

18. Sweet. Now you just need the Chuck Brown shirt and throw on your ruck. Ready to apocalypse.

19. https://www.aeammo.com/catalog/ammo/rifle?caliber_id=174&page=1

    $16/box, for either 150 gr or 180 gr PPU. Flat shipping rate of $12 for the order, free shipping if your total order before tax is $250 or more. I stuck in a random nowhereville Florida address to check on taxes and the taxes were miniscule compared to my home state, where we have a sales tax but no ammo tax (sales tax in my hometown is a touch over 7%).

    If you want a larger quantity, then SGAmmo is the best place to get that, as other commenters have mentioned.

    1. That’s actually what I sent out for…meaning AE… that was, out of all of them, the best deal I could find!

20. BCE, Been reading your page a while now and never commented.. really enjoyed this series ! I have a stash of 303 old stuff somewhere and thinking you’d enjoy it. thing is… I feel weird asking for your mailing address – opsec and all that .. I’m assuming you can get my email address associated with this comment. so drop a message and I’ll see what I can find in the cache. I am a fan of the SMLE – especially the No 4 .. Merry Christmas and God Bless you and Gretchen.

21. Love the rifle. Great work. Also the meme. Saw this that goes with it;

    how many guns should a normal person
    have?
    – about five
    – that sounds like a gun enthusiast to me
    – no, a gun enthusiast has fifteen
    – that sounds like someone obsessed with
    guns
    – no, people obsessed with guns have
    hundreds
    – that sounds like a psycho
    – no, psychos seldom own guns, or just get
    one or two
    – that sounds like a normal person though.
    – no, a normal person has about five, we already
    covered that…

    1. As to your point about psychos: Accused CEO shooter Luigi Mangione apparently only had the one gun. Just sayin’.

       1. Who says he was a psycho?

22. Factory .303 rounds commonly feature 150gr projectiles and will tend to shoot low since SMLE sights are set up for heavier 174 gr’s. Speer make/used to make a 180gr for handloading which delivered tight groups – one time, a 1-inch group at 100 yards – in my 1916 MkIII*.

    Note that modern (American) factory .303 is also “loaded soft” to take account of aged weapons and the possibility of being fired in 1890’s Long LE’s – which were designed for the lower-powered pre-Mk7 service ammunition. Those law suits, you know.

23. I find the finish a perfect level of restored and original survivor. Good job, Billy.

    As for Turkish weapon manufacturers, I have a pair of Stoeger M3000 Sporting semi-auto shotguns for Trap shooting. They run clean and cycle reliably without fail. They were good enough that Benelli bought them out.

    Leigh
    Whitehall, NY

24. Hi BC,
    Inre: the asterisk you mentioned after the MkIII…. I was reading on wikipedia about SMLE, and found this. Hope it helps…..
    During the First World War, the SMLE Mk III was found to be too complicated to manufacture (an SMLE Mk III rifle cost the British government £3/15/– = £3.75[when?]), and demand outstripped supply; in late 1915 the Mk III* was introduced incorporating several changes, the most prominent of which were the deletion of the magazine cut-off mechanism, which when engaged permits the feeding and extraction of single cartridges only while keeping the cartridges in the magazine in reserve, and the long-range volley sights.[26][25]

25. Good for you BCE, that was a nice project and that is one sweet rifle.
    I know that this rifle was for you but as others said, I’d figure out how much you have in this gun and now what you could sell it for.
    I know it takes a bunch of man hours to do but if you love doing it, maybe buy 2 more, restore them and as other said get your FLE and sell them. You might make some nice shekels doing so.

    Also while I’m sure that you’ll post and we’ll all talk about politics, weird drones and any personal stuff going on in your life you wish to discuss, you can tell that you are passionate about restoring rifles and pistols and I’ll bet it took your mind off of other crap while doing it.

    I think everyone enjoyed this. I would love to see you restore an old M1 Garand if you could get your hands on one. I’ve always wanted one and am still pissed that I didn’t buy one in the 1990s when they were still affordable.

26. Really nice job. Takes lots of patience and commitment. I like your computer desk – armorer’s work bench. Mine is similar. I used to keep a sign on my desk: “A clean desk is the sign of disturbed mind.” Words to live by. Now, where the heck is my cell phone?

    1. BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
       That’s happened faaar too frequently!
       “Honey!!! Call my fon willya?”

    2. Yeah, I used to have a sign I kept near my desk (for obvious reasons…)

       “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, what’s an empty desk?”

       An as you might guess, it was a rare event to even *see* the top of my desk. 😉

       (still true, to this very day).

27. Back in the day when I was 15 or 16 I worked part-time in the sporting goods section of a K-Mart. In the Fall a shipment of various military surplus rifles would arrive ahead of deer season. SMLEs, Mausers, Springfields… Some had been sportarized, most not. I bought a sportirized Argentine Mauser in 8mm for $36. Man, if only I had known then what I know now!

28. Been along time here, stupid question is the 303 corrosive?

    You’ve done a fine job Biggy, I’m actually impressed.

    Dirk

    1. It depends. Old ammo is ALL corrosive from my understanding… Leastways anything DotMil. Like old Surplus .303 Brit… Per the AI: “The first noncorrosive, nonmercuric (NCNM) primers were developed by the Germans around 1928. However, the transition to non-corrosive primers in the US military didn’t happen until the 1950s” and I know that the US DotMil stopped using them since 1955.

       1. Also the Germans, “Hey, we have this stuff we’ll call ‘Ballistol’ that neutralizes corrosive salts; lubricates the weapon; protects the metal from corrosion; is non-toxic; and can be used for topical first aid applications.”

       2. I have a grip of 1957 fayed FN manufactured 30-06 ammo that ruing the chamber of a M1. All old ammo should be treated as “corrosive” IMO.

          Nice resto job, BCE!

          Tom762

          1. Stupid autocorrect! Dated, ruined

             Tom762

29. Dammit BCE. That S,M,LE looks great, especially in regard to how it looked originally! Got one meself – a #1 Mk III made is 1918, #’s matching, too.. It’s a dandy, and shoots great (Grandson had one follow him home a couple days ago, too). Mine likes the PPU 174 gr load, and it’s a great deal from SG as others have said. Free s&H over $200. Done bidness with ’em fer years – highly recommend ’em. Getting ready to get some fer him. If’n it was in one of the poasts, I missed it – but did you redo the wood (and how?), or just clean it up?? That’s sumthin I’ve yet to work up enuff nerve to try.

    Y’all take care,
    Mike in FLA. (Yer almost neighbor).

    PS: Still much good thoughts from me fer you and Gretch!!

30. Used birch wood cold blue hot on a Remington speedmaster some 50 years ago and it still looks good. Your does as well. Not sure I need another project but never know.

31. Your project came out nice. I do hope when you test fire it that you will wear some protective gear (face shield, heavy gloves, etc.) so as not to end up like that Kentucky guy on youtube. Not all defects can be seen without x-ray or MPI. And take along some tools in case something gets loose or breaks. My computer says spares were delivered, hopefully they are in good shape.

    1. SS: They got here and are PERFECT thank you kindly… I got distracted on sending you a thank you note brother, my Public Apologies there! But when I fire this? I’m going to be 10 feet away, it’ll be locked down in a cradle, with a sandbag on it, and even a smaller sandbag over the action to make sure that IF it detonated spectacularly, that the shrapnel is contained. Again, I thank you for your support and kindness!

       1. Great! Box of 180 grain PPU on the way for test purposes.

32. https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/news-selections/national-news/drone-mystery-solved-u-s-military-naval-air-warfare-center-aircraft-division-nawcad

    1. If this is true that these are US Navy drones then why didn’t they just SAY it and then “mystery solved” and people would ignore them ?

       1. Certainly possible, but I would then ask if Pterodynamics has produced the “50” or so that one police officer reported coming in from the ocean. It might be possible to research if the company received a production contract, or at least something more than a development contract. Another blog posted a TikTok from the CEO of a {military} drone maker who said that there are few {normal} reasons to fly a drone at night, the optics just are not that good, and most of us here know what thermal vision systems cost, so that would be risky and expensive if you lost one. But…it’s certainly possible and you can do all sorts of interesting work in the blimp hangars at Lakehurst NAS.

          1. forgot this, probably most important part…if they are in fact testing ship-to-shore logistics drones, why not at least inform the NJ governor?

    2. “These are not run of the mill drones, many of them can fly for hours and obviously weigh over 100 pounds. And it cannot possibly be Iran doing it either. So why all the drone news now? EASY ANSWER: The FAA is due to let drone regulations expire on Dec 20, and someone is reminding the FAA not to. It could be as simple as that.”

       http://www.voterig.com/.uh6.html

33. Outstanding job brother! I’m putting the finishing touches on a Jungle Carbine that I picked up from the same company. It didn’t pass headspace, but I picked up a couple of other sizes. Just need to try them out and see if I can make it a shooter.

34. Didn’t think I ever needed a smle, but now I need a smle.
    Thanks for providing the link to the website and for helping me spend all me hard earned money!

35. Beautiful… Historically I want each “battle” rifle from all the major combatants in WW I &II. I would gladly purchase any you have brought back to life, they don’t need to look good, they need to function good, though looks are a plus. Liked your decision for the “new” brass Crown disc, you restored it, the age patina Should be your own.

36. Sounds like the perfect retirement job. Who wouldn’t want to send their classic mil arms to have you fix, clean, reblue, accurize, reliability checked, etc, etc.

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