SMLE Mk V restored from sporter status (lots of pics)

[smle addict]

I keep telling myself to stop rescuing and saving rifles, but just like the rest of the world, I didnt listen to myself...
A few years ago I was at a friends gunshop. He had three sporterized SMLE Mk V trials rifles sitting in his back room. One was missing its rear sight and had a chopped stock. The other was a barreled action only (missing cut-off), and the third had its rear sight intact, but a mismatched bolt and horribly butchered stock. I figured these were lost causes due to the rarity of parts unique to the Mk V's. I quickly forgot about them.
Earlier this year, I heard about Prestigious Wood Stocks. I saw they make reproduction SMLE Mk V furniture. This got the wheels turning, and I began inventorying my small parts bin.
This is how the madness starts:


From these meager beginnings, a rifle would be re-born. I quickly amassed a few other components, and began the attempt to re-form an SMLE hinged band into an front band for the Mk V. Lots of heat, hammering with a ball been hammer, and comparing to an original (I have an unmolested 1924 Mk V in my collection), and I got as close as I could to an original. I bought a few DP marked bands to practice with (very cheap). Used a TIG welder to close up a non DP band hinge, and then ground it smooth.

I had recently changed the oil in my jeep, so I heated the finished band then oil blacked it in a bucket of old 40 weight engine oil and 90 weight gear oil. The smell was awful.

I ordered up a repro stock set from prestigious, and here it is after unwrapping it. This is an very high quality stock set, and I couldn't be more impressed with their work. They sent me a buttstock without the stock disc hole, so I cut one with a Forstner bit.


Last week, I was at my friends shop, and I purchased one of the MK V's. It is a 3-digit 1922 dated rifle. This was the least molested of the the three.


He was gracious enough to let me scavenge the rear sight off another rifle. We broke five drift punches trying to get the small pins out of the rear sight hinge pins. Once back at my house, I installed the rear sight on the rifle.


Next, i used a chopped SMLE Mk III action body to act as a template while I sanded and fitted up the wood to the draws and butt-socket. I slowly fitted the Mk V action to the new stock. Lots of fine sanding at this point.


Also fitted the handguard clip, and used new brass rivets to secure it to the new handguard.


Once I was happy with the fitting, I did a final sand of 150 grit, I added several coats of red-chestnut stain and RLO to get the stain as close as I could to period correct rifles of the era. Did a final rub down of RLO-soaked 0000 fine steel wool. Here is the end result:


All said, I have about 55-hours into this project. I cant speak highly enough of Prestigious' work. These are not drop-in stocks. They do require fine fitting and sanding, but I'd rather have a little "meat" to work with, rather than an undersized stock. The upper band shows my crude handi-work, but at least its correct. I'm going to try to get it to the range next week some time. Hope you all enjoy the pics.

Information

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[army1882]

Wow, that's one gorgeous resto. That stock really looks fantastic as well as the metal work. If this is the original bluing, it's really a great example of a No1MkV, well done!! Give us a range report when you can.

[smle addict]

Yes, that is the original bluing. The rifle was pretty grimey and sticky, and smelled like cigarettes. My guess is the nicotine coated this rifle with goo, and the dust that stuck to it acted as a sort of protectant. Once I started cleaning it, I was surprised to see the bluing looked so good. It does have nicks and scratches, but overall, it appears to have been cared for.

Thanks for comments!

[Brian Dick]

Answered my question above.

[browningautorifle]

Looks great now. I had a Husky come to me that was yellow with nicotine. The wood and all metal, took a bit to clean too.

[Roger Payne]

Nice restoration job.........another one dragged back from the precipice!

[husk]

The front band looks great. Incredibly well done restoration.

[Longlee]

Great looking work. Let us know how the range visit goes. I’m anxiously waiting for a P14 Fat Boy furniture set from Prestigous. I don’t think I’ll be disappointed.

[tatou]

Awesome job, that front band turned out well too.
I'm wondering, did you thin out the wood just above the trigger guard (red circle in the pic) ?
I'm curious because the pics i've seen from the stock website appear to show that part ratter ''square-ish'' but looks much better in your pics.

[smle addict]

Thanks Tatou!

And yes, I did profile the stock in many areas, the area you circled being one of them. The Stocks from Prestigious do come a little fat and sqaured off. I typically use one of my other SMLE's to eyeball the contour and profile. I used a heavy rasp to quickly remove and contour the wood, then follow up with with 60-grit sandpaper, then finally 150-grit for finish. For the buttstock, I used my upright belt sander to round the contours. In actuality, I only have around 25 hours of sanding and fine fitting into this stock. Prestigious really does a phenomenal job on these pieces.