Ozymandias

By popular demand, I'm posting Ozymandias, which is a poem by Shelley. Shelley was aristocratic, so is Justin Welby, the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, sort of.

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away from Welby.

But I'm well-pleased at the performance of my sporter Lee Enfield, which I checked at the range today, prior to a hunting party somewhere in Texas next week. Easier to shoot than the Remington 700 but less substantial.

A Couple of Guns

Shoot on and God bless,

LSP 

Lee Enfield Rising

So, LSP, what's up with the Lee Enfields? I hear you ask in that bated breath kind of way. I'll tell you, not much, that is until today. Here's the backstory.

After more sanding than I care to mention, I'd refinished and restocked a 1917 Mk. III. Being a cheapskate, I put an ATI rail over the action to mount an optic. Being a double cheapskate, I bought a second-hand Burris Fullfield for fifty bucks and put it on the rail. After 60 rounds or so the scope wouldn't adjust for windage and I thought it was broken, like the Church of England but less expensive. The scope lived on my mantlepiece for a year, looking outwardly sleek and deadly, but inwardly I knew it was dead. Until the other day that is, when I decided to drag it off its perch and give it a second chance in life.

I looked at the windage dial, which was absurdly adjusted full right. I winded it back to a place that intuitively felt right, maybe 150 clicks left, not that I was counting, and as I did, I noticed the reticle moving left. Windage worked, obviously. I boresighted, using a King James Bible as a rest, and sure enough, my instinct was right, the scope was pretty much on. Result. 

Turkey

Took the rifle to the range this morning and it shot well enough, achieving 1- 3" groups at 100 yards from the bench, using 180 grain Privy Partizan, which had an easy time of slicing through steel turkey. Not bad for a firearm that's almost 100 years old and certainly good enough for minute of hog. 

Shoot on,

LSP

Shoot the Lee, for God's Sake!

Add caption

You may have thought that I'd forgotten about firearms, being so busy with the Mission Field and all. But no, despite a grievous lack of readily available ammo -- please, someone, sort it out -- I've managed to get to my friend's range a couple of times.

Upgrade the glass, yo.

I was especially pleased with my "project Lee," an old 1917 SMLE that'd been sporterized once, badly, then re-sporterized by me in an amateur attempt to own a make-believe Lee Speed. Not being a stereotype, I want to own something approximating to the hunting rifle of the British Empire.

Sand, Plane, Rasp, Blue

Whatever, the mock Speed shot pretty well, putting rounds in a Dime with a used Burris(!) scope. Not bad for a WWI rifle that's gone through several porch project gunsmith hours. 

There's a Rifle on the Table1

Some people have motorcycles in their front room, or "lounge." Others go for Lees on the Mahogany. Same strategy, different tactic? 

Fruity!

In other news, the oddly named Gavin SameSex Welby has come out vastly in favor of wimmin bishops and rather cautiously in favor of gay sex. Go on, Gavin, bite the bullet!

Snack

Yours unstereotypically,

LSP

Dialing in the Lee Enfield Sporter

It's all very well restoring a rifle but the question is, will it shoot? With that in mind I took the newly minted sporter to the range, only to find a tree blocked the path. I moved that and set up at 25 yards to dial in the scope, bore-sighting the old fashioned way, because I've been too parsimonious to buy a laser, and using the tailgate as a rest. Must get some kind of sled to put the guns on in future.

warrior on the edge of the tailgate - note cloak of invisibility

I was nervous as I took the first couple of shots. Would the gun blow up? Would the lovingly shaped and polished forestock splinter into a deadly hail of wooden shrapnel on bearing the shock of the mighty .303 Brit? For that matter, would the thing shoot straight at all after my expert gunsmithing...

getting there...

I needn't have worried. The rifle got on paper quicly, which is a good testimony to peering down the bore with the bolt removed and shot some reasonablegroups from 50 and 75 yards. Performed well offhand at a steel ram at 100.

Due to time and ammo constraint I cut the exercise a little short but I'll return with a few boxes of the right stuff and finish the job. But not a bad result at all.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Sporterizing the Lee Enfield Porch Project -- All Scoped Up & Ready To Go

It took some time, a little patience and an amount of sanding, but the venerable SMLE is finally ready to shoot.

getting ready for bed

The ATI scope mount was easy to install along with 1" medium Weaver rings from Walmart, it's topped off with a Burris Fullfield that I found second hand at a local gunshop for $50.

Now I won't bore you with the rationale behind the project other than to say that  SBW put me up to it and it seemed like a good idea -- get a beat up old sporter with some fine Empire history behind it and turn the rifle into a handy shooter with 10 rounds of .303 power. A custom gun on a budget, sort of thing.

apply the safety, for goodness sake

So how much did it cost? Less than something plastic from Walmart, with the added satisfaction of having a hand in its making.

I'll dial it in at the range tomorrow.

Thanks, Bushwacker, for the inspiration and Lukeya for chivvying me on...

Cheers,

LSP

Lee Enfield Porch Project -- Wood Arrives

Remember, delusions of grandeur notwithstanding, there's only so much in the stipend to spend on gun projects. And, as the Breviary advises, "Wisdom, open the door;" Wisdom, in this instance being, don't spend a lot of money on a "learn as you go along" Lee Enfield project. With that in mind, I ordered a walnut forestock from Boyds for Mk. III re-sporterizing -- semi-inlet, $44. How could I go wrong/

In all kinds of ways; the wood could have been rubbish and might have required major surgery to fit the barreled receiver. So I was a little nervous. 

I needn't have worried.

The walnut was fine for the money. It'll take some time and patience to fill the grain and the wood sits a little proud to the metal, but that's good. Easy to subtract, hard to add.

Importantly, the basic inletting seems pretty much on, with bearing surfaces making good contact with trigger guard, receiver, trigger lugs and forend etc. To put it simply, the thing fits and it fits for very little money.

Well done, Boyds. Next step? A lot of sanding and a bit of the rasp. More on that anon.

Shoot straight,

LSP