My apologies to all those who are already fully aware of this.

Back in the day when the SMLE was a service rifle in much of the British Empire, and a long range target rifle used all over the world (except the U.S.), there were a number of little things which helped make them shoot really well.

One was called "packing". It consists of putting a resilient layer of material about an inch or so long, centered inside the upper front handguard, about 2 or 3 inches back from the front band and nose-cap. In the "old" days, cork was often used as a preferred packing material, but rubber works even better in many instances.

What is wanted is a layer of "packing" that is just slightly thicker than the space between the upper side of the barrel and the inside bottom of the handguard. The object is to exert a constant, slight downward "damping" pressure on the barrel.

This approach was developed first for the very light barrels of the No. 1 - Mk. 3 Enfields, but was later found to produce very good results in the much heavier barreled No. 4 - Mk. I Enfields as well.

The U.S. NRA tested this trick in the early 1960's. They had a No. 4 - Mk.1 which formed small horizontal groups, but shot about 8" vertical groups at 100 yards. Having installed some rubber packing, they re-tested the gun, and found it capable of shooting MOA at 100 yards with the packing in place.

One more note, it helps to rub either powdered moly or graphite into the surface where the packing contacts the upper side of the barrel, so that as the barrel heats and thereby lengthens, it will slide without binding in the packing.

The DCRA found packing so effective in accurizing SMLE's, that it was banned in Service Rifle competition during the early 60's as an unfair advantage.

Of course, there are lots of other causes of inaccuracy in the Lee-Enfields, just as in any other type of rifle, but this tip might be worth trying if anyone has a SMLE which seems to need help in controlling vertical group size.

I guess that it kind of relates to the pressure point found in the forearms of featherweight Winchesters, most Rugers and Remingtons.

Neat trick. Any experience using the same technique on military Springfields, Mausers, etc?

Craigster-

No, I haven't tried it in any Mauser-type action, but can't think of any reason it should hurt anything, and it might help. It should also work on things like the MAS 36 or any other rifle where there is a two-piece wood stock plus an upper handguard and any increase of uniformity between barrel and stock probably would be an improvement.

I am going to try it within the next couple of weeks on a Garand to see if that does anything positive for it. Vertical stringing in the Garand is often blamed on the semi-auto action and tightness or looseness of the gas plug, but it could be the barrel needs a little damping too.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
I guess that it kind of relates to the pressure point found in the forearms of featherweight Winchesters, most Rugers and Remingtons.

It has a similar effect. It was first used in the Lee Enfield because of the 2-piece stock on that rifle. The forend "stocking-up" techniques in accurizing involved (among other things) inlaying hardwood pieces to get a good firm, consistent, bearing of the lower forend against the action (the English call it the "body") of the rifle and the underside of the barrel...also for uniform damping. But, with the 2-piece stock, the forend did not stay uniformly tight against the front of the action, and therefore the pressure points of contact between the forend and the barrel often varied considerably over time as to the poundage of the pressure exerted. So, to get a more uniform pressure against the barrel, the lower forend and the upper handguard, being tied together by the front band and nose-cap, were brought into constant even bearing on the barrel by inserting the packing under the handguard.

BTW, the English and just about everyone else tried free-floating those barrels. That definitely did NOT work. A properly packed and bedded SMLE was unbeatable at 1,000 yards until almost the 1970's.

Every country, including the U.S., took their service rifles to Bisley every year to show the old SMLE "how it is done". The results? If you wanted to win the King's (or later the Queen's) at Bisley, you took a properly stocked Enfield after being embarrassed enough times.