Rainbow,
Cpt Laidler is a fantstic resource and treasury of information for the Enfield shooting community, I would not quibble with him on his own experiences or findings. Keep in mind though, he was working with these rifles in a much later period than WW2.
With regards to poorly seasoned wood, linseed oil and floated barrels ...
# - The issue of moisture and warp can happen to even the best seasoned stocks, seasoning was not a factor. In the long rifles like the No4 and the SMLE where you had two/three points securing the fore-end and handguards in place - # - rear handguard retaining ring (No4) - middle band and nose band (SMLE/No4) - this was not a concern.
In the No5 rifle you only had a single band to secure the handguard and the fore-end together. When Malaysia sold on all the surplus No5 Mk1's to the world market, it was commonly found that upon removing the commonly applied varnish, the wood was found to be soft in many cases. This again supports the nature of the Burmese and Malay climates ability to attack the stability of ther furniture through heat, damp and moisture. The same thing happened to sailors clothing in the Carribean/Tropics ... it would just rot off their bodies.
The issue of a fully floating barrel is not only affected by warp of the fore-end in the barrel channel, since the barrel contacting the inner walls of the fore-end is only one of the problems. In a free floated No5 (I have done the job myself from scratch on a No5 to spec), the bedding itself, ie where the action body sits, is where expansion and contraction occured also, and this also affects the attitude of the barrel in its free floating state. Linseed oil did not stop the ingress of moisture through the end grain of the fore-end, which is precisely why they added the fore-end cap.
In any case ... of the many years I've been talking to No5 shooters and myself being one, we have found no wandering zero. The proof is in the eating.
---------------------------- To handloaders unfamiliar
P.S The secret to getting more life from brass is well known to Enfield shooters and goes like this ...
# - Fire form brass and keep brass for that rfle chamber only.
# - Neck size only, FLS only when the rounds are tough to chamber.
# - Keep loads to the min end of the scale
# - et voila!
I'm on my sixth reload of the same brass on one of my Enfields and it is common to get 10 reloads or more ...
Tiki.