Lee Enfield Restoration

bassfishindoc · September 13, 2010, 06:13 PM

Hey everybody, I have a question about a Lee Enfield I received from my father. The rifle is currently unshootable and in need of restoration and I need some advice on how to best clean up the parts. The rifle appears to have been stored in an uncontrolled environment as the wood is very dark and unsalvageable. A lot of the screws and stuff have lots of rust and are in bad shape but they are easily replaceable. What I am wondering about is the barreled action. I have removed it from the wood and it seems to be in pretty good shape with minor surface rust and minor pitting, I even got the inside of the barrel to shine with a little work. The rest however is coated in a "gunk" that seems to be a mixture of dust, dirt, and grease. I am going at it with a can of gun scrubber and a stainless steel brush but it is slow work. Is there a better way to clean it up or something I can soak the parts in to lift off all the grime? Thanks in advance for the help.

publius · September 14, 2010, 03:20 AM

Soak the parts for a couple of weeks in automatic transmission fluid then go at it with toothbrushes and bronze brushes in the tough spots. Keep the stainless brushes away from it.

e3mrk · September 29, 2010, 01:03 AM

Buy a Can of PB Blaster and soak the Parts You want to clean.
This stuff works Great and only takes a couple of Hours of soaking to get things clean.
I use it as a Bore Cleaner as it works as well if not better that Kroil. It really gets the Job done.

dahermit · September 29, 2010, 07:16 AM

If the chamber (and bore), is rusted the rifle may not be worth restoring. A rusted chamber could result in a caseing sticking in the chamber when fired.

**Unclenick** · September 29, 2010, 12:32 PM

If the pitting isn't too deep you can clean it up. If there is chamber pitting, as Dahermit explained, you can get case sticking and premature head separation indirectly results from that. Even so, the receiver condition may well still let you changer the barrel or rechamber it for the Ackley Improved version of your round, which may clean the chamber up adequately.

If it's not bad, the PB Blaster route is good. The stuff stinks, so that's a Garage project. Autozone and other car parts places sell it by the gallon with a pump sprayer. Be forewarned that the capillary action is so great that the pump sprayer I got with mine leaked the stuff out over time. It climbed up and out and over the sides of the can. You can also just buy it in an aerosol can, but if you need a submersion soak of something, the liquid is more convenient.

The other thing that loosens rust really well, especially on an overnight soak, is Gunzilla gun cleaner. It is a vegetable oil-based non-toxic cleaner that softens carbon better than about anything else I know that won't attack a finish, and a little on a patch causes rust to rub off very quickly. This gets you around the odor problem because it doesn't have a lot. Kroil is not bad, but I find PB Blaster and, with a little more wait time, Gunzilla are hard to beat.

September 13, 2010, 06:13 PM	#1
bassfishindoc Senior Member Join Date: January 19, 2010 Posts: 166	Lee Enfield Restoration Hey everybody, I have a question about a Lee Enfield I received from my father. The rifle is currently unshootable and in need of restoration and I need some advice on how to best clean up the parts. The rifle appears to have been stored in an uncontrolled environment as the wood is very dark and unsalvageable. A lot of the screws and stuff have lots of rust and are in bad shape but they are easily replaceable. What I am wondering about is the barreled action. I have removed it from the wood and it seems to be in pretty good shape with minor surface rust and minor pitting, I even got the inside of the barrel to shine with a little work. The rest however is coated in a "gunk" that seems to be a mixture of dust, dirt, and grease. I am going at it with a can of gun scrubber and a stainless steel brush but it is slow work. Is there a better way to clean it up or something I can soak the parts in to lift off all the grime? Thanks in advance for the help. __________________ 2LT United States Army NRA Life Member GOA Life Member East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine

September 14, 2010, 03:20 AM	#2
publius Senior Member Join Date: January 25, 2005 Location: Mississippi/Texas Posts: 2,505	Soak the parts for a couple of weeks in automatic transmission fluid then go at it with toothbrushes and bronze brushes in the tough spots. Keep the stainless brushes away from it. __________________ "Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress, but I repeat myself." Mark Twain

September 29, 2010, 12:32 PM	#5
Unclenick Staff Join Date: March 4, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 21,061	If the pitting isn't too deep you can clean it up. If there is chamber pitting, as Dahermit explained, you can get case sticking and premature head separation indirectly results from that. Even so, the receiver condition may well still let you changer the barrel or rechamber it for the Ackley Improved version of your round, which may clean the chamber up adequately. If it's not bad, the PB Blaster route is good. The stuff stinks, so that's a Garage project. Autozone and other car parts places sell it by the gallon with a pump sprayer. Be forewarned that the capillary action is so great that the pump sprayer I got with mine leaked the stuff out over time. It climbed up and out and over the sides of the can. You can also just buy it in an aerosol can, but if you need a submersion soak of something, the liquid is more convenient. The other thing that loosens rust really well, especially on an overnight soak, is Gunzilla gun cleaner. It is a vegetable oil-based non-toxic cleaner that softens carbon better than about anything else I know that won't attack a finish, and a little on a patch causes rust to rub off very quickly. This gets you around the odor problem because it doesn't have a lot. Kroil is not bad, but I find PB Blaster and, with a little more wait time, Gunzilla are hard to beat. __________________ Gunsite Orange Hat Family Member CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor NRA Certified Rifle Instructor NRA Benefactor Member and Golden Eagle

September 29, 2010, 01:03 AM	#3
e3mrk Junior Member Join Date: September 14, 2005 Posts: 10	Buy a Can of PB Blaster and soak the Parts You want to clean. This stuff works Great and only takes a couple of Hours of soaking to get things clean. I use it as a Bore Cleaner as it works as well if not better that Kroil. It really gets the Job done.

September 29, 2010, 07:16 AM	#4
dahermit Senior Member Join Date: October 28, 2006 Location: South Central Michigan...near Posts: 6,501	If the chamber (and bore), is rusted the rifle may not be worth restoring. A rusted chamber could result in a caseing sticking in the chamber when fired.