A bit of advice, please

[Brass Rat]

Sorry about the size of the pics but they aren't as clear smaller.

This is the pitting I found under the wood on my new #5.

The only thing that has me a bit concerned is the spot towards the back of the receiver in the first pic.

As you can see it is the deepest one and has eaten a bit of the edge of the mag well.

Pic #2 is the same spot from the bottom. I don't think that it has really weakened the receiver but I'd like some other opinions.

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The rest is just your run of the mill surface pitting.

I am planning to use a wire brush in a Dremel to clean them out and then I am thinking of using the same flat black Aluma Hyde

that I did my #1 in on it.

How do you recomend dealing with pitting?

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http://pic11.picturetrail.com/VOL368/95 ... 715402.jpg[/pic]

http://pic11.picturetrail.com/VOL368/95 ... 715415.jpg[/pic]

[bradtx]

Brass Rat, I didn't worry about the minor pitting on one of my No.5s as it was under the wood line. I have seen a post, somewhere, that epoxy was spread over the pitting, then sanded prior to painting...the result was nearly invisable.

Regards, Brad

[Tom-May]

Brass Rat,

Looking at the shape of the pits, I's guess (and this must be a guess), that you don't have too much to worry about, the pits you have are wide mouthed and relatively shallow *(wrt the mouth) the ones that really worry are the 'pinhole' pits, where the mouth is narrow and the pit can be very deep in proportion as these can develop its own mico-system down the pit, entirely different to the conditions at the surface and can act as "Stress Concentrators"..

My only suggestions would be use the Dremel with a steel (not a brass) brush over the pitted areas and ensure that the whole area is 'bright' (no "odd spots that I couldn't reach"#), if necessary open some of the deeper pits with a 'stone' to give wide shallow depressions rather than narrower deeper ones, this is to remove all traces of corrosion product and to reduce any stress concentration effect.

If you have some way to 'shot/bead blast' or otherwise treat with an "airbrasive" technique, all the better.

Finally, before any treatment after cleaning, wash the area with alcohol (meths/denatured alcohol or ethalnol/ethyl alcohol), then, if possible, acetone and thoroughly dry before next treatment.

Ensure the surface is isolated from the atmosphere (epoxy, as mentioned) or converted (chemical gun blacks etc.) as soon as possible after drying.

Just my two penn'orth.

Tom

* Shallow and deep refer to the observed ratio between mouth width and pit depth not to measured depth.

# They probably wouldn't matter, but better safe than sorry.

[Niner]

Brass Rat those gigantic pictures got to me, particularly when trying to read the text in response. I just had to resize them.

[brewstop]

Here in UK where rifles are proof-fired with a +30% (approx.) pressure round, many, many rifles in far worse condition have sailed through with no problems. I have seen SMLEs where the pitting has actually eaten away the bottom of the magazine well skirt, and yet they have remained in headspace and as good shooters - and the No4/5 is a far stronger receiver than a 90-year old SMLE.

Best way to deal with pitting is to "stop" further corrosian by wire-brushing or bead-blasting the area, then painting the raw metal with a proprietry brand rust-fixer. I question whether "covering up" pitting is ever a good idea, as you or future owners will want to have a visual check that corrosian is not re-appearing.

[Brass Rat]

Thanks everyone for the replies, my aim here is to preserve the rifle in as close to original condition as I can while assuring that the corrosion is halted.

I'll go by Lowes today and pickup a couple of different shaped stainless steel Dremel brushes, I already have some small cone shaped stones.

I agree that trying to hide the corrosion for cosmetic reasons is not the way to go. The Aluma Hyde is a very thin coating so any active corrosion underneath would soon be apparent.

I will probably go with the Aluma Hyde, it is a very durable finish and looks allot like the black paint that I can see the remains of around the flash suppressor and muzzle end of the barrel.

The bore appears to be in as good of shape as my #5 BSA which I know for a fact will shoot 10's at 200 yards if I do my part.

Brewstop, I studied the bolt and receiver a few minutes ago and it does seem that most if not all of the stress from the chamber pressure is carried by the top rails and it would probably be safe even without the mag well.

The only other issue I have run into is the pin that that the sear pivots on, it appears as it may be peened on both ends. I cannot get it to budge, is there a trick to removing it?

I'll keep everyone posted, this will be my winter project.

[brewstop]

Most Enfield pins have parallel sides, but a few - like No5 foresight block pins - are tapered. If in doubt, try knocking them out from the right-hand side: by convention, all screws and pins were designed to be inserted from the left hand side. The trigger & sear pins are supposed to be unchanged between the earliest SMLEs and the last Envoys - they should be parallel and come out from either side.

[bradtx]

Brass Rat, One of my rifles (a LB, I think) has a sear pin turned into a rivet. After breaking the tip of my drift, it occured to me that there may be a reason, such as one or both of the holes may be slightly larger than spec. Since there was no extra side play, I left it alone.

Regards, Brad

[Brass Rat]

It looks like that is what has been done to mine. I am not going to try to remove it either.

I picked up some Dremal brushes and a can of flat black Rustolium over the weekend.

The corrosion is cleaning up nicely, I am going to use the rustolium to prime the pitted areas as I clean them up then I will do the whole rifle in AlumiHyde.