enfield question

barto

December 16, 2002 04:37

can someone tell me whether my enfield jungle carbine was blued & then painted or just painted?
also, is this paint still available & where might i find some with instructions for proper usage?
thanx in advance
barto

the hard stuff we do right away - the impossible takes a little longer

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  barto

  December 16, 2002 04:37

  I'm going to an estate auction tomorrow that lists "Savage 303, Canada & British 303 calibers, India 308's, Columbia & Argentine 30-06 and 7x57, 1917 Japanese Navy 6.5..."I'm assuming the 303's & 308's are Enfield's. Any suggestions about what to look for or stay away from?

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  UNIVERSITY50

  December 16, 2002 13:24

  I have not been able to match it, but gas grill paint from home depot works good and is close in color. thin coat sprayed from about 1.5 ft away while hanging from rafter on coat hanger. came out like new, just a little lighter in color, it has been sitting for several days now and i'm ready to put back together. i think after it is wiped down a couple of times with oil it will darken up. i had two old timers tell me about this a few years ago but this was the first enfield i wanted to try it on, being grill paint it is suppose to hold up to the barrel heat.

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  Der Gebirgsjager

  December 17, 2002 07:16

  If yours was blued before it was painted it would be the only one I've encountered. I own two, and both were painted, as were many of the No.4 Lee Enfields. This was a wartime expedient used by the British, but I believe that the painted finish proved much superior in durability and protection to the blued finish used on the No.1 models. I got my first one back when "the gettin' was good" and it is probably unfired. The second one came by way of India and need a little restoration. I used flat black engine primer to coat the metal, 3 thin-moderate coats as I recall, and it came out really nice. So nice, in fact, that when I ran across a deal on a couple of P-14 Enfields that the Brits had also painted black I gave them the same treatment and they also came out very nice. Now I use Brownell's baking lacquer, which you can get in flat or gloss. This is very durable and makes a good finish, but the drawbacks are that, as the name indicates, after application the paint must be baked to cure it into a hard surface. The average tinkerer doesn't have an oven large enough for a barrelled action. An old toaster over works nicely for all of the smaller parts. Additonally, you need an airbrush and a small air compressor with which to apply the baking lacquer. I'd go with the spray can----with a little patience you'll get good results.

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