T-16 S/N 5399 T.D. 97377 Restoration

[horsa]

I finally received approval from ATF after an almost five month wait so that I could convert an Enfield rifle into a smoke discharger action. Here in the USA it is considered a short barrel rifle so requires federal papers similar to a live machine gun or live artillery piece. They have to be careful since you never can tell when groups of gang members will dump their AK-47s in favor of cut down Enfield’s when they go on killing sprees

The rifle I used was very beaten down as it had a long service life. It started life as a 1908 Number I Mark III produced by LSA Co which was London Small Arms. In 1914 it was condemned to emergency use only and the barrel, receiver and butt stock had EY stampings added with the 1914 date also being added with those markings on the butt stock. It had the addition of wire wrappings to reinforce it as a grenade launcher but I don't know if that occurred later in WWI or during WWII.

After cutting everything down and milling and threading the barrel for the 4" cup launcher and barrel nut, I blued the metal and refinished the wood which I'd carved down. Most of the carrier mounted launchers didn't retain the wood where the butt stock existed but I preferred to keep the wrist portion and carved it down into a small grip to make it easier to handle.

Shots below show the launcher mounted in my T-16 with and without protective covers as well as some closer shots with it dismounted.

[Neil Ashley]

On AFV applications its very eare to see the section of the butt left on.

The problem we have in the UK is that you cannot deactivate an idividual firearm component which is why you can't buy spare bren barrels to fit in your stowage.

To be on the right side of the law the tube has to be permanently attached to the SMLE action which then makes it impossible to fit the discharger in some applications.

I don't suppose you have a source for the covers?

[horsa]

Summerscales Army Surplus http://sas-surplus.co.uk/ has the canvas covers. Found them via eBay last year and I bought three covers in a fixed price listing. They were three for 5 GBPs at the time but now it looks like they are getting that much for each one. An example of their current eBay listings can be found at item number 360123135023.

I think these covers were for bore brushes. They are a Number 4 size which is roughly 4" diameter. I've seen Number 2 size covers coming out of Australia lately which people are selling under the guise of being 2-inch mortar muzzle covers.

For the 4" smoke discharger, it takes two of the covers to build one which will fit since the inside diameter of the cup is 4". Essentially you need a bigger diameter end piece and about another 1.5" of side material to create a proper looking and fitting muzzle cover. The examples I received all had very closely matching canvas and all were 1943 dated. I made the new end disk from the donor cover where the markings were located so the final product seen on my launcher has nice markings on the side and on the end.

Not sure what was really used during the war but would guess it was a shorter leather muzzle cover similar to the type used on 3-inch and 4.2-inch mortars. I've got examples of both of those for my mortars and they won't fit the smoke launcher barrel as one is too small and the other is too large.

[horsa]

Finally have started work on the front and side fender skirts for the carrier. The originals were pretty mauled and rusted like most of the other panels I started out with. Slowly getting them hammered out so I can see if they will look right and then will repair cracks by welding and eventually strip and paint the parts.

First photo shows one of the side skirts with most of the dents beaten out and a front skirt that hangs below the curved fender with a lot more work needed.



Test fitting with longer bolts in reversed positions for easier and quicker panel mounting. Sure gets old having to bolt them up for fit, remove them for pounding and then repeat over and over since I don't have a better pattern to work from. Not a lot of fun but I guess it is still better than mowing the grass

[horsa]

Had the good fortune of picking up some floor drain plugs from another T-16 owner that had them made. Good news, bad news...

I'd been using pipe flanges since they exactly fit the recessed holes. And electrical conduit 1" caps would fit nicely into the flange to allow for it to serve as a functional drain in each location. I'd epoxy sealed them into the floor so they wouldn't bounce out prior to installing bins and fuel tanks since I never thought I'd find anything that would fit per the original design.

Shot below shows how they looked from above on my pitted floor which isn't normally visible.



The problem I encountered is my own plugs were not intended for removal being installed from the inside. So now that I want to replace them, I had to remove the floor locker with battery and battery brackets, seat, seat bracket, locker that is mounted over the fuel tank, fuel tank itself after disconnecting the fuel lines, fuel tank holding box with brackets and the Bren gun spare barrel locker. All stacked up on my jeep and on the carrier.



So that I could spend 30 seconds screwing the proper plug into the floor from underneath as the designers intended. Last shot shows it in primer for reference prior to being painted and the joy of reinstalling all the removed parts.



At least its done properly now....

[horsa]

Decided to have copies of my fender skirts fabricated at our local sheet metal shop. I had managed to beat most of the dents and creases out of the driver side parts but the ones for the opposite side were significantly more pitted and abused. Figured if I needed to have one side rebuilt, might as well throw down and pay for the other side to match.



Shots showing test fitting with temporary bolts done backwards again to facilitate easier installation and removal.



Parts hanging in my Texas paint booth since the kids are at Grandma's house. Its been averaging 102-109F here for the past three weeks with no rain in sight. Only good thing to say for the dry heat is its good for painting. Little bugs that stick to the paint add texture and keeps with the consistency of my other outdoor painting.

[horsa]

Got the painted fender skirts and mug guards installed and will take the carrier for a test run later today. That way I can see if it performs more aerodynamically

Since I was painting parts last week, I managed to fix my mangled gunner-side fender as well. Took a good bit of work even when straight to make it align with the mud guard and side skirt. Needed to use my floor jack with 4x4 pieces of lumber to coax it into playing nice but it seems to look OK now. Will probably require the floor jack to disassemble it should the need arise in the future.





Also built a part I've been missing from the start. Its the small mounting bracket for the pick head which bolts to the rear armor on the carriers. Forgot to take photos of building it so all I can post is a shot of it installed.