[kickstart63]

A friend showed me his WW1 BSA made Enfield rifle dated 1916. He noted that the stock had numerous "repair patches" where the wood had been cut out and a wooden "patch" had been inserted. These repairs were all over the stock. The repairs were very well done and appeared to be factory applied. Does anyone know what these "patches" were for?

 

[John Sukey In Memoriam]

You don't throw away a perfectly good stock just because it has a few dings. Armourers back then were quite capable of fixing them. Notethats lots of enfields have repairs on the heel and toe of the butt. the result of "square bashing" Dropping the rifle the last inch or two on the parade ground when coming to the order.

and there are those little cross strips of wood on the rear handguards which tended to crack on removal for cleaning.

 

[Anubis]

+1 for what John said. Military budgets back in those days were typically a lot less than now, and a repair to a crack or gouge in a rifle's furniture was a much cheaper fix to do than to simply throw away the entire stock and put on a new one. Several of my Enfields show similar wood plugs and patches.

 

[Doogal]

+1 for what John said. Military budgets back in those days were typically a lot less than now, and a repair to a crack or gouge in a rifle's furniture was a much cheaper fix to do than to simply throw away the entire stock and put on a new one. Several of my Enfields show similar wood plugs and patches.

What , repair something rather than throwing it away and getting a new one ? My god what were we thinking ?

 

[DEMO]

Also stocks were modified for different models.

 

[Ed Novak]

I replied to a similar posted question earlier. I am one of those odd characters who is not fond of NIW LEs but absolutely adore an LE with evidence of skillful repair, especially of wood. Wafers, plugs, pins and inserts skillfully done go a long way to the making of an LE's history for me as does its dents, dings, stains and worn metal. BT, DT kind of thing for me.

 

[Jagman]

I would like to see more stock repairs!

http://images59.fotki.com/v111/photos/1/139782/5209509/Wirewrapped037-vi.jpg

 

[kickstart63]

Thanks to everyone for the knowledgeble answers to my question!!

 

[5th Batt WWCT]

Here's the handguard from my NZ carbine.

 

[Eddystone17]

Nice carbine, I'm sure it was repaired due to a lack of spares.

 

[Jagman]

Nice stitching!

 

[John Sukey In Memoriam]

And you can just barely see the crack it repaired.:thumbsup:

 

[5th Batt WWCT]

the repair blends in really well, had to take a couple of pics to get one that showed all seven of the patches

 

[Ed Novak]

"Thrifty!"