Lee Enfield Oiling bottles

[Ferret75]

Hi guys, can anyone recommend for or against vintage Lee Enfield brass oil tubes for carrying multipurpose oils for Bushcraft? (Walnut / camelia oils for knife maintenance or cooking) There's a few on 'Evilbay', (I don't like the idea of the Bakelite as they can shatter), I expect to fit silicon O ring seals to the screw caps.... Anything else I should consider please..?

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[British Red]

They will likely have been full of gun oil. So a thorough cleaning before any food products is in order. They work well though, one lives ....in the butt of my Lee Enfield!

 

[Macaroon]

They are quite heavy, though; I stopped using them because of the weight and I'm very far from a gramme weeny! Shell casings in various combinations took their place, (thanks to Hugh )

 

[Ferret75]

Thank you gents, I'll just order 1 brass tube for now and let you know how I get on. I've made my own stainless steel tubes for storing dry tinder, but oil tight is a different matter! A few stainless cigar tubes look good but the price and likelihood of being oil tight have deterred me.

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[Herbalist1]

My only concern would be using it to store oils for cooking. Brass tends to develop verdigris which is poisonous. I suppose if you give the thing a good clean first and then keep it full of oil, you're not going to get any surface oxidation but I'm not sure I'd want to risk it myself.

 

[dewi]

Wasn't the Lee Enfield originally cleaned exclusively with animal fat (lard)???

 

[Ferret75]

Not sure about the animal fat, although it would make sense in the austere war time setting. I'm going to use a clear spray laquer on the inside of the tube, there are several food safe types used on kids toys.

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[British Red]

Wasn't the Lee Enfield originally cleaned exclusively with animal fat (lard)???

No, you are thinking of the pattern 1853 Enfield and it was the paper cartridges that had an animal fat coating (mooted as one of the causes of the Indian Mutiny). The 1853 pattern was superseded by the Snider Enfield before the Lee Enfield came along.

 

[Herbalist1]

Not sure about the animal fat, although it would make sense in the austere war time setting. I'm going to use a clear spray laquer on the inside of the tube, there are several food safe types used on kids toys.

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Ah ok, I see you'd already thought about the verdigris problem Ferret - good idea, I hadnt thought of that.

 

[Twodogs]

I use a bigger oil bottle from the Bren Gun cleaning kit ,
The brush comes in handy .

Twodogs

 

[Ferret75]

Thanks Twodogs, more info appreciated and I'll continue with my research!

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[Chris the Cat]

They do a Bakelite version too, could well be the answer.
Played with both at the Trafalgar gun show at Bisley last weekend.
The Brass is very heavy.
In the end ,decided to leave it, just too small really.

Best.

Cat.

 

[Ferret75]

Hi Chris, they are certainly cheaper and lighter, but I've heard a few stories about them shattering on occasion, so went for a brass one. I'll give it a try and get back to you all on my success / failure!

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[Chris the Cat]

Good luck buddy.

C.

 

[tombear]

I use a bigger oil bottle from the Bren Gun cleaning kit ,
The brush comes in handy .

Twodogs

Yup and as well as brass ( last issue was painted green on the outside with yellow stencilled writing, I keep one of those with light machine oil in my knives box), brass plated with it looks like zinc coating ( pre and early war and post war until the 1960s) , various tinplate steel wartime economy jobs ( often badly made and leaky ) theres the Canadian made plastic ones in various colours from dark brown to transparent vivid green via the milky green ones that seam most common. The wartime and 1950s ones painted green were for low tempreture oil.

Er, i'll stop now before I get onto List Of Changes entries, Drawing numbers, changes in names and part numbers and all the sad collector stuff.

They even made solid wooden versions for checking the pockets of th various wallets and holdalls they made.

Really, ill stop....

 

[Ferret75]

Yup and as well as brass ( last issue was painted green on the outside with yellow stencilled writing, I keep one of those with light machine oil in my knives box), brass plated with it looks like zinc coating ( pre and early war and post war until the 1960s) , various tinplate steel wartime economy jobs ( often badly made and leaky ) theres the Canadian made plastic ones in various colours from dark brown to transparent vivid green via the milky green ones that seam most common. The wartime and 1950s ones painted green were for low tempreture oil.

Er, i'll stop now before I get onto List Of Changes entries, Drawing numbers, changes in names and part numbers and all the sad collector stuff.

They even made solid wooden versions for checking the pockets of th various wallets and holdalls they made.

Really, ill stop....

Wow mate! Is your grandpa's name Enfield or something! LOL!

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[Tiley]

I picked up a brass oil bottle off eBay and have cleaned it up, ready for use. I'm now looking for a silicon O-ring seal that'll fit it and keep the Camellia oil/Ballistol Klever where it should be. Anyone have any ideas about where I might find one?

Many thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

Richard

 

[tombear]

It's a bit embarrassing but I used to b a pretty hardcore collector, enough to have spent quite a few days at the old Pattern Room Library after it moved to Leeds, doing research. Eventually I painted myself into a corner and lost interest, I've sold most of the collection to buy more practical toys and make room. It's surprising how much space 20 odd machine guns take up even if they are mainly technically "light". Not being a engineer my specialism was tools, cleaning kits and accessories.

Incidentally there was a steel,economy, version of the rifle oiler as well as the brass and plastic ones. It was often found in Bren holdalls containing graphite grease.

ATB

Tom

 

[Macaroon]

I picked up a brass oil bottle off eBay and have cleaned it up, ready for use. I'm now looking for a silicon O-ring seal that'll fit it and keep the Camellia oil/Ballistol Klever where it should be. Anyone have any ideas about where I might find one?

Many thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

Richard

Go with the bottle to a plumber's merchants, they carry every O ring there is.

 

[Twodogs]

Graphite grease for cold weather use ,,,

always mentioned during GPMG training but no one had ever seen it ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,