Advice needed ... bolt opens on firing!

[spentprimer]

I take it then that the lug recess faces are not worn into an angle? I've mentioned my action with a worn inner face. No replacement bolt will fix that one as it would bear only on the outer face. I don't recall whether you said the old bolt had matching numbers?


Peter Laidler has a write up on fitting a replacement bolt. It's an interesting read.

Hello Peter,

I must confess my ingnorance regarding the proper way to check this. I put the new bolt in place and used light to see if I could detect any space between the bolt locking lug and the shoulder of the receiver. Seeing none, I am thinking the long lug side is OK. I will read the article you suggest when I get back from an Appleseed event over the weekend. I am hoping that the rifle will be salvageable, if not, so be it. I cannot explain my affection for the No.1 Mk.3s, but, THEY ARE REALLY COOL!

I don't remember who suggested pushing down on the bolt body and then release it to see if the handle moves or not, but, the matching bolt does indeed move and quite a bit at that. The new bolt doesn't seem to move at all. I placed a spent cartridge in the chamber that has a .059" rim thickness and the bolt barely closes. Since it was fired in the same gun and the CHS is unknown at this time with the original bolt this may be of no real value, since with excess CHS the shoulder would be pushed forward more than one with proper CHS and giving an eronerous perception of CHS. The rims that are .063 do not let the bolt close. I should have an old can of prussian blue that I could paint on the shoulder to see what sort of contact patch the locking lugs have.

I would really like to get this old girl operational as long as she is safe to be around when she goes bang.

[303Guy]

Interesting that the thinner rimmed cases allow the bolt to close. Having been fired in that gun I would have expected the those cases to headspace on the shoulder.

I also have a certain affection for the Lee Enfields. I know they are full of flaws - well OK, not perfect and they're not supposed to be the most accurate rifle in the world but who cares! They're great rifles. (Nothing uglier than the SMLE and nothing prettier than the No4).

[muffett.2008]

I think you have that backward, the No.4's are the ugliest looking peice of s**t, the only saving grace is that they are family and some of them do shoot.

[5thBatt]

I think you have that backward, the No.4's are the ugliest looking peice of s**t, the only saving grace is that they are family and some of them do shoot.

+1 only have a No4 because i have to, they do nothing for me.

[Peter Laidler]

But as battle rifles, No4's ain't bad are they?

[villiers]

+1 only have a No4 because i have to, they do nothing for me.

`Tis in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I´d only go anywhere near an Enfield or a Nagant ... and then only the No 5 and the Nagant carbine. I feel a keen sense of pity for people with anything other.

[gew8805]

To me, the Rifle, No.4, using well stored Mk7 surplus ammunition is the most comfortable shooting military rifle ever made. And it has a visible charm that is hard to beat, especially those made in Britain during the War.

[Alan de Enfield]

Not sure wether to start a new thread or add this link to this thread but here goes :

No1 Mk1 'blow-up' - by post 97 it was determined it was a hand-loading error.

CanadianGunNutz.com)

Excellent pictures, and yet again the shooter survived with little injury.

[browningautorifle]

it was determined it was a hand-loading error.

In this case he came clean. My hat's off to him. Most times we just don't get the facts about these things, and here we sit and argue.

[spentprimer]

Well, I just got back from a friends home an hour away or so. I took the rifle along and took the extractor and spring and screw out of the bolthead. After doing some measuring it was decided to remove some of the bolthead face by grinding. The bolthead was chucked into the lathe and the grinder attached and roughly 5 thousandths of an inch was ground off the face. After inserting a cartridge case with a .062 rim and utilizing a short piece of Plastigage, I now feel that the CHS is on the order of .066-.067 inch. With US cartridge rims being a wee bit thinner I am hoping this will work fine. Since i have been home an unfired WWII surplus catridge goes in and the bolt closes without any issues. I will head to the range later this week when the rain stops. I am thinking this will cure the problem with this old warhorse ... we will soon see.