No1 MkIII* - bolt locking question

[Willys]

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can help with a problem. was at the range today with my 1917 III*. haven't fired it in a year or two. all looked good today, but I only put one round down range. On this first and only shot, I felt a split second delay from trigger pull to firing; I looked at the bolt handle and saw that it had turned up partially on firing. it moved up perhaps a quarter of the way. I dry fired it twice and watched the same thing. So, before I haul it off to my local gunsmith, any ideas what's going wrong? something to do with the main spring?

Many thanks.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[kar98k]

my Enfield does that too, but i don't think it's a problem. it fires fine. the force of the spring decompressing just naturally drives it up *shrug*

what kind of ammo were you firing? that sounds like a hang-fire to me.

[jmoore]

Not a problem! As above, the ammo problem made you notice the bolt lift. In normal use the bolt has too much inertia to rise before the round fires. It actually happens in many Mausers, its particularly noticable in Arisakas.

[Peter Laidler]

This 'problem' (it's not a problem at all) was aired to a great extent on the other forum. Together with some good illustrative sketches. There were several explanations but believe me, when you get a live fired load behind it, the breech bolt stays CLOSED.

And even if it did open.....and it won't...., the mechanical safety built into the rifle will ensure that by the time the bolt lifted and allowed the breech to opem, the bullet will have been well on its way to the target and probably hit it (at 600 yards).

This was a regular student practical and theory lesson at Shrivenham and at one time we had a sort of thing rigged up where we'd pull the bolt UP while it fired. The rifle would just go into half cock or not fire.........

Can someone with greater compu'a skills than me resurrect the articles

[Edward Horton]

It’s called surplus ammunition because the military didn’t want it any more and the military was smart enough to get rid of before it caused them any problems.

Your problem is the “click.......................................ban g" ammo.

Your bolt moved upward between the “click.........................................a nd the bang".

If you get rid of the.......................pause................... ..............45,000 pounds of pressure against the bolt face keeps the bolt from moving.

And remember when you jump out of an airplane and your parachute doesn’t open its not the fall that gets you............................................... .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ......................it’s the sudden stop at the bottom.



.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .......................................No Enfield’s or animals were injured during the making of this posting.

[Peter Laidler]

Ed, do you have the original thread from the old CSP forum. I have used your original drawings during a lesson on mechanical safeties. Thanks. Naturally I told them that they were all my own work!

[Edward Horton]

Ed, do you have the original thread from the old CSP forum. I have used your original drawings during a lesson on mechanical safeties. Thanks. Naturally I told them that they were all my own work!

Mr. Laidler

I’m sorry but my computer got the Elle McPherson virus and I lost many of my saved files, so I no longer have the original bolt jump thread to repost……sorry.

I’m glad you took credit for drawing-photos, if I was a British Armourer I sure as hell wouldn’t give the Rebel American credit for anything.

Let alone a rookie amateur American Enfield mechanic.

[Willys]

Many thanks everyone. I should have mentioned it was indeed 1942 DA ammo, so obviously the round caused the delay. Should have started my session with the new ammo instead. Really appreciate the feedback.

Willys.

[Peter Laidler]

Good question Willys and 10/10 for your observation too. Put a few rounds of red-hot CAC ammo through it (I think it's New Zealand stuff) and you'll find it's perfect