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I recently purchased a '41 Lithgow and posted pics of it earlier in this forum. Someone posted that my bolt was not the correct bolt for this rifle but it is from an earlier No1MKIII. So my question is would they have used this bolt if they needed to switch out a broken bolt from my rifle if that's what was on hand? What I'm trying to do is to avoid having to get a different bolt so I can save some money, THANKS!
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I read your other post, so you've stated the bolt is not-matching.
As you can see by perusing Angel's Matchmaking Service elsewhere on this site, there are lot of rifles looking for the right bolt. I, for example have a later Lithgow bolt (C39190) while I'm looking for Lithgow bolt B557 (shameless self-reference in case, miracle of miracles, that's the number on your Lithgow bolt).
I defer to more authoritative sources here, but a bolt replacement while in military service would have led to a renumbering of the replacement bolt to match the rifle, so in all likelihood it just likely acquired a replacement at some point in civvy life for any number of reasons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iringtwice
Can I just swap out the round cocking piece for a square one without changing the whole bolt out? But once again if this bolt could have been seen on a '41 lithgow then I'd be happy with that. Still makes sense to me that would be possible considering how the Aussies had been using the No1MkIII's since they first came out and kept doing so all the way into WII.
Why swap out what the military used at some time or replaced as a field repair or FTR. 1941 was a pretty hectic time in the supply of rifles. That cocking piece could be original to that rifle even though the specs said the square one should be. Changing out the piece could also mean doing work on the sear etc to get the right trigger pull let offs. If it aint broke dont F%$k it
Iring, I'll let you into a little secret. The world of the collectors, purists and concourse are under the misguided impression that Armourers, of which I am one, get a rifle into the Armourers shop for a problem. Then, to fix it, we go through rows and rows of trays, racks and racks, yards long, just looking for the exact part right down to the exact match of the paint or phosphate finish, the exact manufacturers match, the year and pattern type. So that's the belief.
But come a bit closer because I don't want to spoil their day. This is what REALLY happens in Armourers shops of EVERY nation across the whole wide world.
If the cocking piece is fractured or chipped or loose or worn or just plain worn out, we remove it and replace it with another from a single box containing 25 or so cocking pieces. These cocking pieces will have come to us from Ordnance as new, from twenty manufacturers, all looking basically the same. Some of them might even be in packages marked PW for Part Worn. But we just use them up..., first closest at hand. I don't ever remember looking to see who made the rifle or the year or anything else. Occasionally the Armourer Sergeants who ran the shops might say '....come on, what's fxxxxxx keeping you? That job has got to be range tested tomorrow morning and out tomorrow afternoon' or other kindly words to that effect.
The old cocking piece will be looked at and if it could be repaired, it would be and put back in the box along with the other 50. Otherwise it went straight into the scrap box.
Can you then imagine that in a HUGE big Base Workshop with 1,000 rifles being FTR'd on comercial/factory lines? If that cocking piece is right for your rifle and it's good enough for the experienced Out Inspctors, then it's good enough for me.
I've got the same 'problem' with my No4T that came back to England from Borneo. It's got a Mk1 button type cocking piece and it doesn't look quite right for a clapped out BSA'43 but I'm not losing any sleep
THANKS EVERYONE! I really appreciate your input and to hear it from you Peter really makes me feel better. I am collecting WWII rifles and so while I REALLY like LE's, if my rifle could have been used in it's present configuration that's good enough for me. I need to save every dollar I can to get the next piece for the collection:D I really appreciate the time y'all gave to helping me out!:D