Cock on opening mod safe?

chuckindenver,

I recently purchased a Speed Lock kit from Numrich and installed it in a spare bolt I have for my Eddystone just to see how well the cock-on-opening function works. The Speed Lock kit consists of a modified cocking piece, a shortened bolt sleeve, what looks like a standard firing pin, and an extra power(?) spring.

The directions say, "If after installing the bolt and pulling the trigger you are unable to open the bolt, you will need a modified sear, which we will supply free of charge..."!!

My Eddystone with a stock trigger and sear works fine with the Speed Lock unit and it does not jam the bolt.

However, because the sear notch on the modified cocking piece is so short (turning the two-stage trigger pull into a short, light single stage pull), the trigger drops the firing pin while still on the first stage trigger cam, and before the safety stud on the sear is engaged in the bolt interlock slot. I can pull the trigger and release the firing pin with the bolt handle up nearly 90 degrees perpendicular to the stock and with the bolt handle barely engaging the safety shoulder on the action.

I haven't shot my Eddystone with the cock on open modification because I'm afraid I might inadvertently fire the rifle with the bolt out of battery.

I see also that aftermarket triggers such as the Timney E1 as well as the Dayton-Traister Mark II replace the sear and eliminate the safety stud entirely.

The safety stud on the sear was designed to prevent the sear from releasing the firing pin unless the safety stud is engaged in the bolt interlock slot which is supposed to happen only when the bolt is fully locked.

It seems that any trigger system or Speed Lock cocking piece which eliminates the safety stud or renders the safety stud ineffective might very well allow a M1917 to be fired with the bolt out of battery.

What am I missing here?

im not a big fan of the cock on open conversion, lately if seen a couple rifles with safety issues, both had failures, both had been modified for cock on open...
however, someone had tried to convert one of them back to cock on close, and mixed parts.
though it wasnt the main reason for the failure, i found it strange that both rifles were messed with in this way.
sooo..safe??? if you use good parts dayton traister is a good set up...
no, if its a mix and match set up.
so,e guys swear buy them...they may be able to help if you really want to do this...i for one am a if it aint broke, dont fix it sort of guy..KISS comes to mind..

I have been seen wearing both a belt and suspenders. I like the idea of as many safeguards as possible on a firearm to prevent an AD and particularly an out of battery discharge. For these reasons I have never modified any of my M1917 rifles to cock on opening. On top of it all, I have qualified with both M1917 and Enfield No. 4 and found that after a few rounds one doesn't even notice the difference.