Help - Lithgow 1942 SMLE Very Stiff Action

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08-04-2012, 04:13 PM
rl2800

Help - Lithgow 1942 SMLE Very Stiff Action

I just received a Lithgow SMLE Mk III*. Without a round in the chamber the action is as slick as my Mk 4. However when I load a dummy round in the chamber action stiffens up quite a bit.
Cycling the action before pulling the trigger the bolt will open and eject the round with moderate force. When cycling the action after the trigger is pulled the bolt has to be slammed open. The force is so great the first time it happened I thought it was jammed. The both situations the round eject properly.
My guess is the strong force of the ejector spring is pushing the round against something and binding the mechanism somewhere.
Any one experience this? - Is there a way to fix it?
08-04-2012, 06:09 PM
tbonesmith

Is the rifle and chamber thoroughly clean? and is the dummy round a FLS'd round? You're not trying it with a fired round are you? It sounds like the round is binding in the chamber some how, my guess is dirty chamber or oversized/deformed dummy round.
08-04-2012, 09:14 PM
rl2800

You were right. I reload 303 and neck resize only for my other Enfield to make the brass last longer. When I re-did some brass with the full length sizing die everything worked like it should. Glad is was not the gun. Facepalm!
08-05-2012, 03:09 PM
RobD

This sounds like something I've also observed on some rifles: If the dummy round is loaded into the magazine, it will be picked up by the bolt and the rim will slip into the ejector. If the round is loaded into the breech, the ejector has to snap over the rim. This is very stiff on some rifles, I am sure others will know why...
08-05-2012, 06:23 PM
browningautorifle

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobD

This sounds like something I've also observed on some rifles: If the dummy round is loaded into the magazine, it will be picked up by the bolt and the rim will slip into the ejector. If the round is loaded into the breech, the ejector has to snap over the rim. This is very stiff on some rifles, I am sure others will know why...

He told you what he found the problem to be...solved..read the post.
08-06-2012, 03:44 AM
Beerhunter

Quote:

Originally Posted by browningautorifle

He told you what he found the problem to be...solved..read the post.

Not a very nice post IMO for this forum which is regarded by most as the friendliest.