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Continuing my string of stupid questions, here's another one:
Shouldn't my 2a1 be able to eject live cartridges? I don't have any empty brass to test it with so after noticing that the mag spring seems pretty loose I loaded a few rounds of 7.62 surplus ammo and worked the action... and the shell just sits in the receiver. This doesn't seem normal to me. Do I need to replace the mag?
It should eject all rounds, spent or live. When you say "It sits in the receiver", do you mean it stays in the magazine, and the bolt rides over the round to be fed? Or the round pops out of the mag and the bolt rides over it, leaving it in the body rather than being pushed into the chamber.
It feeds into the chamber from the mag fine, but when the bolt is worked back it rides back, but doesn't actually go anywhere--I have to either pluck it out of the receiver, or turn the rifle over and shake it.
Sounds like the extractor spring is broken. If not, check to see if the ejector screw is there and protruding.
Jona, I was reading a debate about a problem like this on SurplusRifle and they seemed to think that the ejector screw in the receiver is a vestigial hold over from the mkIII that doesn't eject the rimless cartridge. There is a bit of the screw protruding, but I don't have anything to compare it to. They seemed to think problems like this are from the lip on the mag not grabbing the cartridge. The spring in the mag also doesn't seem very tight to me. Could that do it?
The extractor spring is in the bolt, correct? I remove the little screw on the side of the bolt-head and pull the extractor out of the bolt, right? I'll check that next. Is there anything really tell-tale in there to look for? I mean, would the spring be physically compressed or broken, or would it just be that it isn't..responding? Springing? I don't know how to put that, but maybe some oil wouldn't hurt, eh? :surrender:
If it extracts a fired case, then the extractor and spring are OK. That is, unless as soon as the case clears the chamber it falls of the extractor. Then it might be you have a .303 extractor.
Try working the action quite smartly/ vigorously. If it still doesn't eject, then you have a drama. If I recall correctly, the 2a has its ejector on the LH mag lip, similar to the L8/L42a1.
There's an old thead devoted to pictures of the various mags that might show this feature.
Might just need a light tweaking of the top of the LH mag lip to function, but I never had a problem, even when using multiple mags whilst playing retro CQB.
The thread w/ pics (see post #23):
Amatuer's guide to Enfield magazines?? - Page 3 - Military Surplus Collectors Forums
The 2A mag doesn't have an ejector lip. Jona is right on about the spring and screw. This seems to be a common complaint about these rifles. The extractor needs to push the smaller diameter cartridge over further to contact the receiver (sorry, the "body") wall and eventually the ejector screw.
Jona is right. Make sure it has a 7.62 extractor fitted and a new extractor spring. That will be about as good as it gets as the 2A and 2A1 were never noted for having excellent extraction and ejection to begin with. They aren't in the same class as the L8, L39 or L42 with a proper Enfield 7.62 magazine fitted, never were and never will be. Be careful with these rifles too guys because I've had so many through here for repair with unsafe headspace that I've lost count. It's also mythology that the receiver/body is made of higher quality steel than the old SMLE. Much has been written about this in years past.
Grrr. Well, no luck so far. Just for giggles I swapped the receiver screw with the (longer) screw from my no.4. No dice. I fiddled with the lip on the mag. Nope. I took the extractor screw out of the bolt...but couldn't see an obvious way to remove the extractor itself. Eh? The spring feels pretty springy and the extractor does pull the shell out of the throat so....hmmm.
I found three references on extractor spring weight for the No.1 .303 rifle which may be the same spec (or reasonably close) for the 2A. A force of somewhere between six and nine pounds applied to the lip of the extractor should begin to make it move. This might be something to investigate.