No.1 Mk3 Bolt Cracks

Some time ago I sold a No.1 Mk3 Enfield to a good friend. He shot it a few times without any problems. Yesterday, he told me he was just cycling empty brass through the gun and noticed a hangup on the bolt. When he took it out, there was a crack going completely around the bolt. I have never thought something like this could happen. Does anybody have any idea why or how this is possible? Was it metal fatigue? I am glad that this did not happen while he fired the gun, it could have been very dangerous. Photo shows the crack on the bottom bolt.

Wow! It almost looks like the left lug was carrying all the stress and the tube sheared in response. Do you know if both lugs showed similar signs of wear where they contact the shoulders of the body?

Ridolpho

I have never seen that! A couple of cases of cracks through the left hand side of the action body in front of the charger bridge, but never a bolt cracking.

The forces on it must have been absolutely tremendous.

I'd be curious to know what ammo he was shooting. I have seen that once before. It was a too smart for his own good competition shooter in Florida and a new No.4Mk.2 and a gross over charged handload. The bolt was broken clean in two in about the same spot.

Thank god he noticed before he shot it again!

If the bolts destroyed, I bet the action body stretched to hell too.

I will get more information about this bolt crack later when I see my friend and look at the rifle. He has told me all he has shot so far were 60 cast bullet loads. The No.1 Mk3 is not a matching gun, but the headspace appeared to be tight, no bolt movement when closed on a shell. I got the barreled action as a factory refurb with a new barrel. The bolt was from a different gun.

I am not being a dick but was the bolt correctly fitted to the action as has been stated here many times before by those on this site as trained armourers and gunsmiths of the Lee lineage its not just a case of dropping in another bolt and checking on a go/no go he and yourself were lucky it did not let go under firing conditions even shooting cast bullets there are still 0000's of psi at play right in front of your nose.
This will be an interesting thread for those interested in such doings as its the first one I have seen that has a failure like that, if it was another bolt from a donor gun or just a old 2nd handy then its past is unknown and it may have been ready to fail at any point after it was mated to your rifles action interesting indeed!

Thanks Cinders. I did not know about the bolt fitting procedures. I have given my friend a spare bolt I had and hopefully will try to install it correctly, that is if it is possible at the left lug.

Do not shoot that rifle again!
I strongly suggest that if you or your friend are not skilled and understanding of how the Lee Enfield action locks up (Fitting up the bolt) then you need to find a gunsmith that does, Brian Dick of BDL (His business) who frequents this site is very skilled at fitting them up and checking the rifles over I suggest the outlay in getting it done correctly is cheaper in the long run as you have both had a very narrow squeak.
The nominal operating pressure for the Lee's MkIII & No.4 is @42,000psi and if the bolt lets go the shrapnel is only going to come out one way and thats backwards...........!

Get it fitted up correctly please.

I would strongly concur with Cinders, under no account shoot that rifle until its been fully checked over and declared safe to shoot by a gunsmith.

Perhaps it was a pre existing fault with the bolt ... Perhaps not!

The action body could be fatally compromised by distortion and stretching.