My new to me Enfield No 2 Mk 1

Just picked up this early Enfield revolver. Serial number 2621, dated 1930.

She's a rebuild. The cylinder has been re-serialed to match. And originally bore the serial number 5303. The barrel has only one serial number, but the stamping matches the renumbered cylinder. So I'm guessing it was a replacement barrel at the same time this cylinder was added, but was new and not cannibalized from another revolver. Sounds reasonable?

Fair bit of pitting under the old wooden grips. Otherwise pretty good. Definitely a well worn old girl though.

Can someone tell me how to remove the cylinder for cleaning?

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo..._zps0kiw-1.jpg

Here you go

1. Unscrew cam lever fixing screw. Push barrel catch to open pistol and remove the cylinder.
2. Unscrew the stock and side plate screws on the left side of the weapon ; and remove the stock and the side plate.
3. All parts are now exposed and further dismantling is not recommended except by a competent armourer, as springs and parts may be damaged unless properly handled.

( Courtesy W H B Smith - Small Arms Of The World, 1945 )

Check the MKL, specifically the Article and Books (click here) section…. :)

Basic Manual of Military Small Arms by W.H.B. Smith (Expired Copyright 1943)

Lots of great digital format content like this in there … :thup:

Regards,
Doug

There's a LOT of info opn these little pistols on this forum.

We were only permitted to replace barrels and cylinders at Base Workshop due to the nature of the hand fitting involver which included many, many gauges and tight tolerances. As Armourers and according to our bible, we were never allowed to re-use an old cylinder or barrel as has been done with yours because by definition, it will have been worn to have been removed from the original weapon.

Spare barrels and cylinders were VERY uncommon in my opinion (even at Base Workshops) and always carried the small letter S somewhere to indicate (reportedly) that certain dimensions that required accurate hand fitting were slightly oversize.

Been a while since I got this revolver. It's been sitting in the safe so far.

Peter I've been following your advice and have read back in this forum about 5 years back so far. And I have a copy of Stamps and Skennetons book in the mail to me now.

This is definitely a dogs breakfast. The cylinder has been force matched and renumbered as mentioned. And it wears a 1945 dated barrel which bears only the one serial number but in the same font as the renumbered cylinder. The bore is bright and the rifling is great.

The cylinder gap with the trigger pressed is 0.005". Timing appears correct and there's just a hint of wiggle in the cylinder when I jiggle it with my fingers with the trigger pressed.

The screw on the right hand side of the frame with the wide slot for a coin seems seized. I've been unable to budge it so far. Any suggestions on how to loosen it?

That wide slot is in fact a coin slot and the screw has a very coarse thread. So just twist it hard and it'll go.......

The only 'wiggle' test you need to concern yourself with is with the trigger pressed, gun fired and hammer fully forward. NOW wiggle the cylinder. It should barely move. There was a 'pokering' test set for this but guess where the gauges usually stayed...........?

Yep. Just a very small amount of wiggle when I do that. Only a couple thousandths movement. I read your old posts about the pokering gauges. :)

I'll try twisting that coin slot harder.

Thanks

So I finally got to the range with this Enfield. Only test fired 6 rounds. All six rounds were in a 3 inch group at 8 yards fired unsupported in single action. But the 3rd and 5th rounds only lightly dented the primer in the first attempt. The 3rd round required 3 tries, and the 5th round required 2 tries.

Back to this old girl again. So I've put 100 rounds of new manufacture Remington 38 S&W through it now. And had a dozen light hammer strikes which did not fire the round. These have been in at least 3 chambers, possibly more.

The brass measures 0.055" at the rim as per spec.
The firing pin protrusion is at the minimum spec of 0.040".
The gap between the cylinder and recoil plate is 0.082". I dunno if this is within spec or not. Can't find a reference for it in Skennerton's book.

Does this sound like a weak main spring issue? Or is that gap too great? Other ideas?

I really like this old revolver and want her functioning properly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Baal

The gap between the cylinder and recoil plate is 0.082".

---

My Enfield No.2 and Webley Mk.IV measure .062''.

Thanks Vintage Hunter. I was also just told that gap should be 0.060" to 0.066". So I'm way out of spec there.

Peter, or anyone else with the knowledge, is there a way to remedy this?

Firstly I'd get the striker protrusion at .050" or very close to it. I realise that .050" is the MAX setting but it is within the limit set in the bible (the EMER). You can do this by changing the striker. But as I happen to know that you don't have access to new parts you could try 'adjusting' the beating face - that's the surface of the hammer that prevents further forward movement. This is relatively soft material for reasons to do with the metallurgy and all that stuff.

In the last years of the old No2 revolver we had several (3?) different thicknesses of shield - or as we called it, the recoil plate. I have not seen this mentioned in any of the recent literature but I mention it in the small chapter of Mark Stamps excellent book. But I think that they only went standard, +004" and a +.007" size. I forget the recoil plate to cylinder gap but will look it up later

Thanks for the advice Peter. I'll look into adjusting the beater face.

Maybe a dumb question, but can the recoil plate or cylinder also be shimmed somehow?

Not the recoil plate. Thinking on my feet...... If yoiu shimmed the cylinder rearwards to close up the CHS you'd simply be opening up the gap between the cylinder and the barrel. Was/is your pistol a mix-and-match of differently numbered barrel, cylinder and body? They came as a matched set. The barrel and cylinder COULD be replaced but only at Base workshop where really skilled Armourers resided

Yeah this revolver is pieced together. The frame is 1930 (serial 2621). The barrel is dated '45 and the original serial number was removed and 2621 stamped in its place. The cylinder was originally 5323, but that's x'd out and 2621 stamped beside it. The new barrel and cylinder serial number stamps match so they were added to the frame at the same time.

The cylinder gap is 0.005" with the trigger pressed. But that opens up to 0.020" if I push the cylinder rearwards with thumb and forefinger.

What about a moon clip with a thickness about 0.020"? Would something like that work? Are there moon clips that work with 38 S&W?

Not the answer in my opinion Baal. I would replace the cylinder cam that prevents the cylinder moving backwards but I'm not sure it will cure it but it certainly might help as this is what allows fore and aft motion of the cylinder. I think that you ought to get the FPP up first. Others might suggest that you use those neoprene O rings but I'd baulk at the very idea - as I do when I see them mentioned regarding .303 reloads.

JUst looked up the EMER:

Gap betewen face of cylinder and face of barrel with cylinder forward Low .002". H .018" ( .;015" at Base workshop level)
CHS. Slip gauge .070" must NOT pass across face of firing pin hole in recoil plate and cylinder in all 6 positions
FPP L .040" H .050"
Bore .350" must run freely. .358" must not enter breech or muzzle

Loads of other stuff of course

for what its worth the checkered grip scales are correct for your revolvers date , 1927-1933 , the rest you have been well informed on ,

As a matter of interest we only had a couple of options re the grip sides after 1954 according to the EMER and parts list. They were the full/high wood or full high plastic. The other variants were obsolescent. You'd still see them of course but as they needed replacing, out they went!

I just picked up an excellent 1931 Enfield revolver. So I'll be retiring the 1930. The 1931 is all matching and in spec. :)

The blueing (parkerizing?) is showing deterioration on the right side of the frame, no pitting though. The rest of the finish is excellent.

There's a capital Y stamped on the left side of the hammer. Any idea what that means?

The front sight is left aligned.

Will have her out to the range on Tuesday I hope.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo..._zpslasx-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo..._zpsziyu-1.jpg