A square screw?

[ShaveTail]

Okay, I'm stumped. This bugger won't budge. I started looking at it a little more closely a few minutes ago and...is this thing supposed to be square?? I don't remember my departed No. 4 having this...feature, but they aren't really the same. I can't find a clear photo to compare it with; are all No.1's like this and I just need to let the oil penetrate longer, or is this some kind of really odd arsenal staking job from some corner of the world? I'm starting to eye the bastard with visions of a hacksaw blinking in my mind.

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[Paul S.]

The No.1s do have a square-ended bolt for the buttstock. It should go, but may need a dose of something (thread loosener?) to 'unbind' it.

[Parashooter]

If you examine the back end of the forestock, you may notice a metal plate cleverly shaped to keep the buttstock screw from turning when the rifle is assembled. Coincidence or design? Hmmmmm. . .

[jmoore]

Might need a "T" shaped driver to break it loose. But the square end is standard for SMLEs.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Bonus points for removing the fore end first.

A vast number of SMLE fore ends have been mutilated by heavy handed louts wielding all manner of big screwdrivers in the wrong sequence.

On the No4 it is not really an issue. This is apparently thanks to gun-plumbers in the Indian Army, way back whenever, who rightly concluded that proper spring washers were better engineering than fiddling around trying to line up a square peg in a round hole.

[Patrick Chadwick]

There is a kind of anti-sieze that comes in a spray can and consists of powdered aluminium in a thin oil. Looks very silvery if you spray it on a test surface. I acquired some at a trade fair where the demonstration on a rusted cylinder head utterly convinced me: spray it on a seized nut (or in the case of the SMLE: bolt) and get turning! And use a smidgeon on reassembly, to prevent seizing in the future. The stuff was being sold at the fair as suitable for dismantling motors, gearboxes and the like. I was so impressed, I instantly took two cans, and they should last me out. A very brief squirt will suffice. Thanks to the squared-off end of the bolt it will penetrate very well. Go and have a cuppa. Then come back and unscrew the bolt.

But first, a touch of reverse thinking. Instead of trying to clamp the action without scuffing it and ruining your wrists trying to turn the screwdriver, clamp the screwdriver in a bench vice (yes, you do need a really long screwdriver, or screwdriver bit with extension rod) and then you can grasp the rifle with both hands, pushing against the clamped screwdriver and turning with a much higher torque than you could apply by hand to a screwdriver handle. With absolutely no danger of slippage. You can probably do it by holding the buttstock in both hands and turning that, not the action!

As soon as the beast starts to turn, the aluminium powder/paste is forced into the threads, and after about a quarter-turn things should start moving much more freely. When you have finally separated the components, the anti-sieze will have partially reformed the scrubbed or rusted thread.

While you have got it all apart, take a file and round off that stupid square end and reassemble with a proper spring washer. That d....d square has been the ruin of many a good fore-end. If you are doing a refurbishment job, the wood is being released, cleaned, oiled etc, and on reassembly the square will hardly match up again, leaving you with the choice of either having the butt a touch too lightly clamped, or tightening up the bolt like a wheelnut with ridiculously excessive force to reach the next flat position. That flat was definitely not one of Enfield's better ideas.

[flying pig]

You could also take advantage of the flats on the end of the bolt if you are careful. Get a tight fitting open ended wrench on there to aid your screwdriver. Might be a two person job and I'd put some tape or something on the surfaces of the receiver to protect it if something slips.

[Brit plumber]

Are you using a good wide screw driver, the one I have has a flat before it goes into the handle and I fit an adjustable spanner on that flat for extra leveridge, I also sometimes (If its tight) attempt to tighted the screw first, get some oil on the exposed threads and then work it back and forth. Once it moves, 99 times out of 100 it will go.

[Peter Laidler]

In the Armourers shops we had a 'BRACE, Armourers' and a 'BIT, stockbolt'. And I have to confess that in the few years I have been an Armourer with the couple of No1's, 4's, 5's and 8's that I have ever taken apart, not one EVER defeated the Brace and stock bolt bit. To be honest, the whole world would rotate backwards on its axis under the torque you could impart with these things. Nope, never defeated by a tight stock bolt!

Do these tools still come in the 'Armourers basic' set BP/Skippy/Tankie?

[Patrick Chadwick]

I'd put some tape or something on the surfaces of the receiver to protect it if something slips.

Which is why I developed the method I described, which is risk-free for the rifle.

---------- Post added at 09:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:00 PM ----------

In the Armourers shops we had a 'BRACE, Armourers' and a 'BIT, stockbolt'.

Fine, but I just have a "BRACE, Bodger's" and a "BIT, too short".