I* LE DP

[nijalninja]

G'day there, just chasing some help with an old LE I've had laying around for a while waiting for some enthusiasm to do something with it, and now the time has come.

First off the butt bolt I believe to be bent, because as you turn it, in either direction, it waves around in a circle around the axis of the bolt, and thus cannot be seated into the socket correctly. Is there any way to remove the bolt and straighten it out, or should I be looking at finding a replacement bolt?
Attachment 90731Attachment 90732

Other thing is that the reciever is marked "DP" and also with a "">|<" mark. I suppose it is a Drill Purpose rifle, demoted from actual service instead of receiving the conversion to III and III* spec, but the ">|<" mark seems familiar: Does it mean something along the lines of having a compromised reciever or something?
Attachment 90733Attachment 90734

What is cool is that this rifle still has the cut-off, and dust-cover on the bolt, but is missing the aperture sights front and back yet still has the plate up front. It's also got a heavy barrel -_-.

Information

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[CINDERS]

Apposing arrows denotes = Metal or Wood ~ Sale Mark, sold out of service >< "The Broad Arrow" By Skennerton Page 82

Pull the front woods off then the bottom fore wood and have a look trying to do up or undo the stock bolt with the bottom front wood attached can ruin the bottom wood you will then be able to see what going on with the stock bolt the socket or the bolt may be stripped.

[nijalninja]

I'll give that a go CINDERS.

[englishman_ca]

It is not easy to bend a Lee Enfield stock bolt. You have to try really hard.
I helped a buddy out who had his rifle fall out of the rack on his ATV to the ground and under the back wheel. It was bent more than a little.

Drill rifles sometimes get pounded on the drill square and keep getting pounded even if the butt is loose.
I have had similar to yours where the bolt was bent at the thread end because of this. The wood was all chipped out and was a mess.
Holding the action in the bench vise and pulled as I unscrewed with my butt wobbling around in circles (woohoo!).

The stock bolt is 7/16 British Standard Whitworth thread. You could drill and tap a metal block to hold in the vise. Or, if you can find an old engine block or machine with a threaded hole, screw the bolt in up to the bent thread, slip a pipe over it and straighten. It worked for me.
Its worth a try. Otherwise, I'd be replacing it.

If you are in a remote part of Australia with limited resources around as I am here in Canada, I found that the 7/16 BSW is very close to 7/16 UNC thread (also 14 TPI), which I can get at the local hardware store as a socket head bolt almost the right length.
I made myself an Allen key out of a piece of hex rod. It actually works very well with a ratchet and socket.
It is a big improvement to use over the slotted bolt and long screwdriver and have put a couple of socket head bolts into my sporters by choice.

So just an option for you for a replacement.

[nijalninja]

That sounds like a good idea englishman. I know my grandfather has as bunch of old taps and dies for 'old-school' threads so I am assuming he has whitworth. If so then I'll give this a shot.

[Kiwi]

nijalninja, I have a heap of MLE stock bolts sitting around in the garage. Send me a PM and I'll post a bolt over to you so at least one can be put to good use.

[browningautorifle]

I'll post a bolt over

Way easier...

[Brit plumber]

Could be South African, is it cut down?

[nijalninja]

Cheers Kiwi.

Brit, the stock is cut down and the barrel is a H unit. Did they do conversions on MLE's like this?

[Bindi2]

The H barrel was the child of LE barrels. Just shortened to fit the No1Mk3. Was also used for the range pattern LE to conform to Military specs for competition.