Striker Boing ?

[madcratebuilder]

It may have been a primer not fully seated. It is odd to have a hang fire with Prvi, but anything is possible.

[armabill]

I thought that it was odd for factory ammo too, that's why I thought maybe it was the spring.

[Alan de Enfield]

Before you go to all that trouble and the expense of buying new spring and possibly a stripping tool, just test the weight of the mainspring.
Action fired, spring weights to be between 7 lbs low and 9 lbs high
Action cocked, spring weights to be between 14 lbs low and 16lbs high.

That's what we'd do................

You could rinse it out in petrol and blow it through with an air line but, in my very limited experience with these things, if it only happened with one round, I'd say it was an ammo fault

This is what you need :
Picked up a couple of armourers 'Salter' type spring balances today.

The 'big end' hooks around the trigger and gives you your true trigger-pull figures whilst the small end hooks over the cocking piece and does the same for the striker spring.

Anyway (unashamed 'for sale' plug) - only need one so if anyones is interested drop me a PM.

[armabill]

Alan wrote:
"The 'big end' hooks around the trigger and gives you your true trigger-pull figures whilst the small end hooks over the cocking piece and does the same for the striker spring".

Isn't it the other way around. I'm just a novice here but I could be wrong. Maybe I'm not reading it correctly.

How much for one?

[Alan de Enfield]

Alan wrote:
"The 'big end' hooks around the trigger and gives you your true trigger-pull figures whilst the small end hooks over the cocking piece and does the same for the striker spring".

Isn't it the other way around. I'm just a novice here but I could be wrong. Maybe I'm not reading it correctly.

How much for one?

Poorly written -
The long arm (big end) with the roller hooks over the trigger, the 'short' end (small end) with the 'notch' cut into it hooks over the cocking piece.

[Peter Laidler]

Yep, those are the little beasts. Still in use today. In fact I used one last Friday to set the 'lift' and fuzee weights in a Vickers.

The trouble is that they go out of calibration too quickly. My old 1937 dated set failed calibration in 2008. That's not what I'd call value for money

[Edward Horton]

With all due respect to Mr. Laidler and Alan de Enfield the average American rebel in Pennsylvanian does not have the British Armourers spring tester.

The last large batch of Enfields that came into this country came from Turkey and these Enfields never had a British Armourer even touch them. On top of this the Turks cannibalized old parts off other Enfields to keep these rifles in service. (No new springs)

Please note when a spring weakens over time the spring can grow in diameter when compressed and rub/drag on the inside of the bolt and this effects lock time. You also do not know if someone stored this rifle cocked sitting for years in a dark closet, and new springs are cheap insurance.

Once per year the Armourers completely stripped the Enfield down for inspection including stripping the bolt. Without stripping and dissembling the bolt you will never know if you have a internal problem or what is needed to fix it.

At a military overhaul depot everything is torn down and inspected and I spent 25 years at this depot inspecting component parts. My youngest Enfield is over 50 years old and I completely strip and inspect all my Enfields that I intend shooting when I get them and replace old worn parts.

A little light reading below for inspecting your Enfield Rifle.

1991 No.4 (All Marks) .303 Rifle Manuals (Complete Set) - Military Surplus Collectors Forums

[Son]

Here's a few pics I put together a while back to try to help some knuckle- draggers down from their trees so they could walk upright... but alas, the evil plasticbeddingcard god clipped my wings so I would fall from view...

There's a few uses for the old spring balance.
1) Trigger pull, first pressure; 3 to 4 lb
second pressure; 5 to 6 lb
2) Mainspring, from fired position; 7 to 9 lb
full cock; 14 to 16 lb
3) Extractor spring; 7 to 9 lb

4) Bolthead retaining spring; 10 to 16 lb

Not pictured, the butt trap door; 2 to 3 lb

[jmoore]

Ought not be too hard to fab a new equivalent tool, but seeing the original "in action" is hard to beat!

But who's going to do the semi-annual calibration? (I don't think I can get one in my "official" kit- I'm already four over the limit for precision tools as it is...)

[Thunderbox]

Please note when a spring weakens over time the spring can grow in diameter when compressed and rub/drag on the inside of the bolt and this effects lock time. You also do not know if someone stored this rifle cocked sitting for years in a dark closet, and new springs are cheap insurance.

Once per year the Armourers completely stripped the Enfield down for inspection including stripping the bolt. Without stripping and dissembling the bolt you will never know if you have a internal problem or what is needed to fix it.

At a military overhaul depot everything is torn down and inspected and I spent 25 years at this depot inspecting component parts. My youngest Enfield is over 50 years old and I completely strip and inspect all my Enfields that I intend shooting when I get them and replace old worn parts.

Ed,

with all due respect, I think you are really over-exaggerating an issue that doesn't really exist.

Apart from the odd broken No1 extractor spring, I've seen no evidence that Enfield spring properties change over time in a way that is in any way detectable to a shooter. I've never come across a striker spring - even in something as old as a Metford - where you could clearly detect a change in trigger weight and/or striker speed simply by replacing the spring with a new one (and lets not forget that the replacements you advocate are themselves over sixty years old - even, in many cases, older than the OEM items in the rifles..). I've certainly never come across a striker spring that has expanded in diameter to the point where it becomes friction fit in the bolt body. Rifle actions don't deteriorate simply because they've been in Turkey, India, Africa or any other environment - even real bitsas still function if they're clean enough.

Having observed hundreds and hundreds of Enfield shooters, I'd say there is rarely any point in attempting to fine tune an Enfield action - ammo, barrel condition and bedding errors are orders of magnitude more significant (I'll not speculate on what percentage of shooters might actually notice a difference between a 1 moa rifle and a 6 moa rifle....). Encouraging people to go out and buy parts they don't need is simply going to empty the parts pool for future generations of Enfield owners - all those springs, boltheads, extractors, sears, cocking pieces, etc will be dispersed & forgotten in a million tool sheds..