Cocking piece difference in No1 and No4 etc

[Peter Laidler]

Sorry to be a little bit contrary chaps BUT........... Unless you know different and can show me where it says so in the EMER's, user or technical handbooks, there was never a reason for a soldier to un-cock his rifle from the cocked position by using the cocking piece. It would be absolutely taboo. Even if he had a misfire, he'd simply eject the round and carry on firing. Decocking was always by firing off the action.

Armourers only were taught to close the bolts during inspections etc etc by squeezing the trigger at the same time so that the cocking piece went forwards under control on the short to long cam. This is the only way in which there will be insufficient, even accidental force on the striker to set a cartridge off

This situation also arises with the Browning No2 and L9 pistols currently in use. If it's loaded and 'ready', with a live round in the chamber, then the safety is put ON and there the hammer stays. You try to 'de-cock' at your peril, knowing that a wet or cold hand and one slip will earn you a rocket up the xxxe AND a fine of 28 days pay. PLUS any damage caused. And if anyone is injured or worse, then the world will collapse around your ears.

So, unless there is a proper inbuilt means to de-cock, then don't do it. Just unload or put the safe to SAFE

[jmoore]

The milled in "grasping grooves" are a bit of a mystery, though. What is their actual intended (and safe) function?

[Beerhunter]

The Enfield also has a "half-cock" feature, only way to achieve it is to hold on to the cocking piece and pull the trigger, that way the firing pin would not be resting on the primer. Can't see why anyone would want to use it though instead of the regular safety catch.

Not the case. The official way to half-cock a Lee-Enfield is to pull the uncocked cocking piece to the rear until the sear engages with the half bent. To remove the half cock one pulls the cocking piece further to the rear until, the sear engages the full bent. ("Today we had naming of parts." to quote the poem.)

The half-cock was an anachronistic left over from the time when Lee-Enfilds did not have safety catches. I was told during training that it was there: "to provide an additional safety."

[Peter Laidler]

ALMOST correct lads but............ The reason for the half cock is that of an inbuilt mechanical safety. Nothing more or less.

I won't go into the mechanicals, but if a rifle is fired with the bolt not fully closed down, then on recoil, the bolt could lift and be (literally) fired backwards into the firers face. For example, if the bolt head were unscrewed a complete turn. To prevent this, should you fire it in this condition or the bolt not fully locked down, the rifle will 'half-fire' or half locked into 'half-cock'. Hence the phrase '...going off at half cock....'. A bit like the England football team last night. But I digress.

Once it has gone off at half cock (the rifle, not the footy team..... although they do need shooting....) the only way to get it back is to grip the cocking piece and FULLY cock the rifle again. Now, the firer KNOWS that something is mechanically (broken part etc) or physically (didn't lock the bolt properly) wrong

It could be that there is a fault with the rifle, such as a broken cocking piece or defective safety catch or locking bolt that will also cause a mechanical problem, so this mechanical inbuilt safety prevents the half locked rifle from firing.

Great question

From this, you'll see that while there might be a reason to COCK the rifle again, there is NEVER a reason to deliberately 'un-cock' or half cock the rifle

[Surpmil]

I believe Reynolds said the round shape of the MkI or "button" cocking piece was to reduce the likelihood of injury to the right hand when bayonet fighting.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Mr. Laidler has raised another critical issue in raising the issue of the "safety" function of the half-cock notch on the cocking piece. Note that in the original Lee system, the trigger and sear were coupled together.

There are two tiny but vitally important bits of metal involved in the additional safety function as per SMLE, No4, and No5 series.

These can be found as that little island in the cam track area at the rear of the bolt body and the lump on the top of the forward end of the cocking piece. These little lugs are “safety studs”.

As the bolt is cycled, these studs orbit around each other. However, when the bolt has not been properly closed and the trigger is pulled, one of two things will happen:

1. The stud on the cocking piece may strike the rear right hand side radius of the safety lug on the bolt body and thus fully close the breech. The rifle may not fire however, as the striker will have been significantly slowed by this action.

2. The stud on the cocking piece may strike the small flat on the rear of the safety lug on the bolt body and stop dead, thus preventing the striker from moving forward to fire the cartridge. Closing the bolt from this point, with the trigger released, will result in the cocking piece moving forward over the sear, until the sear nose enters the half cock notch. When the nose of the sear has entered the half cock notch, the rifle cannot be fired. Also, the bolt cannot be opened because the safety studs are beside each other, thus preventing bolt rotation. The cocking piece must be manually withdrawn to the fully cocked position to get things going again.

The half cock notch prevents the firing of a cartridge when the bolt is not fully closed and locked or in the event the rifle is dropped or jarred and the sear disengages from the full-bent of the cocking piece.

I have seen several bolts with the safety stud missing. I have never established whether it was “removed” deliberately or broken off due to metallurgical issues or extreme abuse.

[RobSmith]

Truth be told I only found out about the "falf cock" feature accidentally. Was inspecting a buddy's rifle and decided to ease the firing pin down while holding to the cocking piece after having checked the chamber. You can imagine my horror when the rifle locked up on me as a result. A few minutes of fiddling while my buddy was not exactly happy with me and all was well.

[browningautorifle]

I don't understand, all you have to do is press the trigger and flip the bolt handle down if you don't want to dry fire it...

[RobSmith]

Lots of people out there aren't quite intricately familiar with the internal mechanics of their rifle, and don't know that as a result.

I don't understand, all you have to do is press the trigger and flip the bolt handle down if you don't want to dry fire it...

[John Sukey (Deceased)]

And if you don't want a round in the chamber with a full magazine, simply press down on the rounds with your thumb and ease the bolt forward OVER the rounds in the magazine. Not exactly rocket science. As stated previously, holding the trigger back while closing the bolt on an empty chamber will decock it.

Now the only cocking piece that was withdrawn from service was the one without ridges, (a wartime economy measure)