Bolt Head Problem

[smellie]

I cannot possibly add to this debate or explication or exploration or whatever we are going to call it, for one reason: I am not qualified.

That said, I must point out that I also am a shooter and a collector, if you can call the junk in my basement a 'collection'.

The standards and the specifications make sense. They have to: they were designed for an era in which the Army was looking after hundreds of thousands, even millions, of rifles of the same couple of types. They HAD to have standards, else they never would have been able to fight. On the other hand, YOU don't need rigid standards because you have only one old rifle with a problem, a problem which can be repaired easily through the use of a non-standard part. So long as you're not expecting a repair depot to have, in stock, the precise part required for your rifle, there is no safety reason that you cannot use a non-standard part. I know this is an 'old farmer' approach, but I live in a part of the world with a lot of old farmers and, in the old days, they kept their rifles working until they ran through their last box of shells, about 20 years after the factory put the ammo out of production.

Your rifle can be repaired with a 'farmer fix'. Just do NOT expect the parts to interchange with the parts on every other SMLE.

The problem is the bolt-head jumping its track. The track is worn, or else the bolt-head is worn. You have established that it is the track which is worn. You have 2 options: build up the track or build up the bolt-head. Building up the track in the Body is possible, although it is a LONG way from practical. Stripping down the bolt-head and forging the bottom lip inward (as seen from the Body) a very few thousandths of an inch would serve the same purpose. The bolthead, were this done properly, would not be able to jump its track, as it is doing now. You would just have to be careful not to forge the part TOO much, else you will not get it on to start with! But it can be done.

It is a farmer fix, yes.

It is NOT standard. No.

But it will keep your old rifle working for another career and, if you keep the bolthead lubricated properly right where it needs it, the job should last a long time.

Good luck.