Spare parts...

[amadeus76]

It occurred to me that as the supply of rifles dries up the supply of quality spare parts can't be far behind. Since I'd like to be able to keep my surplus rifles running in the future I thought it might not hurt to pick up some spare parts for each rifle. So with that in mind I thought I'd ask the more experienced and knowledgeable regarding the Lee Enfield, what spare parts should I pick up while I can and prices are still reasonable?

Information

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[Simon P]

The common parts I tend to have to change out on the various Enfields that pass through us are:

Firing Pin & Spring
Extractor & Spring
Cocking Piece & trigger mainly because someone has buggered around with them
Ejector Screw
Bolt - If the safety lug at the back has been sheared off

[CINDERS]

Gads Simon what the heck is going on if its shearing the safety lug at the back I would be looking at the receiver as well blimey its a rifle not an artillery piece

[Simon P]

Gads Simon what the heck is going on if its shearing the safety lug at the back I would be looking at the receiver as well blimey its a rifle not an artillery piece

Out of 30 No4 rifles I striped & cleaned yesterday 1 had the small lug at the back sheared off, ive seen this quite often over the years.

This is from the rifle yesterday, these rifles were still full of storage preservative, probably cosmoline from the 1950s.

[Peter Laidler]

Springs.

Firing pins were never really a problem as such because generally we found that the FPP would increase. Yep, I know you're not going to believe it but it's due to the constant dry firing when the striker collar repeatedly beats on the bolt head tenon. As it does, it slowly increases the FPP - not much, but it does over the years. Naturally this act DEcreases the bolt head lift but as this measurement is between .016" and .060" (feel free to correct me please anyone...) it's quite large and can easily absorb the small dimensional decrease.

Mechanically and in metallurgical terms, it is impossible to shear that lug off from the rear - as in a cocking piece safety stop lug striking it from the rear. I won't go into the mechanics of it but think load and inertia. Anyway........ What WILL break it off is when the rifle goes into half-cock and a cack-handed clown ignores the basic training lesson 2 - action of the mechanism - knocks seven bells out of the bolt lever trying to free it. Grateful to Simon for the photo.

[Brian Dick]

Spare extractor springs are a good idea.

[harry mac]

The safety lug on my SMLE fell out of the back of the rifle on my first range session. It went un-noticed until I picked my rifle up off the bench, and I didn't know where it had come from. It is to my embarrassment that I've been shooting that rifle for 20 years without it
I recently had the rifle re-barrelled, and the smith noticed it, so changed the bolt body as well before it went off to proof.
I had the rifle on the range yesterday and I'm very pleased with the new barrel.