Ongoing issues....extraction/ejection?

[Bruce_in_Oz]

I notice that the extractor is the very early pattern with the "extra" bit on one side. These were declared obsolete and were to be replaced on inspection, starting in the late 1960's, if I recall my notes correctly.

A scored or rough chamber will mark the sides of the brass case, but will not mangle the end of the necks. I'm guessing an "aftermarket" barrel: all but the earliest Lithgow rifles had hard-chromed chambers and eventually fully plated chambers and rifling. A small dab of cold blue will tell. If the blueing paste darkens the chamber, it is not chromed. Chambers should be smooth, but NEVER highly polished. The idea is for the expanding case to "grab" the chamber walls briefly at the highest pressure stage, but as it contracts, to "let go" enough to be easily extracted. A mirror sheen will not allow this "grab" and thus MOST of the pressure will be directed into the face of the bolt / breech block; NOT a good thing.

Have you tried firing it with a standard dust cover? If cases are still being heavily dented at the end of the neck, something else is wrong. A bit of flattening is not all that unusual if the cases are spinning back and hitting the body, but I don't recall ever seeing a bunch of necks looking like yours.

If it has NEVER worked properly, check the two nested return springs inside the butt. One is supposed to be RH twist, the other left hand. This is so that the inner and outer coils do not "bind" when the return spring assembly is compressed as the tail of the carrier pushes it back. Don't laugh, it happened in real life with some Lithgow production and there was an official instruction to strip and examine a large batch of rifles in a certain serial number range to ensure they had the correct components. It is just possible that some errant springs escaped the weeding out of the spares stocks, as well. While you are checking springs, make sure that the spring for the body locking catch is SHINY; either black or "natural. If it has a dull, non-reflective surface on the coils, it is probably one of the dreaded phosphated ones, which are known to crack and fail. Thus it must also be replaced with a "shiney" one.

Happy building and shooting.

All we have in Oz are the memories and a few faded photos and documents.

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[bardo]

I notice that the extractor is the very early pattern with the "extra" bit on one side. These were declared obsolete and were to be replaced on inspection, starting in the late 1960's, if I recall my notes correctly.

This particular breech block assembly looks British. They retained the “winged” extractor.