Enfield No4 Mk1 Question...

[Alan de Enfield]

Many thanks for the information. Unfortunately those numbers don't match.

You have a US Savage manufactured bolt from another No4 rifle fitted into a British No4 rifle.

That is not totally unknown in military use but the bolt would have been FITTED (properly fitted) by an Armourer and re-numbered to show it belonged with that rifle.

When shipments of rifles were brought into the US some importers had the bolts and rifles shipped separately, on arrival no effort was made to re-match the bolt to its rifle.

It may be fine, it may not be - if it is not fitted properly then the total recoil can be loaded onto one locking lug and the potential for all sorts of 'nasties' can happen.

You can check to see if the load is evenly spread across both locking lugs :
From a 2008 post by PL


First things first. Bolts could only be fitted at Field and Base workshops because they were the only ones that had a 'GAUGE, Inspectors, Bolt'. This is a brand new, calibrated bolt. Still in white metal and marked as such. If my memory serves me right, the slot in the long/top locking lug is machined right through to identify it. So that's the reason if you have ever seen one. This bolt is bare.
Clean the locking lug surfaces of the rifle and put a smear of 'engineers blue' marking dye onto the corresponding locking surfaces of the inspectors bolt. Insert this bolt RIGHT FORWARD, rotate it closed, then draw it backwards and forwards a couple of times to mark the mating locking surfaces of the rifle. Push it forwards, unlock and remove.

Examine the locking surfaces of the rifle. The blue witness marks should be evident. This ensures that whatever wear that has taken place on the rifle locking surfaces has taken place equally. If its not, then I'm afraid that the rifle is unserviceable.

BUT, that's not quite the end of the story because you won't have this 'Gauge, Inspectors, bolt' but it's only right that I tell you. Now for a little secret. If you have ever bought a rifle that has a sploge of red paint on the left side, adjacent to the internal left side locking lug, then you now know that the rifle was condemned for 'worn locking lugs'.

If you are going to fit a second hand or new bolt, then do the same thing. If the dye pattern is one sided, then stone the high surface of the bolt until BOTH locking lugs bear evenly against the locking surfaces of the corresponding surfaces in the body. BUT DO NOT ATTEMPT to stone the rifle to get a bolt to fit (you can only get to the right hand surface in any case ....). The rifle body is induction hardened at these points to a depth of .004 - .006" but we have found it deeper.