Help with magazine feed…

[amadeus76]

So I have a no4 rifle I had built up a few years ago from an old rifle. The barrel was worn out and the stock was so rotted and loose that no amount of oiling could bring it back to life. I had it built into a faux-T thru a collaboration by Brian Dick and Bruce Dow and it turned out great.

The only problem is the magazine has never fed reliably or well. If I put one round in the magazine, maybe two or three, it’ll feed ok. But anything more and and the round just gets ends up slamming into the feed ramp and stopping. At best, sometimes the bolt might glide over the round without pushing it forward at all. I know the magazines were fit to each individual rifle but I don’t know how to do this or really even where to start with diagnosing what precisely the problem with the magazine is.
Was hoping someone could point me in a good direction.

[browningautorifle]

Maybe just use a new spring and see? NEW, not another. The mag lips CAN be formed a bit. Sounds like spring and follower though. Mags being fitted was mostly making them fit without hammering them in.

[Daan Kemp]

Wrong mag? Possibly no 1 rifle mag?
Mag not fitting high enough, possibly why the bolt doesn't pick it up?
Feed lips not correct? Slight, careful bending front and back, one at a time.
Tried another mag? If it works, then work on the original one.

[Sapper740]

Jim's comment is on the mark about a weak magazine spring possibly being the culprit. I've got a box of NOS No.4 magazine springs in deep storage somewhere. If you're interested in a new one I can try to find them.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Regardless of the stamps on the magazine, a magazine of whatever model or mark was built for a SPECIFIC cartridge. Be that the original Lee Metford 8-round "single-stack mag for the Lee Metford Mk 1 or the last 7.62 NATO magazine or the L-42A1.

AND each "upgrade of magazine was meant to accommodate a "NEW "Mark" of cartridge.. This is why mags intended for Mk2 .303 are less than "ideal" with Mk-7 ball. Also; why so many "sporterized" Lee Enfields have ""issues" with shorter, lighter projectiles.

And the fun just multiplies with wildcats like .22 and .25 -.303 cartridges..

Just for giggles; consider the logistical / "tactical" shambles of the Gallipoli campaign..

A lot of Brit "landing parties went ashore (if lucky to live that long) with the old "Lee Enfields, set up for Mk 6 ball. Just up the beach, the Kiwis and Ozzies who were not slaughtered in their row-boats, staggered ashore clutching No1 Mk 3 rifles, originally set up for Mk 6 ball that was already on the way out in the logistics chian.Mk 7 ball was already a "thing" for No1 Mk 3 users. But who was in charge of ammo allocations?

Given the "times", probably NOBODY, for the simple reason that the current "thinking" still regarded the infantry rifle as a rather complex and awkward bayonet handle; REAL "Gentlemen" sorted out their international differences with bayonets, not noisy, smelly and decidedly "ungentlemanly, "rifles".

The "spirit of the Pike" died very hard in Commonwealth (and French) service. Millions of the flower of European manhood died somewhat faster.

The "experts" failed to grasp the ramification of the technology. In the case of machine guns, they appear to have gone a step further and deliberately ignored the "Industrial battlefield" introduced by the basic heavy machine gun. and its CORRECT deployment. NOBODY, (apart from the Germans) seemed to learn ANYTHING from the TWO disastrous battles for Fromelles. Find any of the more recent studies on these "side-shows" ; read them and weep.

And a Happy 81st D-Day Anniversary to all.

[Surpmil]

Since the feed ramp is a smooth slope there is nowhere on it for a round to "slam into" it in such a way that the ramp could stop the round's forward travel.

I suspect your front mag lips are bent down too far, and too far towards each other, allowing the lip to hook over the case such that when the shoulder of the case hits the backside of the lip it hangs up there and cannot slide past.

With more rounds in the mag, spring compression is increased pushing the case harder into the bent lip and presumably increasing its "catch".

The same may be true of one or both the rear lips as well, which would explain why the bolt sometimes doesn't pick up a round as the bolt closes. That is, assuming that the trigger guard is properly fitted and in the right location vis a vis the receiver and mag well therein.

As for the Dardanelles, there was always a school of thought that the Turks were Britain's natural allies against Russia's feared incursions into the Indian subcontinent or into the Mediterranean via the Bosphorus. Then there was the whole Mackinder idée fixe about controlling Eurasia etc. and finally and perhaps most powerfully, the City of London, the true ruler of the realm, whose obsession with gaining control of Eurasia continues to this very day. So, considering those powerful forces and the dislike for Churchill as a "radical", betrayal and sabotage would not have been unexpected or difficult.