I bet the bloke who used the three centre punch marks got a bit of a roasting Ed! Well, he would if he'd done it in any of my workshops..... We all had a special chisel shaped tool that we would use, pretty well similar to the one you have reproduced Ed. To be honest, we would stake the sear bridge as often as it was needed because apart from the sear coming to rest against it, it wasn't a load bearing platform in any other way. The problem would usually come to light after a full complete rebuild or new bolt/sear.

The alternative was to just try to bend the sear nose down slightly. I was only joking......... PLEASE don't try it because it hard and very brittle and will snap

Interesting thread Lou. I hope that many needy grand old Enfields can be given a new lease of life