Bolt cocking piece loose

[Enfield_Fan]

I am having a problem with my trigger pull and think I have found the culprit. With the bolt locked forward and cocked I can move the cocking piece up and down some enough that if I don't touch it I have a single stage trigger pull. If I push down on it slightly I can feel both stages. Not sure if there is anything I can do short of replacing the bolt as it is the whole firing pin that is moving up and down.

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[RJW NZ]

If its the whole body of the bolt moving that means its loose in the bolt channel and usually reflects wear on the receiver/bold body and or poor machining when first made. The answer is to try many different bolts and look for one with a tighter fit, and use it just for shooting, even if the other is serialed to the rifle.

If the hole thru the bolt is worn then ditto, try another pin for a better fit.

There is also a chance the knob is loose on the fire pin threads then using locktite will take up the slack.

All of these will affect the trigger pull if there is too much movement, and, excessive wear will allow the bolt to lift over the sear and fire the rifle, when you don't expect it.

Other things can create the single stage trigger too.

[tbonesmith]

Before you buy anything, read this: http://photos.imageevent.com/badgerd...0boltheads.pdf
Part 2 talks about your problem. Check out the rest of the articles too: Index of Peter Laidler's on-line series of articles.......
It's all there.

[Peter Laidler]

I hope RJ won't mind if a disagree very slightly with one point. And that is that I wouldn't locktite anything if I was you, especially the cocking piece to the striker because a) you WILL get it into the securing screw thread and b) you'll probably have to take it apart shortly afterwards to make another fine adjustment. If you have to heat it with the torch to break the locktite bond, you will (probably) upset the delicate (?) metallurgy between the hard sear bearing surface nose of the cocking piece and the softer but tough rear end. If I was you I would clean the striker thread and tin it. (The EMER's suggest stamping a small letter S across the threads but I disagree with that too)

[Enfield_Fan]

On closer inspection the threads holding the cocking piece onto the firing pin are rock solid it is the firing pin that is sloppy where it goes into the bolt. Not sure if the firing pin or bolt is worn or maybe a combination of both. If it comes down to replacing the bolt I may just live with it as is. After all it is nearly 70 years old.

[RJW NZ]

I hope RJ won't mind if a disagree very slightly with one point. And that is that I wouldn't locktite anything if I was you, especially the cocking piece to the striker because a) you WILL get it into the securing screw thread and b) you'll probably have to take it apart shortly afterwards to make another fine adjustment. If you have to heat it with the torch to break the locktite bond, you will (probably) upset the delicate (?) metallurgy between the hard sear bearing surface nose of the cocking piece and the softer but tough rear end. If I was you I would clean the striker thread and tin it. (The EMER's suggest stamping a small letter S across the threads but I disagree with that too)

Good comment, Peter, I've fallen afoul of locktite once or twice and only use dabs of the softer stuff these days, if ever, a chemical of last resort,

---------- Post added at 08:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:17 PM ----------

I am having a problem with my trigger pull and think I have found the culprit. With the bolt locked forward and cocked I can move the cocking piece up and down some enough that if I don't touch it I have a single stage trigger pull. If I push down on it slightly I can feel both stages. Not sure if there is anything I can do short of replacing the bolt as it is the whole firing pin that is moving up and down.

Sent from my MB870 using Tapatalk 2

I have a similar issue but it comes from the forend wood not seating properly around the receiver area, you might try looking for other issues just in case. I did a bedding test with talc or similar, spray the wood with wd 40 and then dust it, carefully reassemble and then take apart again. and look for proper contact. I've learned to do this with every rifle now, they are always full of surprises,

[Peter Laidler]

If that's the case Enfield fan, you need to look at the reason (beyond the obvious...) why sear movement is making such a big impact on the stability of the cocking piece. And I wouldn't mind betting a pound to a piece of shi........, er, manure, that the working face of your cocking piece is marred/marked by the constant closing of the bolt/cocking pioece against the sear. You'll probably notice that when Armourers close a bolt on an empty chamber it is always slowly and unless there's a very good reason not to, they always squeeze the trigger when doing so to allow the cocking piece to roll forwards.

I would take the cocking piece off and then................ Just follow one of the articles and take on board the fact that the working surface should be polished up and down and NOT across.

You could also gently re-round the cocking piece bent of the sear and while you've got it out of the rifle, smooth the trigger operating surfaces too as they're bound to be marked as well.

Over to you!

[eiclan]

I know this is just not done but I saw an old smle that had been cut down to shoot roos and the bolt was a rattling good fit so the old fella pulled it to pieces and chromed the bolt and receiver, put enough on to take up the slack ,was good to shoot afterwards and because it was hard chrome resisted grime and dirt. Cheers Ross

[RJW NZ]

lol, too true, we worry about thousandths of an inch and in the meantime the butcher brigade are having a good old time with a hacksaw and fence wire, Enfields are amazing, and its amazing they don;t blow up when abused like that

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Chrome plating critical gun parts is potentially fraught with "excitement".

There are two sorts of "chrome plating".

Commercial "decorative" chroming, like what one used to see before car bumpers became plastic, is generally applied after a preliminary "undercoat" of copper is laid down. It tends to be applied fairly thickly, about 2 to 4 thou. The problem is that it comes out "lumpy" and thus usually has to be polished to achieve the nice smooth surface that covered so much of those old Cadillacs and the like.

"Hard chrome" is the satin-finished, slightly greyer looking stuff you find on gas pistons, barrel bores and other interesting bits in firearms. It is generally applied without the "undercoat". It has a texture all of its own and polishing is not recommended. It is often used to build up worn parts. It is INCREDIBLY hard and as a consequence brittle.

Furthermore, the process of plating, which is done in an acid bath, intordices an nasty phenomenon called "Hydrogen empbrittlement". The "loose" hydrogen from the chromic acid brew cheerfully invades the steel substrate during the process. This "loose" hydrogen seriously degrades the steel's ability to withstand shock; hence "Hydrogen EMBRITTLEMENT".

The solution, so to speak, is to bake the plated part for several hours to "cook off" this potentially dangerous Hydrogen. Then you can grind and polish to your heart's content and place the component into service.

Finally, even hard chrome can create interesting mechanical problems. A classic is inside barrels. The current that does the work flows between the bore and a chrome wire running (with any luck) up the centre-line of the bore. The problem is that the key to nice, even coverage, is nice, even current density.

Sharp corners on lands and grooves and nice, square-cut muzzles play havoc with this plan. Sharp "external" corners, like the tops of lands and the bore/crown junction, lead to high current density and greater deposition. "Inside" corners, like the junction of the groove and the flanks of the lands, result in lower current density and thus lower deposition.

That is the BIG reason that chromed barrels on MOST military hardware has rifling with lands having angled flanks and radiused roots and crests. Ditto a nice radius on the runout of the rifling at the muzzle. H&K took it to extremes with their polygonal rifling that looks for all the world like Metford rifling but with fewer "grooves".