Question about changing bolt to fix headspace

[BBB.ACB]

I recently got my first Enfield last week and soon after purchased a Field headspace gauge to check it's condition. Turns out the bolt just barely closes with this gauge (took the extractor off to make sure)

The bolt was made in Ishapore, and the gun was made in England by Enfield, obviously they're mismatched. Would any bolt made by Enfield fix this problem or should it be within a certain number of serial #s ? The main reason I ask is that I don't normally see military surplus parts around here, so I don't know if I'll have a chance to take my gun to a place and see if the bolt will work or not.

Information

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[Alan de Enfield]

1st question - is it a SAMMI field gauge or an Enfield (Military) field gauge ?

The correct military gauges are :
0.064" = Go
0.067"
0.074" = No Go (although commonly called Field)

The SAMMI field gauge is 0.070"

So you could be failing your rifle un-neccesarily

[BBB.ACB]

It's a forster gauge so I'm assuming SAMMI. So would it still be okay to shoot?

[Brian Dick]

You can shim the Forster to bring it up to spec. Don't laugh now. You can use 4 layers of Scotch tape on the bottom of the gauge as each layer is exactly .0001" thick. Stick it on and if the bolt wont close, Bob's your Uncle.

[jmoore]

0.001" to 0.002", in my experience.

If it barely closes, then you should be fine. If you're wanting to minimize stretching of the cases on the first firing for future reloading purposes just put small o-rings onto the cases at the front of the rim. Then headspace won't matter a bit! ('Cuz you have just effectively made it "zero".)

[BBB.ACB]

Thanks guys! I was wondering about the tape trick myself, so I'll try that later today when I get home.

A big firearms auction will be coming soon on the 19th and I'm already looking at 4 Enfields .
Two No. 4 Mk 1s, a .410 No 1 Mk 3, and a possible .22 converted No 1 Mk 3. Can't really tell from the pics they have up. (they have about 6 more, but they've been sporterized or bubba'd unfortunately). They also have some other interesting items like a few sharps pepperbox pistols and some mausers. Now I need to go sell a few things to buy them!

[Brian Dick]

As silly as it sounds, it's a trick I learned from a gunsmith mentor of mine in Florida many years ago and it works. Just don't be too heavy handed when closing the bolt. Remember that emergency use standards were .084 so even though it's not an exact science, it's close enough for Government work.

[jmoore]

Just no duct tape- too squishy! (Sorry- to those familiar with an old thread.)

Surpmil did bring up a rather more important check in another thread recently- check to see if BOTH your bolt lugs evenly contact the receiver locking surfaces as you did state the the weapon is mismatched. A little Prussian blue or even a "magic marker" will do. Much more important than headspace!

---------- Post added at 03:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:04 AM ----------

(Just don't expect near as much apparent contact area if using the magic marker. Prussian blue will show if it's close-dried ink is all or nothing.)

[Peter Laidler]

Come a bit closer BBB and I'll let you into a secret............. I've been an Armourer for one or two years and have worked on one or two No1's 4's and 5's plus a smattering of others from the .303" stable including Brens and Vickers guns. We only have two headspace gauges, so at the risk of offending any of the others, then get rid of any other gauges EXCEPT the GO gauge of .064" and the NO-GO gauge of .074". The others are a waste of rations.

Armourers are pretty thick so we don't want them confused. That's why we only have two gauges. GO and NO-GO. We don't have NEARLY NO-GO or almost but not quite GO.................... Just two gauges......... GO and NO-GO.

Using these gauges, slip the GO into the clean chamber and close the bolt. It GOes if the bolt closes. Now slip in the NO-GO. Using slight finger pressure, you shoulkd not be able to close the bolt. To be honest, neither you nor me nor the Base workshop examiner or the author of the technical publications cares whether it nearly does this or not quite does that as indicated on these other superflous gauges of unknown heritage and provenance. Give them to someone as fishing weights. Or if you can't find a .074" NO-GO gauge, then better that using tape, stick a bit of the correct thickness of feeler gauge to the gauge with a lick of oil. That's what we'd do

That's all there is to it

[reach147]

Hi,

As a test (and proof I like wasting time I guess) I took my Okie 303 gauges to a couple gun stores and checked every Enfield I could get my hands on.

All of them passed the GO, failed the NO-GO and passed the FIELD.

All of them, no exceptions.

The dealers were happy because I tested their guns for free.

That is all but one, who had a Century DP gun that had been converted to fire.

The weapon was there on a consignment basis and the dealer was not happy learning he could have sold it and had it blow up.

Jim K.