No.1 MkIII Bolt Tab near cocking piece broke

[Steve H. in N.Y.]

Had the same thing happen on a nice SMLE with a matching # bolt. A friend who was a good man with a TIG welder built up the spot and I finished it off with a Dremel grinder. It worked out very well.

[RobsTV]

Thought about welding and grinding as well, and might go that route.
The bolt number does not match, so that is nothing I am concerned about if replacing.

As to adding metal and forming current bolt broken tab:
How much stress or load is placed on this tab?
I would guess very little under normal use.

Anything made to "liquid" weld the broken tab back on? (JB Weld or?)

I think I know how tab broke off, and I did it.
Last range trip and gun would not fire after 30+ rounds. Trigger was hard and would not pull. Range was Hot and they need you to remove a round and make weapon safe before they can allow range to go safe. So the range was waiting on me. Took a hard rubber mallet range officer gave me and wacked on the bolt handle to try to open so I could remove round. I know, bad move. Didn't work. Then I realized cocking piece was not fully out like it should be when ready to fire. I gently pulled cocking piece fully out, then was able to fire the gun. Noticed excess dirt in cocking piece area. All seemed to work fine after that though at the range. Found broken tab during subsequent cleaning..

[jmoore]

A file photo of the damaged area under discussion:



Also added a link to this thread in the "Gallery of Dramas" for future easy reference:

Gallery of Dramas. Broken Enfield Parts!

(Note that this link won't directly put you on the first page of the other thread!)

[Peter Laidler]

If I was you, I wouldn't go down the welding route Rob because while your welder mate might be good or indeed VERY good, but he doesn't know how the heat from his torch had affected the integrity of the case hardening and toughness of the hardened locking shoulders or toughness of the bolt. Don't forget, in simple terms, to stick a new blob of steel back onto your bolt, he's brought that part of the bolt up to the melting point of steel. That's only my opinion as a bit-part amateur

Look......... bolts are cheap, fitting a new one is relatively easy if you follow the lessons. Even if you have to take it to your local reputable gunshop to fix - or even send it to someone who knows what he's doing, it's better than not knowing what you've ended up with. Just get a new bolt............

[muffett.2008]

Rob, posted my links to this recent spate on the wrong thread, read my answer there, if you look up those threads you might at least get a laugh out of it all.

I blame JM for posting the same photo on both threads.
See Gallery of Drama's.

[RobsTV]

Bolt replacement is what I would prefer to do.
There are no local gunsmiths, and gunsmiths an hour or more away have not been very reputable. They also pretty much charge $80 to $100 (US) just to look at something.

I think I just saved some money in equipment, and looks like I can "roughly" measure headspace without headspace gauge.

Using the spent primer method, and test was repeatable 5 times. Results show current headspace at exactly 0.070.

(chambered case length with spent primer inserted using closed bolt = 2.253", minus original sized case 2.241" = 0.012 + case rim thickness of 0.058 = 0.070)

[Peter Laidler]

Florida - South Carolina......... looks pretty close on my map. Just send the stripped barreled action and old bolt to Brian at BDL in Sc and he'll fit a new or good used and re-numbered bolt for you in an hour or so. And you know that it's done properly, the bolt will be set-up internally and CHS'd perfectly

[Brian Dick]

I knew he was going to say that! lol. I can do the job if need be. I've done one or two before.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

I would recommend a new bolt body as well.

The bolts are specified as being made from a material called D.D.8. This appears to be a malleable iron, rather than "steel" as we know it. The "grainy" nature of the surface at the fracture is a clue to a problem that will face ALL users of ALL fine toys made from this type of material. The issue is that of age embrittlement. This is an even bigger problem in components that have been hardened by heat-treatment. With only carbon as a hardening component, it is VERY easy to get it wrong, especially before the days of accurate pyrometers.

Assessing "cherry red" is a bit subjective for a start. Work in the various plants went on whether the sky was cloudy or sunny, day shift or night. It would be something of a challenge to maintain precise temperature assessment visually, in a factory illuminated by skylights and vintage lamps, either gas or electric.

Brittle cocking pieces appear with monotonous regularity these days. WW2 British No4s seem to be particularly prone to this. "Over-cooking" seems to be the cause.