Need help with first lee enfield. Green painted 1944 longbranch.

[Brian Dick]

Well, I reckon everyone's in the business here in the USA with the advent of Gunbroker and other auction sites. Transfers to non-licensees must be made through legit dealers like myself but I don't think they can be held responsible if a firearm is unsafe. It's the seller's responsibility and I'm sure many don't give a crap about much other than getting the money. I'm not a rich man so I prefer to be safe as one good lawsuit and I'm done for good. I've been burnt too over the years by unscrupulous and well meaning but unknowing sellers mostly at shows. Caveat Emptor comes into play I guess along with knowledge. A few proper gauges doesn't hurt either!

Anyhow, that green Long Branch has some unique character. It's most likely seen the s--te!!

[Bruce_in_Oz]

As Peter notes, it is not rocket science to repair the chewed-out sections on the guide.

HOWEVER, one should ask what caused the damage. Obviously, the immediate cause is hammering from the bolt head hitting the ends and causing fatigue fractures.

The bolt head starts hitting the ends of the rib because the bolt body is floating up and down in the raceway in the receiver. If you look at the way the things work, there is very little metal anywhere in the receiver that provides VERTICAL stability and restraint for the bolt. So, if the bolt is a loose fit in the receiver, it WILL float up and down in a rocking motion as it is manipulated. The extent of this movement is actually greater when dry-cycling. The presence of rounds in the mag reduces the tendency of the bolt to "nose-dive" on the forward stroke. When the front of the bolt "dives", the lug of the bolt head is levered upwards and this is where the problem starts.

Essentially, with poor original fit or wear of the components, the bolt raceway becomes elliptical to some degree. In a Mk1 or 2, things have to be incredibly flogged out or distorted to cause disengagement of the bolt head. On a 1*, things can go bad quite quickly.

Now a question for "the panel": I have seen quite a few No4 Mk1* rifles that have an interesting feature on the bolt head. The ends of the tiny nib that runs under the guide rib on the receiver have been bevelled off to reduce the area of the flat end. Was this ever an official mod or was it a "fix" arrived at by canny gun-plumbers on the job?

[dutchie]

Having just bought another number 4 Lee-Enfield made it Longbranch and finding green paint I had to do some research and this is where it brought me. My particular model was imported from the United States to Canada and it is a 1943 Longbranch. It has England stamped on the right side of the receiver chamber. It has a number one bolt head matching bolt matching magazine. It has a Mark 3 dial rear sight. It has the typical British style safety. The rifle was painted green on the receiver magazine and metal components and it also has Z F stamped on the butt stock. It is a 27 L series rifle in excellent condition after taking it apart inspecting and cleaning and reassembly. The bore is to groove shiny crisp and clean. There are also markings on the muzzle where it says 10 tons and the caliber stamped on the barrel. The rifle hadn't been cleaned in several decades and the rear sight was unmovable until it was lubricated. It is a fine example of a Longbranch number 4 Mark 1 * that did not go to FTR or refurbishment. Most of the green paint came off easily with alcohol swabs but there are Trace Amounts of green paint in nooks and crannies to prove that it was an Asian service most likely in Burma with the British. The rifle headspaces perfectly and I don't see any issues with firing military or commercial ammo out of it. I have no idea why ZF f is stamped on the butt because this rifle in my opinion is totally serviceable after my inspection and cleaning.

[browningautorifle]

You could have started a new thread instead of resurrecting a 6 year old thread...we'd have attended still...

The reasons for ZF are usually not apparent and may need tools and gauges to determine. The buttstock could also have been changed and it had nothing to do with the rifle originally, but that will be hard to determine too.

[CINDERS]

Barrels/actions were proofed at @19.6 TPSI for the Proof cartridge MkI there were various proof cartridges to give differing TPSI as required;

MkII proof round ~ 20 TPSI

MKIII Proof round ~ 24 TPSI but later on this was increased to 25 TPSI

[Cantom]

I've seen a number of Enfields with ZF painted on the side of the buttstock. I've wondered, why would the armourers not have stamped this right into the receiver? (like you see DP on quite a few rifles)
Stocks are pretty easy to swap out...who's to say if that butt was swapped around by someone who didn't know what ZF means?

Also, why wouldn't they have scrapped the action out at the depot at the point of pronouncing the rifle ZF and installed a new action to the existing good parts?
Why leave a ZF rifle out there in the system?