Remington Lee 30-40 kraig Hardest trigger in the world.

[Blindstitch]

In case I didn't mention it I appreciate all the help.

My grandpa who put this rifle together was a gunsmith and assembled this rifle back in the mid 80's. I don't know what or why he did what he did to the cocking piece but I'll ask him Thursday when I visit him at the Veterans home. He's 79 and has some form of short term memory loss.

For all I know this rifle was put together quickly as in 1983 his house burned down destroying over 300 guns. Nothing like having a huge collection and the next days it's gone. And no insurance.

[browningautorifle]

swap out the spring to see if his works

That will be a way to eliminate the problem parts. I wonder if a Lee Enfield spring would work. It's closer than the one they sent you and there's scads available.

[Blindstitch]

Jim,
I don't know anything about the lee enfield but if you help me find the part I'm willing to order it. I was cruising ebay looking for an enfield spring and saw this listing.

Lee Enfield Trigger Sear Spring Mag Catch Bolt Retaining Spring No 1 mkiii SMLE | eBay

The shape sure as hell looks right and has a thinner U shape.

Is this listing that part? Unfortunately I have to make another order to Numrich in the morning because I was out shooting clays with my Savage Fox Model b double barrel and managed to have an old rusty ejector screw snap in half. $3 part.

Is this the numrich spring
Sear Spring Gun Parts | 486480B | Numrich Gun Parts

Or this one.
Sear Spring Gun Parts | 486480A | Numrich Gun Parts

I don't know a #4 MKI from a NO 1 MKIII

Or maybe it's a different model. As always any help is appreciated.

[jmoore]

For my temp fix I shaved the big pig wrong spring down on the right side so it would actually slide against the magazine catch piece.

The exact wrong direction! The long leg rides almost all the way up to the pivot pin of the sear. Having it lower increases the probability of breakage due to increased deflection during the pull and has way worse leverage, so the trigger pull will be much heavier. Push that back leg up until it disappears into the receiver lug slot and keep going until the "foot" snaps into the notch. Then do the mag catch side. Might be a little easier with the bolt out to make sure the sear can rotate as far up as possible.

It is a little counterintuitive when first done. I used to try to put the short leg to the rear when messing with SMLEs . That's not so good either...

Dunno if a regular Enfield spring would work.

[Blindstitch]

Ok well I called Numrich and ordered my shotgun parts and decided what the hell on the enfield springs and got both since they might be the same or different I don't know.

But I did learn you can save $4.95 on shipping if you call 866-NUMRICH (866-686-7424) during their business hours, M-F 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Go through as if you are going to place an order, you will then be instructed to hang up and order online and use coupon code xyz for the discount. The code changes often, I think maybe even daily.

[browningautorifle]

I don't know a #4 MKI from a NO 1 MKIII

I don't know if the LE spring will work either but it's worth a try. The original drawing looks close. The ones in the pic don't look like original equipment though. Not Ishy, not EFD, but look to have been made. Both are the same, I think they all interchange between 1, 4 and 5. We'll see.

[Blindstitch]

Well in a week I'll be the guinea pig and we will know if the Lee springs work. If not it's only $12 to answer the question and because I found the shipping trick of saving $5 and had to place an order it's really only $7 to answer the question. If that doesn't work I also have two Remington Lee springs coming. Who knows maybe they sent me the wrong spring or it was made out of specs.

Either way answers should be here in a week.

[vintage hunter]

The parts Numrich and others sell for old guns like this are mostly new made repro's and the quality leaves a lot to be desired, they just don't fit or function like the originals did. Sometimes they can be made to work ok and sometimes not. I tried several Winchester 97 left hand extractors from Numrich and finally gave up. The dimensions were so out of whack that once installed the bolt wouldn't fit back in the receiver without file fitting and then the tail would break off after cycling the action a few times. Found an original on ebay and had no more problems.

[Blindstitch]

Ok guys the verdict is Numrich must have sent me the wrong spring or one made out of specs. The two additional springs I got for the remington lee were the same dimensions and smaller than the first one.

So the pig spring was getting me 21 pounds, after I modified it I was at 12 and with the correct spring now in i'm at 7.6. It was well worth the headache.

On the second note the enfield springs don't work. It's not really a matter of working or not. The reason they don't work is because of the shape of the notch on the magazine catch and the contour of the lip on the spring. If you took a file to the spring or the magazine catch for about 10 seconds I bet it would work all day long. So if parts ever dry up and you need a spring it would be well worth the time with a file.

During my trip I also learned that my uncle was the one who made the spring and it was a matter of not being able to make the spring like the stock one due to limited supplies at the time. It was meant to be a temp fix and corrected but obviously someone lost track. I also talked to my 79 year old grandpa in the VA and he was glad I was trying to fix the rifle.

Since he's not in control of his estate anymore I talked to my aunt and all of his existing rifles are prices to sell. I bought a 6.5 Jap Arisaka type 38 that he sporterized back in the 80's and hunted with till he stopped hunting for a real good price. Shot it once and it's dead on.

But there are a few more there that i'm interesting in and was wondering your guys opinions. If you had the choice of a 1916 7mm Spanish mauser ((there's 3) full military, sporterized with scope, or sporterized with peep site and converted to .308) or Enfield #1 MK 3 military format 303 unmolested? I have the money to buy both but not the room.

Thanks again for your help.

[browningautorifle]

I'd buy the #1 Mk 3 in .303. Mostly just because I like them better. Thanks for the info on the rest.