Enfield No.2 Mk.1 'Short-Stroking'.

[Pommyb]

Hello Gents, I own a couple of Enfield No.2 Mk.1 revolvers. My first one is a 1942 dated Enfield-made with the spurless hammer & plastic grips. The latest one is a 1940 Enfield-made, spur hammer & wooden grips.
The '42 works flawlessly, but the '40 extractor only travels a short distance before returning home. I have taken the cylinder assembly (& individual components) from each & tried them in both revolvers. The cylinder from the '40 works fine in the '42 frame, but not vice-versa, so I'm assuming the problem has nothing to do with the extractor, spring, nut, etc. Would the problem lie with the extractor cam &, if so, how does one remove it to check/replace? I see Numrich have the Extractor Cam Assembly (lever, roller, & spring)available for $20, so will order one if the consensus is that is the most likely culprit.
While I'm ordering parts, are there any others that would be useful to have 'just in case'?

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Peter Laidler]

If I were you, I would spend a few ££ or $$ on a little book, by Mark Stamps, published by Ian Skennerton titled The .38" Enfield revolver. I worked on hundreds of them and I could start to tell you but it would drive me to drink before 20 minutes.

The first thing you need to do is forget changing parts or any notion that the parts are in any way interchangeable. These poistols were made to be serviced by Aremourers who were time-served apprentices. And even after 3 years plus 2 further years of post apprenticeship learning I never really got the hang of them!

If the Mk1* works perfectly, THEN LEAVE THE BLOODY THING ALONE.

Get a new extractor lever assembly that consists of the lever, the auxilliary lever and the small spring as shown/illustrated in that book. This has to be finely adjusted by hand and then polished to eliminate this that and the other and................ and............ then...........

Some more experienced than me might offer a better/simpler solution. Like suicide!

[browningautorifle]

I had an Enfield once and wondered why it was so hard to figure out...

[Peter Laidler]

I agree BAR. I had one on my belt, in its little comfy holster for 3 years and it never missed a beat. But when they do go wrong and everything is inter-related with cams and stops all working in unison and pokering that affects this that and the other. Parts that ain't interchangeable or barely fit........

That's why I said in thread 2 that if the Mk1* ain't broke, then leave it alone! Just my advice

[browningautorifle]

I recall trying to stone the friction affected parts to make things smoother. Once I touched it I was through the surface hardening. Then the trigger was different...about every box or so it was different... I eventually sold it to my Commanding Officer... He never noticed I guess.

[Peter Laidler]

Being an officer I don't expect he noticed! Reminds me of a story I heard once when a senior Officers batman was scrubbing and blancoing his old 37 pattern webbing. So that the beautifully blancoed webbing didn't crack and craze when said Offr put it on, batman stuffed the holster out with old newspaper etc etc to fill it out.

When he went back to the Offrs room, he found the webbing gone...... with his newly blancoed and assembled webbing. And the pistol was still in his drawer where said batman had left it while webbing dried out fully after assembly. It turns out that Brigadier XXXXX-XXX had addressed the troops, inspected the guard, had drinks with the Inspecting Officer all while wearing a holster full of crinkled up newspaper!

So said, he got back to his room, pixxxd as a hand-cart, took his stuff off and fell asleep on his bed, none the wiser!

[browningautorifle]

And the batman went on to be promoted L/Cpl...