Replacement Aussie bolt for my 1918 BSA SMLE. Issue?

[CanadianLanBoy]

Hey guys, first post here, sorry if I am not following customs, as I haven't spent a whole lot of time around this forum, but certainly hope to in the future.

My inherited 1918 SMLE sporter has been my first rifle, over the last 3 years I have de-sporterized it with an Aussie stock set, and have recently found out, the primers are not supposed to back out 2 hundredths of an inch. The rifle is extremely accurate with its new stock, 1.5 MOA with a relatively undeveloped load. anyways, I've received a new (to me) Aussie bolt to decrease my measured 0.080 headspace. The new bolt is 11 thou longer, and with the head only being 2 thou longer, it leads me to believe that the old MISMATCHED bolt's body was worn.

The new (to me) bolt bears evenly on both lugs, but I have a question about this new Aussie bolt...



The Aussie (Bottom) bolt's long lug's rounded edge seems to start at the same point of the Brit bolts rounded edge seems to be more aggressive, and I'm concerned this is a sign that this bolt has been messed with... Is this normal for Lithgow bolts? Is it anything to worry about?

I appreciate any responses,
CanadianLanBoy

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[CanadianLanBoy]

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[AradoAR234]

Just found your thread while looking for other info. I'm surprised no-one else has got back to you, although i haven't been active on here for quite some time.

Great to see that the rifle shoots so well- those replica stocks made in India and marketed here appear to have some good feedback. As far as the bolts go, I also noticed that my Lithgows' do have a slightly different profile to the British made ones. If the bearing surfaces are even, and the headspace is within spec, then it's fairly safe to say that it shouldn't be an issue. Probably a variation in tooling at different factories would be my guess, but maybe someone else out there has some definitive answer.

Tolerances and minor variations appear a lot with these rifles, and inter war and post ww2 rifles do tend to have less variation than mass produced wartime ones. As always, if in doubt, have it checked by a competent gunsmith. Have fun with it.