#4 Locking lugs

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I was speaking to a gunsmith about the No4.Lee enfield and if it was suitable for a rebarrel. He told me that the No.4 only had one locking lug and could not stand high pressure.
I checked my No.4 and found it had two (one short, one long).
How many locking lugs does a No.4 Lee enfield really have?
 
A #4 has one lug. It engages the receiver about 1 1/2" forward of the bolt handle when the breach is closed. Can you take a picture of what you think the other one is, or describe location.. and perhaps someone can clarify.
 
one locking lug ?????
go find a gunsmith that knows what he is talking about .

they have 2 , yes 2 locking lugs , one you can see about 1.5 inches foward of the bolt handle , the second in the same place , but on the opposite side of the bolt .

the second locking lug does have a place on the reciever that it locks into .
 
planetsmasher66 said:
A #4 has one lug. It engages the receiver about 1 1/2" forward of the bolt handle when the breach is closed. Can you take a picture of what you think the other one is, or describe location.. and perhaps someone can clarify.
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Take a very close look at the No. 4 Receiver and bolt.
There is a second surface on the back of the bolt guide that locks up the action opposite the locking lug.

Frank de Hass in reference to the Lee Enfield " the bolt has dual-opposed locking lugs..." and then Mr. de Haas refers to the bolt guide as the second locking lug.
 
No4s have 2 locking lugs as above.

But the action is not the strongest and you can't turn it into a Magnum. You can make it into a 308 but that seems to be the commonly determined limit of what you can do. 45-70 works too.
 
The Enfield was designed and built to handle one cartridge: .303 British. If you want a magnum, buy a magnum rifle.

Personally, I think that .303 Brit is very versitile, IF you handload. There isn't a whole lot it can't do. So if you are going to rebarrel, just get it done in .303 Br.

If you wanted to experiment you could always try .303 Epps, or maybe you could give a .308's bore a try. Crazier things have been done.

Oh, and for the OP: Yes, it has two lugs.
 
Yes,there have always been 2 bolt locking lugs. As far as re-barreling to another caliber,there are military conversions to 7.62 NATO which runs pressures up to 55,000 CUP. A friend also re-works both Long Branch and Savage No4s into heavy barreled .223 Rem varmint guns which runs pressures at 52,00CUP.
Generally speaking one is further ahead to re-barrel a conventional fwd locking bolt action rifle for a custom gun-M98 Mauser,M70 Win,M700 Rem,etc.
 
2 lugs, at the back of the bolt.

front locking rifles are easier on brass. Mauser, Remington 700, Winchester M70 bolt rifles.

Rear lockers like the Lee Enfiled and Rem 788 are harder on brass because the bolt compresses on firing a stiff load, stretching he brass.

Only rifle with one lug I know of (other than 22 LR) is the Krag.
 
Ganderite said:
2 lugs, at the back of the bolt.

front locking rifles are easier on brass. Mauser, Remington 700, Winchester M70 bolt rifles.

Rear lockers like the Lee Enfiled and Rem 788 are harder on brass because the bolt compresses on firing a stiff load, stretching he brass.

Only rifle with one lug I know of (other than 22 LR) is the Krag.
Click to expand...

Savage model 340 has only one locking lug.
 
What sort of conversion do you have in mind? You may be just as well to go with a different action.

It is often repeated that the rear-locking bolt of the Lee action causes short brass life, but Lee Enfields invariably have fairly loose chamber dimensions. My suspicion is that this has more to do with case life than the location of the locking lugs.
 
tjhaile said:
What sort of conversion do you have in mind? You may be just as well to go with a different action.

It is often repeated that the rear-locking bolt of the Lee action causes short brass life, but Lee Enfields invariably have fairly loose chamber dimensions. My suspicion is that this has more to do with case life than the location of the locking lugs.
Click to expand...

To 45/70.
One of the issues that the gunsmith brought up is that it is easy to barrel and chambre but it is NOT so easy to make it feed reliably.
 
I suppose that there aren't many box magazine bolt actions that can handle the .45-70. Besides a Lee Enfield, the Siamese Mauser is the only one I can think of.
 
es, 2 lugs.

The Number 4 action is not WEAK, it is SPRINGY. Stay more or less within its design parameters as to pressure and bolt thrust per square inch and it works just fine.

A friend has rebarreled a totally Bubba'd LM to a K-Hornet, running the thing 'way to Hell and gone over factory pressures and is having a ball of fun with it. Pressures are high, but only per square inch; the very small base of the K-Hornet keeps him well within combined parameters. He is a gunsmith and a darned good one; I would dirty my laundry before trying such a thing, especially with a near-holy LM action.

Remington used to build Lees in 7x57 (and I would REALLY like one in military configuration) and, if memory serves me correctly, was there not a .375 on a slightly-altered .303 casing? That would provide lots of whompf.
 
.375 Nitro, not to be confused with .375 H&H.
It is all very well to consider pressure when planning a conversion, but backthrust is also a significant factor. Backthrust may be calculated using the area of the base of the inside of the cartridge case. Multiply that by peak pressure, and you will get the backthrust.
A small high pressure cartridge will produce less backthrust than a large lower prressure round.
 
The Lee that Rem made in 7x57 was the model 1899 which had four locking lugs. Made in 6mm Lee, 7x57, 7.65x53,30-40 and .303' as well as 30-30, 32 SPL and 32-40.
 
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