Enfield Bolt head

tapedeck74

tapedeck74

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I noticed that there is a strange groove on the boltface from my #4. It seems to correspond to where the primer pocket would face. Is this a common wear feature for these rifles, or what?
The groove is very shallow, less than 1/64". BTW, headspace is good and the rifle is very accurate, I'm just curious.:)
P1020373.jpg
 
Is there any evidence of solder around the groove or inside the bolthead? It looks like it was re-bushed. Firing pin hole may have been enlarged/off center and they used a bushing to bring it back into spec.
 
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Typically the extractor pushes the cartridge to one side and the bolt the opposite way in the sloppy chamber and action, that would account for the slight offset shown in the picture.

I think it is just gas cutting from blown primers and/or wear from grit on the boltface when the shell is fired.. it kind of accumulates in that area around the primer and marks the boltface...

If this is the original bolt head for this rifle, the barrel must be quite worn I would think......
 
The rifle is a 1942 #4 MK1 receiver, remanufactured by, I assume, Parker-Hale. New barrel, bore is like new, non-matching bolt, but good head-space.
I can't see any evidence that the bolt head has been reworked.

Thanks for the help, Steve
 
I have seen this happen on one gun from gas cutting from a primer that wasn't supported by the bolt because the primer was crushed by the individual who reloaded the cartridge. Another reason may be the use of corrosive primmers and just a bit of gas blowback and corrosion on the residue. Many military firearms have this mark.
Excess headspace and low pressure loads will sometimes cause cutting like this as well as a bit of gas escapes when the primer backs out.
 
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