Enfield mark 3 action sticking after firing

chalkriver

chalkriver

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The action seems to load and eject rounds fine if I dont fire but when I fire a round the action seems to lock up .The bolt seems to lock up and is very hard to lift up at first but once it does the round ejects fine.

Headspacing Issue ??

And as well I have a mag problem as the rounds are not held in place very well when loaded in the mag, they are held in place at the base of the round but not near the tip very well. One or two loaded in the mag is ok but any more than that the front half of the round is not secure and they will fall out of the mag. The lips of the mag seem to grab the floor plate ok when its empty ??

Hope this makes sense , and I can supply pics of the mag problem if necessary.

Thanks
 
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Question:

Are the rounds reloads or factory ammunition, if the they are factory rounds then a photo would help. Specifically what brand of ammunition/case are you shooting?

The forward lips on your magazine may need to be adjusted to hold the forward part of the cartridge. and again a photo shot from the top of your magazine would help.


trigger-1a.jpg


trigger-2a.jpg
 
You should check the headspace anyway, but it doesn't sound like a headspace issue. There's usually other indications of bad headspace as well. Hard extractions is one. Flattened primers is another.
You may just be being too gentle when opening the bolt.
"...not held in place very well..." Forward mag lips are likely bent out too much. Easily fixed using needle nosed pliers. Tweak 'em in a wee bit and try it.
 
Kernalvax said:
check the safety, i have one that the safety is loose on, the recoil will make it engage the bolt making it feel like the bolt is sticking
Click to expand...
If someone dis-assembled it and re-assembled the safety incorrectly it'll play hell too.
The lever appears in the fire position but in the reciever the safety will drag on the bolt as it's cycled.
 
Thanks for the replys, I used needle nose pliers and fixed the mag problem..no more rounds falling out of the mag :)

As far as the bolt sticking.......I have only fired 5 shots out of this rifle and it was factory remington ammo 174 grain , I took a few pics of the empty casings and the primers look the same as some other empty 303 casings I bought off the EE. The primers in my 308 look the same after firing out of my m-14 .
The primers have flattened after firing but isnt this normal?

The safety seems to operate fine and its not loose , and the bolt is not just a little stiff... after firing off a round the bolt is locked in place and I have to hit the bolt handle with my hand upwards to get it starting to extract the fired round.

It is locked in place after firing but once I hit the bolt handle upwards it will extract and eject fine, as well it will feed and unload all the rounds out of the mag with no issues as long as I dont fire a round.

Here is a pic of the fired casings
Untitled.jpg
 
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I have a gage that I use on No1 & N04s to find out if the receivers are out of alignment. If someone near you has one I would have it checked.
A few years back a WWII group had an event in the winter. They stayed in a warm cozy building with their equipment and were using 303 wooden blanks in their No4s. They fired one or two rounds out and the bolts would freeze up, similar to your situation. The wooden tipped ammo was stored in a warm building with lots of humidity. When they were moved outside in subzero weather the tips expanded and they really screwed the guns up when fired. The bolts had to be forced open, I was told by a gunsmith that I would have to use grinding compound on the bolt and the receiver to lap them, to get them working again. I didn't do it because I wasn't comfortable about doing it to another persons firearm, if it was mine I would have tried it. I didn't have the gage at the time to check if the actions but thats the first thing I would have checked.
 
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I just read the post again and a little light bulb went off.

Check your bolt head for over rotation, if you have over rotation the bolt head threads and the bolt body are taking the brunt of your bolt thrust instead of the two flat mating surfaces of the bolt head and bolt body.

overturnmax.jpg


The bolt and bolt head you see below had to be replaced in order for the Enfield to pass headspace testing. This bolt also was hard to open because the threads would jam together after firing.

IMGP2164.jpg


When you have bolt head over rotation when the bolt head is back in battery and aligned with the right locking lug you have a gap where the two mating surfaces are and when fired the threads take the pounding and can lock up. When you hit the bolt handle the threads are knocked free and no longer bind.

boltheadgap.jpg
 
Thanks bigedp51 , I compared it to another mark 3 and it is rotating past a little further than my friends...aprox 3/16 total distance ( shown in red ). Here is a couple pics .

Is it safe to fire a few rounds with his bolt installed in my rifle to see if that stops the problem ?
Or are there headspace issues when you swap bolts?
And If the problem is caused by my bolt head over rotating is there a fix for this ?

Thanks for your help

bolt2.jpg
 
chalkriver said:
Thanks bigedp51 , I compared it to another mark 3 and it is rotating past a little further than my friends...aprox 3/16 total distance ( shown in red ). Here is a couple pics .

Is it safe to fire a few rounds with his bolt installed in my rifle to see if that stops the problem ?
Or are there headspace issues when you swap bolts?
And If the problem is caused by my bolt head over rotating is there a fix for this ?

Thanks for your help

bolt2.jpg
Click to expand...

You need to check your headspace just to see where it is at, when you have bolt head over rotation it is a sign your Enfield has increased headspace from bolt thrust. Or someone replaced the bolt head and could have fitted a better fitting one that locked up sooner. Normally you select one that will not line up and work it back and forth until it lines up. A special wrench was used for alignment/fitting of the bolt head.

wrench.jpg


NOTE: If you can find an unused bolt head marked with the letter "S" for spare it will be longer than normal and if the bolt will not close on a .064 gauge the bolt head may be lapped until the bolt closes.

You need to check the two mating surfaces of the bolt body and bolt head for excessive wear. Rub your finger on the edge of bolt body mating surface, does the edge seem sharp and have an edge. This is a sign that this area has been peened and the bolt is wearing out.

Bottom line, you may be able to fix the problem by just replacing the bolt head, but if it is bad enough you may be looking at replacing the bolt to fix the problem.

Just remember this also, I"m trying to fix your Enfield from several hundred miles away and I do NOT have your Enfield in my hands. And the bolt head over rotation "might" not be causing the problem.

Try applying a thick heavy grease to the threads or some plumbers Teflon tape the the threads of the bolt head, test fire and see if it stops the bolt from binding up. You need to trouble shoot and try and eliminate problems before blindly replacing parts.
 
Ok thanks for the advice , I compared bolt mating surfaces like you mentioned and to me there was no visable difference in the mating surfaces between mine and my friends enfield. And the edges seemed the same on both .
I screwed his bolt head onto my bolt and it would not rotate enough for the lug to align...so there is a differance in the two

I will try the telon tape and then off to a gunsmith for headspace check if that dosnt fix it.

Thanks again for the help :)
 
Thanks to bigedp51 my bolt is no longer sticking after firing !!
After cleaning the threads a bit I applied some grease to the threads of the bolt head .
I tried a few rounds of the same ammunition and the problem was fixed .
I was only firing at the 50 yd range but was impressed with the grouping .

The Beatles said it best..."Happiness is a warm gun " (that now works)
It was still warm when I put it in the cabinet :):)

Thanks again bigedp51....I really like your avatar ..do you get to fly one ?

M
 
chalkriver

You didn't fix the problem, you just found out what was causing the problem. The bolt was hard to open because threads the were sticking together, this is because they were taking the brunt of all your bolt thrust and were stuck together. You need to "FIX" the bolt head over rotation so the two mating surfaces of the bolt body and bolt head are taking all the bolt thrust and "NOT" the threads.

overrotation.jpg
 
Thanks I figured that.....so a new bolt and / or bolt head will likely be needed ?
I will take it in for a headspace check as well.
 
Bolt-heads are available and usually aren't too awfully expensive.

What NUMBER is yours? It will be 0, 1, 2 or 3. Each is the fix for excess space with the number below it. (1 fixes 0, 2 fixes 1, 3 fixes 2..... and an Armourer fixes 3!)

For an over-rotation problem, it is quite possible that simply a new head of the same number will fix it up.

BTW, Ed: DO you fly a P-51? Some beast!
.
 
Thanks smellie for the help , I dont know what type of head I have ..here are some pics.
Can you identify which I have ? Thanks again

BoltHeadpic.jpg




The Mustang will always be one of the best looking planes ever ....It would be quite the experiance to be in one !

Heres a pic of me in a updated fighter ..I cant imagine the thrill of it.....they set up arrestor gear and we were there for the landings with our trucks. This fighter was touring around promoting 100 years of Canadian aviation and it had the names of 100 people on it from the Canadian aviation world on the sides of it.You can see some in light blue writing near the stripe.

2009_0513Image0086-1.jpg
 
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