Enfield slack in bolt?

[mwjones]

Proud new owner of a sportered Lithgow No1 MKIII SMLE. Made up a dummy round and popped it in. First thing i noticed is that the las half inch of travel in the bolt was TIGHT (I had to use the palm of my hand to bump the bolt back open to eject the cartridge). Chamber tight?

The main thing that I was wondering abou twas the fact that when the action is fired, the rotates counterclockwise about 1/8th of an inch, as in opens a tiny bit? I noticed that there seems to be a tiny bit of play on the closed bolt, but it doesn't feel liek anything other than the bolt body is moving, like the lugs are still fully closed. I remember cleaning an enfield up for a guy when i was a kid, and when it was dry fired the bolt would just about open completely. Is this common? Do i need to worry?

We're doing welding in a couple weeks at school, so i thought maybe the bolt was a little worn or the lugs were worn, maybe it could be built up and machined back until if fits tightly?

 

[aric84]

Your bolt sounds like it is working just fine. Since it is a #### on close action and the way the lugs are set up the bolt has little to hold it closed when there is not fprce pushing back on it. When you actually fire a round the bolt will stay down because the case will be bearing against the bolt and extractor a bit.

As for the tight chambering, make sure the bolt head is screwed in all the way. It will not close easily if at all if it isn't. Other cause might be the tension of the firing pin spring pulling back on the bolt. Try cycling the action with the trigger held down while pushing forward. This will keep the sear from catching the firing pin on closing and there will be no tension on the bolt from the spring.

Don't feel bad by the way, this question gets asked all the time here, should almost be stickied!