Fitting an Enfield trigger screw bushing

[cantom]

I just swapped another wood set on to my 42 Long Branch. It was very much a drop it in and it fit perfectly issue, couldn't have worked better. Only thing is, the front guard screw(kingscrew) bushing was too long. Tightened up, the action was slopping loosly up and down. Thus, time to file the bushing down carefully till the requisite 5-7 pounds of upward force is needed to lift the barrel from the upper forend.

After some judicious filing and trying, final length of the bushing with my vernier was .4517", nice moderate downward pressure now, not overdoing it to traumatize the forend by crushing it.

There are some different schools of though I've read about recently. Peter Laidler posted a procedure to fit the bushing such that there is about zero crush on the wood, whereas some feel there should be some crush.

BTW, about half of the rifles I've taken apart lately are missing this bushing, many are missing the lockwasher on the screw. Both are essential IMHO. Numrich doesn't even list the washer. New bushings are shipped considerably overlength.

I went conservative on it. Any comments welcome. We can all learn from this.
BTW, note the rough machining marks on the 42 wartime production rifle.

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[maple_leaf_eh]

Old time No.4 shooters knew the bushing changed trigger pressures. Perhaps your rifle sampling includes guns that once had farkin' 'orrible trigger pulls. Do you have the CF maintenance manuals for the No.4? I can email them to you.

 

[TheIndifferent1]

I had never paid attention to this. I'll have to take mine apart soon and look for the bushing - my No 4's trigger pull is certainly not as nice as my No 1's... wonder if this has anything to do with it.

 

[cantom]

Old time No.4 shooters knew the bushing changed trigger pressures. Perhaps your rifle sampling includes guns that once had farkin' 'orrible trigger pulls. Do you have the CF maintenance manuals for the No.4? I can email them to you.

I did have that but now I can't find it. I recall long pages about measuring trigger pulls etc. Sure, I'd like to have that again.

 

[smellie]

Trigger work on any Lee rifle is not really difficult....... but........ ya gotta have all the parts!

I bought rather a nice-looking Number 4 some time ago. Wouldn't shoot, trigger was awful, so I hauled it apart. By the time I got it back together, I was really happy I'd invested in a major chunk of an armourer's kit.... and wondering why it had bothered even to try to shoot at all.
Works nice now, especially with all the parts it was designed to have!

 

[Tyler]

Here you go, Cantom:

There's a thread over on gunboards about how to bed a No.4, and the subject of the king screw bushing came up.

Here's the post.

Bushing and Shimming advice.

Here's the thread.

Bedding a No.4

Look for the posts by Ed Horton, they are full of good links and info.

 

[cantom]

Here you go, Cantom:

There's a thread over on gunboards about how to bed a No.4, and the subject of the king screw bushing came up.

Here's the post.

Bushing and Shimming advice.

Here's the thread.

Bedding a No.4

Look for the posts by Ed Horton, they are full of good links and info.

Thanks Tyler! Wow, that sure made a difference in accuracy didn't it...