Is the Lee Enfield a controlled or push feed bolt?

it is a push feed.
Control feed has the extractor holding the cartridge firmly against the bolt from the moment the cartridge pops out of the magazine until the cartridge is ejected. The Mauser 95 and Mauser 98 are examples of controlled feed rifles. Control feed rifles will chamber and eject a cartridge in any position, including upside down. Push feeds depend on gravity to keep the cartridge in place in front of the bolt.
 
On my Savage #4 Mk 1*, the rim slips up under the extractor when it clears the magazine. With push feed actions,the extractor doesn't engage the cartridge rim until it is chambered.

The Mannlicher actions are another example of controlled feed in a non-Mauser action.
 
The L-E is actually superior to the vaunted Mauser 98 controlled feed, because the extractor will actually snap over the rim of a chambered round. Don't do it often, though, as the extractor spring will eventually snap from being over compressed. Try that with a 98, and your rifle will be out of action until you can find a cleaning rod. It always surprises me that the CRF of the Lee action is almost unknown. The Lee had it even before the Mauser. The Mannlicher M95 and the Savage 99 are two more actions with CRF.
 
BUSHMAN79 said:
The L-E is actually superior to the vaunted Mauser 98 controlled feed, because the extractor will actually snap over the rim of a chambered round. Don't do it often, though, as the extractor spring will eventually snap from being over compressed.
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How is using a rifle improperly make it more superior to another rifle design? :rolleyes:
 
BUSHMAN79 said:
The L-E is actually superior to the vaunted Mauser 98 controlled feed, because the extractor will actually snap over the rim of a chambered round. Don't do it often, though, as the extractor spring will eventually snap from being over compressed. Try that with a 98, and your rifle will be out of action until you can find a cleaning rod. It always surprises me that the CRF of the Lee action is almost unknown. The Lee had it even before the Mauser. The Mannlicher M95 and the Savage 99 are two more actions with CRF.
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The extractor on a M98 will snap over the cartridge case. That is if the Mauser 98's extractor is properly fitted, get your rifle checked.
 
BUSHMAN79 said:
The L-E is actually superior to the vaunted Mauser 98 controlled feed, because the extractor will actually snap over the rim of a chambered round. Don't do it often, though, as the extractor spring will eventually snap from being over compressed. Try that with a 98, and your rifle will be out of action until you can find a cleaning rod. It always surprises me that the CRF of the Lee action is almost unknown. The Lee had it even before the Mauser. The Mannlicher M95 and the Savage 99 are two more actions with CRF.
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Chambers fine on all my Mausers, including my Gewehr 88 which has controlled feed action. I think that beats the early Lee Enfields as I cannot recall the Lee-Metford having a controlled feed.
 
The Lee-Metford has the same action as a Lee-Enfield.

Some Mausers will allow the extractor to snap over the rim of a chambered round and some will not, particularly military issue ones. Sporting rifles sometimes have the extractor modified to allow it to snap over a cartridge rim. I would be wary of this practice if the bolt has to be forced to any extent to close it.

A Gewehr 88 is actually not a Mauser and has a completely different extractor, which must be able to snap over a rim because they were originally designed as push feed actions, with a recessed bolt face. Some Gewehr 88s were fitted with a bolt head that had the bolt face recess relieved to function as a controlled feed action.
 
With the magazine cutoff pushed in the Enfield rifle had single round push feed capabilities with the extractor snapping over the rim easily. The Enfield rifle like the Remington 700 is a PUSH FEED rifle.

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If the Enfield rifle was a control round feed you would be reading my reply in the Mauser forum. :slap:
 
The test for controlled feed is to invert the rifle and slowly cycle a magazine of cartridges. If live cartridges fall out of the action before they are chambered it is NOT a controlled feed action.
 
The 1903 Springfield also has a magazine cutoff, and I've never heard anyone call it a push feed.

Whether or not a rifle has controlled feed has nothing to do with whether or not the extractor can snap over a case rim. Any action in which the case rim slides up under the extractor as soon as it clears the magazine lips or feed rails has controlled feed.

My Lee Enfield will cycle exactly the same way upside down as right side up. Either way, the extractor engages the case rim when it clears the magazine such that withdrawing the bolt on a partially chambered round will extract it, rather than leaving it to cause a double feed when the bolt picks up the next round. If that isn't controlled feed, I don't know what is.
 
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