Lee-Enfield failure to feed last round

mrakimbo

mrakimbo

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So I'm having a bit of an issue with one of my Lee-Enfield magazines. Like the thread title says, the damn thing is failing to feed on the last round. It feeds the first 9 rounds just fine, but the 10th round pops up and slams into the left side of the chamber mouth. If I cycle fast enough, I can even jam the bolt against the cartridge body, forcing most of the round back into the magazine and just make a real mess of things.

Here's a whole album of the problem

When I cycle the bolt to remove the second-last cartridge, the last one just pops out. I'm not sure if its the feed lips, or if the follower spring needs to be replaced. With just the first round in the magazine, it feels really loose. If I give the magazine a love tap, the cartridge pops out.

I have a second Lee-Enfield magazine (and the rifle to go with it), and it works just fine. I can bang on the magazine and the cartridge just stays put. The feed lips on this one look slightly bigger, but from what I understand the feed lips barely have to touch the cartridge to do their job.

I'm really at a loss here.

[edit] spring in the No 5 magazine seems to be weak compared to my No 4's magazine.
 
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The Lee-Enfield magazine was specifically designed NOT to be swapped-about like kids' marbles.

A single Magazine was issued with each rifle and spares were NOT issued..... for precisely this reason.

The FEED-LIPS are vulnerable to damage from being banged around, dropped, hit, bashed against another Magazine, slammed into hard objects.

THAT is your problem: bent feed-lip, likely the forward-right one.

For a start, set the forward feed-lips of your "bad" magazine at 45 degrees inward angle, then try it. It should be close.

You may have to make small adjustments to get it working perfectly.

Once it is working, leave it on the rifle.

You have a spare Magazine?

Sell it or buy a rifle without a Mag.

Problem solved.
 
Pair of pliers will do the job.

Go easy; you don't want to work-harden the metal.

Likely what happened is the mag got dropped or bashed when it was out of the rifle.

That's why they never took the mags out of the rifles (except carefully, for cleaning) in the military.

You can actually load or reload the rifle MUCH faster with Chargers.

For 5 rounds, just strip in one Charger-load. For a full mag, strip in the first, remove the Charger, strip in a second and slap the bolt shut. Charger Number 2 will spin off the rifle just as if it weren't even there. Of course, this was fine in the Service, but they weren't paying $3 a pop for the Chargers! You pick yours up!

Pop over to milsurps dot com, take out a (free) membership and download yourself a copy of "Rifle - 1942": the MANUAL for your rifle. It covers the Number 1 and Number 4 Rifles both, does it in very simple point form. MOST handy little book to have. You can also download SHOOT TO LIVE!, the Canadian WW2 marksmanship course. It was designed around the aperture-sighted Number 4 Rifle and is STILL the best manual on shooting iron-sight military rifles.

Have fun!

Hope this helps.
 
Failure to feed is common as hell on most surplus and sported Enfields for all the reasons SMLLIE says. I have rarely fond a sporter that hasn't had the mag lips bent out of adjustment. Very small tweeking of front and rear lips is usually all that is needed. Also ensure the follower travels smoothly.
 
It's not a sporter, it's a 1946 No 5 mk I carbine ;D Bolt and receiver have matching serials, but the mag does not.

I'll try fiddling with the follower first, check the tension on the spring, then tweak the feed lips
 
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I effed around with the feed lips for a while with no results. I gave up and decide to try something else: I swapped out the follower from my Longbranch No 4 Enfield magazine. That fixed the problem with my No 5 magazine, but also resulted in the No 4 magazine failing in the same way. Swapped the springs back to the correct magazine...

So I need a new follower spring. Anyone got one for sale? LOL :)
 
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I don't have a spare, but let's say, when you visit, that I'll take a look at the whole thing and figure something out :)

Lou
 
What ammo are you using?? The mags were designed for 174 grn. Mk.VII ammo. If using soft points of 150 grn or 220 you will probably have a problem and need to work the feed lips
 
If this only happens with the last round that clearly means that the round is not sitting correctly in the mag, so why?

With the previous nine rounds they were held in correct alignment and tension by the rounds sitting below them.

When those rounds are gone, the last round is sitting against the magazine platform, not a round below it as all the others had been.

The mag spring is then almost fully extended and if it is weak, it may not have the compression to hold the round in the correct position, regardless of whether the mag lips or platform are damaged or deformed.

Some people leave mags full for years which damages the springs.

It is possible there is a burr on the mag platform or the edge of the mag that is catching the rim as the round goes forward and flipping it out of alignment, particularly if the spring is weak. Unlikely though, as if the burr was on the right side of the mag it would tend to flip the case to the right, not the left. Check the platform for burrs or deformation.

There are tabs on the top of the platform that limit its vertical travel in the mag. Check that these have not been broken off, bent or otherwise messed with. If they have, you will probably see the scars where Bubba took the pliers to them.

As pointed out in posts above, the most likely problem is the mag lips. While you have the platform out (push it down into the mag at the rear end of the mag until the narrow end of the platform comes up and almost past the front feed lips, then you can pry it out - assembly is the reverse obviously) feel the under edges of the lips for burrs or roughness.

The fact is that production standards did not provide for much rounding or smoothing of feed lips, so they benefit from some careful work with an oval needle file. Wrap emery paper around the file to finish if you want.

If you have to bend the lips, wrap your plier jaws in a few turns of tape to minimize marking. Remember that the curve of the lips has to roughly correspond to the curve of the cartridge case. Not a very easy thing to correct with square jawed pliers. A series of slight bends as you move the pliers out towards the tip of the lips is your best bet. Or you can grip the front lips with needle-nose pliers from the direction of the front end of the mag (plier jaws at 90 degrees to the lips)

Have a look at this photo and see how your feed lips compare:

DSC00093-03.jpg








.
 
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Funny, I have to tell everybody the mag isn't supposed to come off the rifle as well. It helps to have a charger on hand to demonstrate!

I have problems feeding some round nose hunting rounds as well. They tend to cram into the front of the magazine well instead of smoothly feed.
 
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