Lee Enfield No4 chamber problem

[Duncan71]

Hey all!

Well, here goes another one of my endeavors with a LE rifle! Bought a BSA No4mk1 rifle off of a fellow nutter a few weeks back and went shooting with her today... range days are always fun, but this one less than others! Anyways, long and the short of it - after firing, spent casing will not extract easily. Some I could force the bolt open and down, and for others (about 2/3) I had to use a larger heavy screw driver handle as a rubber mallet to open and extract the case. Headspace has been checked and OK, and on the brass at about the 3 oclock position (as it sits in the chamber) there is a gouge on all the cases. Im suspecting that there is a flaw/imperfection/gouge/bur in the chamber that the spent brass is forming around. So my question is 1.) Is this something I can fix at home? 2.) If I cant fix it, is this a common problem that my local LE guru should be able to fix?

Cheers,
Duncan

 

[Ready Aim...]

I had a similar problem with my No4 Mk1 though I didn't get andy gouges in the spent brass, but it was sticking when trying to extract cases. What I did was on the extractor is a pin and mine was quite stiff so I oiled it and pushed it in and out a bit to loosen it up, I then oiled the bolt itself, and after that no cases got stuck when extracting them.
Hope that helps

 

[tiriaq]

Where is the burr? Locate it and determine if it can be readily eliminated. If it is at the extractor cut might not be too much of a problem.
If there was a case separation, and laddie dug it out with a screwdriver, scoring the chamber, that could be a real problem.

 

[buffdog]

Gouge ?

Where is the burr? Locate it and determine if it can be readily eliminated. If it is at the extractor cut might not be too much of a problem.
If there was a case separation, and laddie dug it out with a screwdriver, scoring the chamber, that could be a real problem.

If your cases have a gouge in them, then the above scenario is quite real. Some uninformed shooters, (read idiots), will try to dig out a broken case that has seperated in the chamber. They use screw drivers, ice picks, and some even try running a tap into the chamber to grab onto the seperated case. Most of these attempts end in disaster.

Take the rifle, along with several of the fired cases to a gunsmith if you are not sure of what you are doing, and the problem still exists after you have check out the extractor for a weak spring, free movement, and that the extractor hook is in good shape and not broken off. He might be able to polish the chamber IF it is gouged and not too deep. It is also possible that there is a burr on the extractor cut in the barrel.

I would definitely let the seller of the rifle know of the situation.

Good luck!

 

[303EppsFan]

If your cases have a gouge in them, then the above scenario is quite real. Some uninformed shooters, (read idiots), will try to dig out a broken case that has seperated in the chamber. They use screw drivers, ice picks, and some even try running a tap into the chamber to grab onto the seperated case. Most of these attempts end in disaster.

Take the rifle, along with several of the fired cases to a gunsmith if you are not sure of what you are doing, He might be able to polish the chamber IF it is gouged and not too deep. QUOTE]

I'm the owner of a No.4 that someone attempted to remove a separated case from in one of the above manners. It was polished lightly and shoots admirably now with no extraction problems. It is however very unsightly when you look in the chamber.

 

[Duncan71]

Well, being the excellent machinist, and subscriber to the red green show. I popped the bolt out, then took a dremel polishing wheel, and some jewellers rouge, affixed to a cleaning rod, which was affixed to the dremel, and polished out the chamber. We will see if it fixes it...