Longbranch problem

roadwarrior

roadwarrior

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I was looking at a friend's rifle, a 1943 No4 mk1* and I was glad to see the broadhead on the top of the barrel after seeing the longbranch inscription under the model designation. When I tried to cycled the bolt it jammed almost immediatly as I brought it back.

Its then that I noticed the notch on the bolt track of rifle's receiver. I soon realised that there was no bolt catch release on the rifle. I thought to my self WTF? As this seemed to be the work of a butcher (I own a No4 mk1, but this was my first look at a longbranch) me and my friend started to scratch our heads and to worry a bit. I was afraid he had bought a crappy "Red Green" mix and match rifle. But something was not adding up: if that notch was made "after market", well there is no way someone could of removed the bolt from the rail in it's original condition. So I did a search on wikipedia and I discovered the differance between the
no4 mk1 and the no4 mk1*:slap: I may be dumb, but at least I learned something today:p

Ok, so I found out that we don't have a butchered rifled on our hands, it's just been Bubba'd. Yet the problem remains, when I pull the bolt back, it comes out of the forward portion of the rail, thru the notch, but has a pretty bad hang-up when it tries to slide on the rear (second) portion of the rail. Actually some of the metal has started to file/grind off the rail at that particular location.

What should I tell my friend to do? Would a simple buffing job do the trick? He's going moose hunting next weekend, so we need a safe and quick fix for this problem. Thanks for your help guys.
 
You can try modifying the bolthead groove where the rail engages it by opening up the front of it so that it forms a "funnel" shape, but even if it improves the situation, it will still be unreliable. Tig welding can be used to repair the rail, but it is expensive.

It's a parts gun.
 
Is it a cutout located about one inch behind the breech?
If so, try to see if the bolthead's threads aren't clogged with hard grease or dirt: this can cause a binding problem. The bolt should rotate without exerting any torque on the bolthead that could cause it to jump the rail's lip.
Unscrew the bolthead and clean the threads. Oil lightly and screw everything down snug.
Now, insert the bolt back and try it again.
Good luck!
PP.
 
Thanks for your contribution guys. P.P. I did follow up on your tip, but I have to admit that the head of the bolt was not gunked enough for that to have been the cause of the problem. Close, but no cigare!:p

Never the less, after carefull examination and reflexion, we brought the rifle to the range last weekend. It actually cycled pretty good when it had a loaded mag inserted into it. The gentleman who owns it will probably take a file to the receiver's rail to smooth things up a bit. It's destined to be a Moose gun, so it won't be fired that often.

I wonder if that type of problem comes up often with the longbranch:confused: I guess it's what you get when you cut corners during war time mass production...
 
Tell him not to use a file. A bit of emery cloth will be better. He doesn't want to remove any metal. Tell him to look at the rail for a wee burr though.Mind you, the Lee-Enfield is the smoothest bolt action there is, so he really should need to do anything. However, sometimes a 50 plus year old rifle can get dinged, causing a burr.
 
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