My Enfield and its many issues.

Jesus.C

Jesus.C

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https://imgur.com/a/vXzT7Nz

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Hello guys. So I just bought my first enfield online and I think I got rip off. I would like your help with some issues I have with it. Its a longbranch no.4* 1945

here we go!

1. The safety catch dosent seem to be doing its job properly. When the gun is #### and I press the trigger I can feel something moving. At that point if a put the safety off the gun will go half ####. If instead before putting the safety off I slighty
press the bollt up, I will hear a click and I wil be able to put the safety off without the gun going hallf ####. I believe the problem come from a slight erosion of the safety but when I look at it its really not that bad. I also try to play with the timey thing
but I believe the position on the picture is the correct one.

2. The barrel seem to be overtight. My sight when aiming is maybe 1-2degree tilt toward the left. Can it be fix by slightly unscrewing the barrel?

3. Barrel seem wornout. I can stilll see the rifling but its smooth. I can also fully insert a bullet untill it reach the neck of the casing. Ive heard some bullet have slightly different diammeter. Coulld it be it? Im using federal 180 grain power shok. I doubt thats the case but it never hurt to ask. On the same topic, if the barrel is wornout and overtight, would it be worth it to simply change it?

4. Serial. I cant seem to find any serial except the one on the reciever. Nothing on: the mag, the barrel, the stock and the bolt!??? Im I doing something wrong? There some marking here and there but they dont seem to be matching to anything.

5. Ive read how to the stock higly impact accuracy and mine seem to be warping a bit. Is the any simple way to fix this?

6. The front band dosent seem to sit too well on the fore stock. There also a square hole on the top part of the fore stock wich ive never seen in anywhere. I dont want to strip my screw by trying to tight everything. So I was wondering if the front band was original or its supose to be like this.

Im really disapointed with this transaction, but now im stuck with it and would like to make the best of it. Any help is appreciated. Thank you guys.

edit: Ive added a video of my safety issue and update the photo bank, you can see at the end of the library pictures of the safety catch, ON and Off.
 
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Jesus.C said:
I doubt it, The sight itself is straight. Even the sight guard are crooked. Im 99% sure the barrel was overtighten.
Click to expand...

Well the sights are least of your problems, if the barrel is shot out. FYI the sight protector are separate than the front sight base. It gets slid over the front sight base, and has a cross screw.

This is an example of a good bore.

iQRV29W.jpg


But even my No4MKII sight protector ears, is canted a bit to the left.
 
You describe all the "symptoms" of a home workshop job by someone not really "up to speed" on what "good" looks like. Barrel - yes - they were called breeching washers - very thin "washers" inserted between barrel shoulder and receiver face - sometimes have to be cut precisely to fit to index barrel and sights at Top Dead Center I believe the 7.62 barrels for No. 4's were designed specifically to use breeching washers - not sure the military ever used them on the 303 British barrel - would indicate, I think, that either the barrel or receiver does not pass gauging (that is, would be scrapped in Service). Safety - that is a safety that is not installed or fit properly - the safety must pull the shoulder off the sear when engaged, then return it to position when safety is turned off - pretty basic step in assembling a trigger, and safety and to ensure no wood or anything else is interfering. Your bullet is supposed to be the groove diameter. The top of the rifling should be something like .003 to .004 above that - on both sides, so no way a full diameter bullet should enter the muzzle as you describe - although sloppy and careless use of flexing cleaning rods or pull throughs can erode the rifling away at the muzzle. The "rectangular hole" that you mention - on the front hand guard metal - was meant to be used with a hinged front band - may or may not be an appropriate field expedient fix for that rifle - others will have to tell you.
 
Jesus.C said:
https://imgur.com/a/vXzT7Nz

Hello guys. So I just bought my first enfield online and I think I got rip off. I would like your help with some issues I have with it. Its a longbranch no.4* 1945

here we go!

1. The safety catch dosent seem to be doing its job properly. When the gun is #### and I press the trigger I can feel something moving. At that point if a put the safety off the gun will go half ####. If instead before putting the safety off I slighty
press the bollt up, I will hear a click and I wil be able to put the safety off without the gun going hallf ####. I believe the problem come from a slight erosion of the safety but when I look at it its really not that bad. I also try to play with the timey thing
but I believe the position on the picture is the correct one.

2. The barrel seem to be overtight. My sight when aiming is maybe 1-2degree tilt toward the left. Can it be fix by slightly unscrewing the barrel?

3. Barrel seem wornout. I can stilll see the rifling but its smooth. I can also fully insert a bullet untill it reach the neck of the casing. Ive heard some bullet have slightly different diammeter. Coulld it be it? Im using federal 180 grain power shok. I doubt thats the case but it never hurt to ask. On the same topic, if the barrel is wornout and overtight, would it be worth it to simply change it?

4. Serial. I cant seem to find any serial except the one on the reciever. Nothing on: the mag, the barrel, the stock and the bolt!??? Im I doing something wrong? There some marking here and there but they dont seem to be matching to anything.

5. Ive read how to the stock higly impact accuracy and mine seem to be warping a bit. Is the any simple way to fix this?

6. The front band dosent seem to sit too well on the fore stock. There also a square hole on the top part of the fore stock wich ive never seen in anywhere. I dont want to strip my screw by trying to tight everything. So I was wondering if the front band was original or its supose to be like this.

Im really disapointed with this transaction, but now im stuck with it and would like to make the best of it. Any help is appreciated. Thank you guys.
Click to expand...

=======================================================

I am by no means an expert on Lee Enfields, I presently own 5 and each and every one has been an education in itself. so I can share my experiences only but don't claim them to be correct ones or the right way to do things.

the safety is tricky, so i have one with a round black ring that fits into the movable lug, and if you tighten the screw too much when you put it all together, there's a problem with it's operation. so i had to fiddle with the screw and the position of the lug that touches the sear. but at the end, it worked for me albeit the safety is a bit loose so i always have to pay attention to the safety during firing.

i don't know much about the front band, but mine doesn't look like that and mine fits perfectly.

the bullet should not go into the bore completely, i slugged the bores, and i have one with .309 and the average is .310, so i would imagine your bullet should be .311 or .312, your bore is even larger than that, so i believe your bore is too large. if you can use a bore scope to check out the inside maybe you would have a better idea. some Lee Enfileds have only two lands only , so if only the front of the muzzle is worn, i guess you can counter bore it and it still works.

it's hard to find a lee enfields with matching numbers. you would have to pay lots of money for it. yours appear to be someone did it as a project.

as for the stock, you have to unscrew the stock and make sure it's screwed on properly.

if you want to have a ready packaged shooting gun, you shouldn't buy a lee enfield. i love the lee enfield and the history and education that comes with the guns. because it's variety due to historical productions and vast distribution, you can find some real interesting history to them. but there's always something wrong with the guns even with the expensive fully certified ones.

you took pictures of the head of the bolts, so there are four different numbers but their sizes actually ##### crosses and very confusing. but the main thing is to make sure the head space is correct and the firing pin is in a correct position. when your bolt is in the cocked position, the firing pin should not be protruded out of the face of the head. to gauge the correct protrusion of the firing pin on the fired position, it should be the thickness of two quarters. this a rough judge but it would give you an idea of the correct position. you have to make sure the extractor and the spring are clean otherwise you would have problems extracting the shells.
 
OP - Dont jump to conclusions.

1) It was quite common for barrels to be over-indexed at the factory, causing the site to be a bit slanted. The front sight can be adjusted to compensate. I suppose you could get someone to loosen the barrel a bit, but I wouldnt bother.

2) Lee-Enfields can have bore diameters up to 0.318. Your rifle likely has a two groove barrel. This is different than normal rifling - all you see is a smooth surface with small grooves in it. If your bore is shiney, rather than dull, then that is a good thing. Have you shot the rifle? It may shoot just fine.

3) Sounds like you dont have the safety installed properly. You should see the cocking piece move to the rear slightly when you engage the safety.

You rifle was made at the tail end of WW2, and may have seen service, and may have gone back to the factory for repair after. It appears to be complete and reasonably correct. If you want to get a better example, get a post war one, say around 1950.
 
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Potashminer said:
You describe all the "symptoms" of a home workshop job by someone not really "up to speed" on what "good" looks like. Barrel - yes - they were called breeching washers - very thin "washers" inserted between barrel shoulder and receiver face - sometimes have to be cut precisely to fit to index barrel and sights at Top Dead Center I believe the 7.62 barrels for No. 4's were designed specifically to use breeching washers - not sure the military ever used them on the 303 British barrel - would indicate, I think, that either the barrel or receiver does not pass gauging (that is, would be scrapped in Service). Safety - that is a safety that is not installed or fit properly - the safety must pull the shoulder off the sear when engaged, then return it to position when safety is turned off - pretty basic step in assembling a trigger, and safety and to ensure no wood or anything else is interfering. Your bullet is supposed to be the groove diameter. The top of the rifling should be something like .003 to .004 above that - on both sides, so no way a full diameter bullet should enter the muzzle as you describe - although sloppy and careless use of flexing cleaning rods or pull throughs can erode the rifling away at the muzzle. The "rectangular hole" that you mention - on the front hand guard metal - was meant to be used with a hinged front band - may or may not be an appropriate field expedient fix for that rifle - others will have to tell you.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the good advice. Ive fidle with the safety and try every single position i could fit. Also I clean everything on it and around the hole where it fit. So do believe its the safety itself but theres not that much erosion. Ill try to buy one and well see. There pretty cheap. I will also try to find an inge band. Thank you for all the grrat tips
 
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cosmic said:
OP - Dont jump to conclusions.

1) It was quite common for barrels to be over-indexed at the factory, causing the site to be a bit slanted. The front sight can be adjusted to compensate. I suppose you could get someone to loosen the barrel a bit, but I wouldnt bother.

2) Lee-Enfields can have bore diameters up to 0.318. Your rifle likely has a two groove barrel. This is different than normal rifling - all you see is a smooth surface with small grooves in it. If your bore is shiney, rather than dull, then that is a good thing. Have you shot the rifle? It may shoot just fine.

3) Sounds like you dont have the safety installed properly. You should see the cocking piece move to the rear slightly when you engage the safety.

You rifle was made at the tail end of WW2, and may have seen service, and may have gone back to the factory for repair after. It appears to be complete and reasonably correct. If you want to get a better example, get a post war one, say around 1950.
Click to expand...

I havent try it yet. If I can consistently hit a steel plate at 200m prone ill be happy.

By ajusting the sight you mean to simply slide it? So it will still be canted but zeroed?

Ive try every setting on the safety. Basicly it all depend on where you start screw it in on the thread. But I havent try to fiddle with the tension on the screw itself.

And what do you think of the lack of serial? That what baffle me the most
 
The sight can be adjusted horizontally, yes. You may not need to adjust it though. The rifle left the factory with the serial number on the receiver and the bolt, and possibly the mag. What happened after that is anybodies guess. I'm guessing that the barrel is original, and I can see that a lot of the parts are LB marked.
 
cosmic said:
The sight can be adjusted horizontally, yes. You may not need to adjust it though. The rifle left the factory with the serial number on the receiver and the bolt, and possibly the mag. What happened after that is anybodies guess. I'm guessing that the barrel is original, and I can see that a lot of the parts are LB marked.
Click to expand...

Thank you cosmic for taking the time to help me. The barrel is indeed a 2 groove. It look dirty but still shiny. It started cleannit it but lack time to finish the job. This weekend ill soaked in hope 9 and let it rest for 24h then scrub the hell out of it. The safety does move the cocking piece backward, but I still have the same issue with it.
 
Your front band looks like it has been cross-threaded. That is why the band can't be fully tightened, although the screw will feel like it is as tight as it will go.
Remove the band and feed the screw in from the outside to in. You may be able to straighten the threads that way, then try and feed the screw in with the band off the rifle. Once you have it so the screw goes in easily, put it on the rifle and try again, making sure the screw is straight on to the inner threaded portion. The screws on the Enfield bands should all go from left to right.
Sometimes you have to pinch the band with a pair of needle nose to get the screw to start straight.
.
 
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Your rifle was put together from parts.

A few years ago, I picked up a similar No4 MKI* LB in an auction. Looked pretty good, but we weren't allowed to handle the firearms being auctioned. The closest we could get was a couple of meters.

Most of the people at this sale knew the owner (divorce sale) and had a fair idea about the firearms being auctioned off.

A red flag should have come before my eyes when there were only two of us bidding on this particular rifle. Like the rifle in your pics, it looked very nice on the outside.

I will admit, I got the rifle cheap. $250 plus auction fees and taxes, around $400 after all was tallied.

Like your rifle, some of the parts appeared to be NOS and others were refurbed in a very professional manner by someone that knew what they were doing.

The next day, I was going through the firearms bought the night before and finally got to the very pretty No4 LB.

That's when what it was became obvious that the price I had paid for it was about what I would have paid for the parts to put it together, minus the barrel.

The bolt was new, un numbered, put together from parts. It was properly put together and the pin protrusion was perfect. The magazine was also new, with only the letters LB stamped beneath the catch lip on the rib.

The receiver appeared to be new, maybe one of those that were offered several years ago, un numbered and still in the wrap??

It wasn't until I took off the front and rear handguards that I noticed the bulge where the knox section of the reinforce met the receiver face. My next few words turned the air around me blue.

The bore was about as badly pitted as any I had ever seen as well. The receiver wasn't serviceable IMHO either. The shoulder on the face of the receiver had been expanded all the way around and even had a bulge on the underside.

The rifle had been put together by a gentleman from Manitoba, whom I decline to name.

I also picked up a lovely No4 MkI* LB "T" from a friend that needed money sale.


It was a similar situation to the auction previously, all was good, until I got it out to have a closer look at it.

Almost a duplicate of the previous thought to be nice LB, from a few years earlier. Same issues exactly.

Now to be clear, the friend I bought this rifle from is as honest as anyone I've met. He is one of those that can be trusted.

He has a passion for shiny, unusual firearms and trinkets. He bought this rifle directly from the gentleman in Manitoba. The only thing he did with it was to put it up in a special place, in his gun room, where it was the first thing you saw when entering the room.

I felt privileged when he offered it to me.

I knew the rifle was a clone, when I bought it and it was priced accordingly. Still, I was POed.

My friend returned half the cash to me, he had spent the rest. He told me to keep the parts and apologized profusely.

Luckily, I had a lovely LB barreled receiver on hand, which came from a sporter I had picked up for parts at a yard sale.

I also have the proper drills and taps for the screws. I won't go into the hardened areas of the receiver or machining the flats.

OP, it's easy to get taken in by a rifle that looks as good on the outside as the specimen you purchased. Chalk it up, and either fix it or get your money back from the seller.

One way or another, all of the best lessons we learn in life are those we pay for.
 
stencollector said:
Your front band looks like it has been cross-threaded. That is why the band can't be fully tightened, although the screw will feel like it is as tight as it will go.
Remove the band and feed the screw in from the outside to in. You may be able to straighten the threads that way, then try and feed the screw in with the band off the rifle. Once you have it so the screw goes in easily, put it on the rifle and try again, making sure the screw is straight on to the inner threaded portion. The screws on the Enfield bands should all go form left to right.
Sometimes you vahe to pinch the band with a pair of needle nose to get the screw to start straight.
.
Click to expand...

Apparently someone earlier mention that the hole on the top fore stock is meant for a hinge band. I just order one well see if this fix it. If it dosent work I will try your method.
 
I looked again at your picture - I do not have one in hand, but I think the hand guard with the hinged front band, had a groove in the wood - yours looks as if that groove has had a piece of wood installed in that groove. Might want to look on the inside to see if there is evidence that those 4 rivets have been removed at one time - to allow an insert to be placed in what I think should be a groove?? The hinged front band will have a hinge that needs a place to go within the wood, in order to fit tight around the hand guard?
 
bearhunter said:
Your rifle was put together from parts.

A few years ago, I picked up a similar No4 MKI* LB in an auction. Looked pretty good, but we weren't allowed to handle the firearms being auctioned. The closest we could get was a couple of meters.

Most of the people at this sale knew the owner (divorce sale) and had a fair idea about the firearms being auctioned off.

A red flag should have come before my eyes when there were only two of us bidding on this particular rifle. Like the rifle in your pics, it looked very nice on the outside.

I will admit, I got the rifle cheap. $250 plus auction fees and taxes, around $400 after all was tallied.

Like your rifle, some of the parts appeared to be NOS and others were refurbed in a very professional manner by someone that knew what they were doing.

The next day, I was going through the firearms bought the night before and finally got to the very pretty No4 LB.

That's when what it was became obvious that the price I had paid for it was about what I would have paid for the parts to put it together, minus the barrel.

The bolt was new, un numbered, put together from parts. It was properly put together and the pin protrusion was perfect. The magazine was also new, with only the letters LB stamped beneath the catch lip on the rib.

The receiver appeared to be new, maybe one of those that were offered several years ago, un numbered and still in the wrap??

It wasn't until I took off the front and rear handguards that I noticed the bulge where the knox section of the reinforce met the receiver face. My next few words turned the air around me blue.

The bore was about as badly pitted as any I had ever seen as well. The receiver wasn't serviceable IMHO either. The shoulder on the face of the receiver had been expanded all the way around and even had a bulge on the underside.

The rifle had been put together by a gentleman from Manitoba, whom I decline to name.

I also picked up a lovely No4 MkI* LB "T" from a friend that needed money sale.


It was a similar situation to the auction previously, all was good, until I got it out to have a closer look at it.

Almost a duplicate of the previous thought to be nice LB, from a few years earlier. Same issues exactly.

Now to be clear, the friend I bought this rifle from is as honest as anyone I've met. He is one of those that can be trusted.

He has a passion for shiny, unusual firearms and trinkets. He bought this rifle directly from the gentleman in Manitoba. The only thing he did with it was to put it up in a special place, in his gun room, where it was the first thing you saw when entering the room.

I felt privileged when he offered it to me.

I knew the rifle was a clone, when I bought it and it was priced accordingly. Still, I was POed.

My friend returned half the cash to me, he had spent the rest. He told me to keep the parts and apologized profusely.

Luckily, I had a lovely LB barreled receiver on hand, which came from a sporter I had picked up for parts at a yard sale.

I also have the proper drills and taps for the screws. I won't go into the hardened areas of the receiver or machining the flats.

OP, it's easy to get taken in by a rifle that looks as good on the outside as the specimen you purchased. Chalk it up, and either fix it or get your money back from the seller.

One way or another, all of the best lessons we learn in life are those we pay for.
Click to expand...

My next step is to take actually test it on the shooting range. I just order a hinge front band so well see if that fix it. For the safety it annoying but I will eventually find someone with a no.4 and simply borrow his to see if my assumption is correct. Or I could buy one. I know on some picture the barrel seem rusty but thats really just a contrast effect cause by the flash. The reciever,and the bolt are in good shape. Also even if the barrel is wornout its not pitted. So I might have check by a gun smith and have him couterbore it. The wood is also in good shape but the time did is job on it and warp it a tiny bit. In the end if it performe well on the range ill keep it. If not ill try to recoup my loss and trade it for a No.1 mk.3 1914-1917. Well see. Once again thank you for sharing your experience.
 
How was this rifle described to you originally? If it was sold to you as a matching original rifle then it appears that you have been ripped off and should contact the seller for a refund.
 
This is what happens when somebody puts a bunch of parts together in 20 minutes to "desporterize" an Enfield.
Lee Enfields are complicated and finicky and need to be put together by someone who knows what they are doing. Not everyone who says they can can actually do it right.
If you want to save this gun there is a knowledgeable CGNer who can do it right at a reasonable price. But if the bore is horrible it may be better to sell it with disclaimers.
 
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