No4 LE trigger tuning?

nelly

nelly

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I have this adorable little EAL, and she consistently pleases me with clean, cold barrel first shots being within 1/2" of intended target at 100m, when I lay her over sandbags. The groups do open a little when she heats up, but that probably has more to do with operator error (and impatience!) than with the rifle, I am sure... Have yet to get better than a 3" group, but I'm working on it!

Anyway, the trigger is just that little bit heavier than some of my other No4s, and I wonder about a non-bubba tuning technique that might lighten things up a bit... Polish the sear/trigger interfaces?

Any advice welcome!

Cheers,

Neal
 
Groups changing when heating up can be usually traced to a shifting pressure point between the stock and the barrel. I would try first to identify any contact point along the barrel (also make sure the King screw bushing is still there and snug).
I would try to put a few business card thicknesses under the barrel near the end of the forearm and test fire the thing. Some Enfields respond very well to a 1"x1" cork pressure pad there. You still have to tune the cork's thickness but it usually pays in groups tightening up.
PP.:)
 
"...yet to get better than a 3" group..." What ammo?
Smoothing the sear/trigger interfaces can help, but you're not dealing with a target rifle.
 
On a normal #4, the end of the forestock acted as a barrel bearing. The wood was taken down at several pressure points so that the barrel rested reasonably firmly on the end of the forestck, requiring about 3-6 lbs to lift it off. This helps to keep the barrel flex fairly consistent, and the point of impact also consistant.
The use of the barrel bearing was not required on the L42 conversion, because the barrel was much heavier. The barrel on the EAL rifles are simply std #4 barrels, shortened, and not really supported by the wood. I have to wonder if some of the EALs innaccuracy would be due to the lack of barrel support.
I would agree with Sunray; the EAL was not a target rifle.

I'll dig through the Enfield CFTOs (which are somewhere downstairs) and see what it says about adjusting the trigger pull.
 
Enfield tuning

PP, I have done exactly what you are saying about the cork inserts on the barrel and it does work. :) But to find out if that would work I first used a business card folded until the groups tightened up, it worked so good I left it alone as is.:eek: Out there somewhere is a No4Mk1 BSA with a local gunshop business card under the barrel near the muzzle.;)
 
Hi guys,

Thanks for all of the thoughts about forearm bearing, but like I said... it's probably more like me just rushing things! :)

If she keeps hitting right where I want with the first round, that's the most important thing to me right now, as she will become my deer rifle one day... so I don't really want to mess with first round round hit probabilities for now.

The trigger is a fair bit stiffer than my other No4s, so that's what I'd like to lighten up a bit, if I can do so without permanently damaging the sear or trigger.

Thanks again, oh Sages of the Enfield!

Neal
 
nelly said:
...The trigger is a fair bit stiffer than my other No4s, so that's what I'd like to lighten up a bit, if I can do so without permanently damaging the sear or trigger...
Click to expand...

You can lighten things up a little by carefully polishing the sear and face of the cocking piece with some micro-abrasive sheet (5 and .5 micron, the latter being about 9000 grit) from Lee Valley Tools; it's easy to use on the rounded face of the sear and can be applied to the flat, thin "spatulas" that LV also sell for work on flat surfaces like the cocking piece. It might be worth cleaning off the face of the cocking piece and sear and painting them with with a fat black permanent marker, then dry-firing a couple of times to see if there is full contact across the surfaces. If not, polishing both can help. I found this really helped my Nº4 Mk1.

HOWEVER...... you must be very careful not to modify the angle of the face of the cocking piece or you may lose the second stage of the trigger. (I speak from experience on this, having confidently tackled my second trigger, on an already-bubba'd Jungle Carbine, and ended up replacing the cocking piece.) That being said, if you see the cocking piece moving back ever so slightly when you pull the trigger, it may indicate that the angle of the face could be taken back by a hair, but you have to be very, very careful. It is also important to make sure any polishing is done straight across the face of the parts in question. Gunsmiths have special jigs for this. The rest of us - if we are brave - have to "watch and pray", in about equal proportions!

:) Stuart
 
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enfielder said:
You might want to have a look at my trigger pull page...
Click to expand...

Ahhh... so THAT'S where I saw the info on changing the angle on the cocking piece! I remember reading something about this before I worked on my Nº4 Mk1 but couldn't remember where I'd seen it or I would have posted the llink myself. Thanks!

:) Stuart
 
josquin said:
Ahhh... so THAT'S where I saw the info on changing the angle on the cocking piece! I remember reading something about this before I worked on my Nº4 Mk1 but couldn't remember where I'd seen it or I would have posted the llink myself. Thanks!

:) Stuart
Click to expand...

Your welcome, cheers.
 
I've done a few trigger jobs on enfields, and I've fixed a few buggered trigger jobs done by bubba as well. Changing the angle of the sear will change the pull weight. BUT you must do it slowly and carefully, there is a reason why most people don't do trigger jobs themselves.
 
woodchopper said:
...Changing the angle of the sear will change the pull weight. BUT you must do it slowly and carefully, there is a reason why most people don't do trigger jobs themselves.
Click to expand...
AMEN!

:) Stuart
 
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