Picked up a new one today, BUT...

cosmic said:
Well - looking at the pics, it appears the edges of the slot where the bolt head is removed have been buggered.
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UK Armours will condemn and action because of the broken edges. They felt the 1* design was inferior. When the slot broke was impossible to repair so condemned or DP service.
The issue is when you cycle the action fast or shoot in a battle situation, the bolt head can come out of the stot and be accidentally pulled out of the action.
 
Pblatzz said:
UK Armours will condemn and action because of the broken edges. They felt the 1* design was inferior. When the slot broke was impossible to repair so condemned or DP service.
The issue is when you cycle the action fast or shoot in a battle situation, the bolt head can come out of the stot and be accidentally pulled out of the action.
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Yes! There were enough British who discounted the LB and Savage designs - because they weren't British. Laidler does mention a sniper rifle inspection standard to concentrated on the bolt head slot. He disparaged that the slot of the bolt head can jump out of the track and either chip off the rail, or jam in place. A fatal fault for a combat rifle but not for a civilian.

This could be your rifle's only failing. But it must be inspected carefully to rule out any other issues.
 
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Tie it to a bench, use a string to pull the trigger. If it goes bang carefully examine empty case and look for any bulges and flattening of primer. If not all good.

If it goes big boom then not so good.........
 
There you have it. Thanks for those pics and the one showing the chipped out slot. That is highly likely to be the DP issue.

Hate to say but I'd look for a sporter without that issue and with a matching bolt. Swap the rest of it over. Sure, you can leave it as is but why? With the DP mark and X'd out numbers, it'll never be a first class specimen.

Finding complete wood sets is not easy either...and you have one.

The bands and parts are a bit of mixmaster but try to complete it with all LB parts of the right era and finish.

BTW, nobody has mentioned the SMLE firing pin and cocking piece on it.


59AegZL.jpg
 
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With the rail damaged that badly, I'm surprised that it would have been retained as DP, and not outright scrapped.
 
With the rail that badly damaged, there is a pretty good chance that the bolthead would be jumping out; every probability that the action could not be cycled properly for training. DPs were mechanically functional for training purposes not involving firing live ammunition. This one is marginal.
 
So, will the bolt head jump with a round being chambered? I have cycled it as fast and rough (for lack of a better term) as I could with no rounds and it worked perfectly. I do have some dummy rounds, I will have to dig them out and try with them.
 
OverUnder725 said:
So, will the bolt head jump with a round being chambered? I have cycled it as fast and rough (for lack of a better term) as I could with no rounds and it worked perfectly. I do have some dummy rounds, I will have to dig them out and try with them.
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It may or may not jump out. Just guide it in every time to be sure. It is not an unsafe condition.
 
That is assuming that the guide rib was the reason for the DP status.
British Army doctrine is that a DP weapon should never be fired. Period.
 
Your rifle may be a New Zealand issue No.4 that was made a Drill Purpose from surplus stocks post WW2. There's a good chance the rifle is in fireable condition if that's the case. New Zealand stamped their enfields with their own serial which was Xed out when it was turned DP and had it's DP serial added. NZ rifles are uncommon and they are definitely interesting. Being a DP looks like parts got swapped around quite a bit while it fulfilled its role.
 
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