Potashminer's got it.
First mistake folks make when "restoring" these is to assume it's a simple drop-in affair.
For both your rifles you will need to take them apart, assemble only the metal bits on the action (including Snider Shooter's important mention - the front trigger guard bushing, or spacer). Then observe how the trigger behaves on the sear, how the sear behaves on the cocking piece. If you have a proper two-stage trigger then, well you will want to replicate the exact position of the trigger guard once the stock is reassembled. You may be scratching your head for a while, because sometimes it's not easy to figure out what part of the stock requires tweaking.
On top of that, you may want to check (with Peter Laidler's, and other's, info found on milsurps.com), if your forend is properly bedded. Not to go in detail here but there are a lot of things that have to be just right. Recoil draws contacting the action's recoil lugs, solid contact between the backface of the forend and the receiver "butt socket", contact under the barrel at the knox, free-floating barrel between knox and mid-barrel ring, etc etc.
I've been bedding SMLE forends for some 20 years now, and still sometimes I find myself wondering what the hell is going on with some problems I encounter. Maybe that's why I like playing with these guns so much.
About the first problem you mention. Quick check, see if there is contact between the cocking piece and the front of the buttstock when you cycle the bolt. If that's not the issue, you may need to describe exactly what happens, or where it may be binding, or better yet try to show us a short video of the problem happening?
