SMLE King Screw Bushing

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the11

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Hi all. Perhaps some Lee Enfield gurus can help me out here. How important is the king screw bushing on a Number 1 Mark 3? I have done a bit of reading online, and opinions vary. Some say "throw it away". Some say "ya gotta have it". My desporterized SMLE is currently lacking it. But I think I might have one among my parts. I still have not had it to the range (head space issue .... working on it ....) but I want to shoot her this spring for her 100th birthday. I want to make sure everything is just right.

Also, how long is the bushing supposed to be? And are they interchangeable between the #1 and #4 rifles?

Thanking in advance ....
 
It's an essential part. It must be in place so the trigger guard can be screwed down and held tightly without crushing the wood. It must be the correct length so the trigger guard makes nice even contact all round holding the forend against the action. These should also be bedded together nicely.
 
The reason you are getting conflicting opinions is that some people threw them away and then tightened the king screws until the receiver was tight in the stock. This happened a lot with rifles that had their fore ends cut off to make it more appealing to hunters. If the bedding ways were tight you could get away with it for a while. If you shot it a lot the receiver and trigger guard assembly would start to loosen up. Then of course more pressure was put on things by tightening the screw. The process would be repeated until the wood was deformed to the point it was almost impossible to keep the receiver bedded properly and the rifle would be declared "shot out" or typically inaccurate like all 303s. Because of this practice by Bubba, these fine rifles got an undeserved reputation.

In the case of your rifle, you definitely need it. Do you have the mid fore end spring and saddle as well??? That is a necessary part for accuracy as well.

Are the ways of your stock in decent uncompressed condition??? If not, and if your replacement fore end is period, please don't glass bed it. Google Peter Laidler's article on Lee Enfield stock bedding and follow his instructions. It isn't difficult but it is tedious for a bit. Find some good glue such as Gorilla Glue to hold the new way blocks in place. Also, find some bits of the hardest wood you can come across for the repairs.
 
If you very carefully torqued the front triggerguard screw to some setting each time you re-installed the forend you could get away without the bushing- in fact one approach to accurizing the No. 4 (Canadian EME, 1955) does away with the bushing. The bushing simply means you can't crush the wood no matter how hard you try as the triggerguard and body are both contacting the bushing. One way to detrmine the proper length for the bushing is to mount the triggerguard without bushing and very carefully count the turns of the screw necessary to clamp the wood. Then put in your bushing and repeat and if it bottoms with fewer turns then your bushing is too long and needs to be shortened. As a quick and dirty check, after installing the bushing and tightening it up, remove the forend and the wood surface around the bottom of the bushing should just stand a wee bit proud of the metal. As bearhunter says, go to the numerous threads and articles by Peter Laidler on milsurps forum and study up. You can do major repairs to these forends without being a skilled craftsman but practice is needed and you can expect to make mistakes with your first attempts.

milsurpo
 
The forend is brand new, and yes I have the inner band and spring installed. As well as the forend stud and spring. When I put the rifle together I was careful to avoid tightening the king screw overmuch.

I have decided that I need to install it before I shoot it again. I guess they put all of those parts into the rifle for a reason. Also, I want it to be an accurate 1915 #1 Mk III, no star. I put one box through it while it was still sporterized. Which revealed case disfiguration just above the rim on one side. Got some gauges, and confirmed that I need to address the headspacing issue. Therefore, I have not fired it at all since restoring it. Though it was shooting quite accurately. And the bore looks nice, and slugs at .313, so I think she will make a pretty good shooter. I discovered that I do actually have a bushing in my parts bag, but an initial attempt to install it was unsuccessful, as with the bushing in place I could not get the king screw to line up with the hole in the receiver. But I don't know if the bushing I have is from a number 1 or a number 4, or if it makes a difference. Obviously I need to do some fitting work. Any advice on this would be welcomed. More questions below:

1) Does anybody know just how long the bushing is supposed to be?
2) If I cannot practically address the alignment issue, would it make sense to drill out the bushing hole to a large size, and then glass bed the bushing in place? Or would it be better to glue a walnut plug in the hole, and attempt to redrill the hole?
3) Or is there a proper method of addressing this issue that some armourer type person could help me with?
 
Bulging cases are typical - BTW, and not indicative of a headspace issue. The bushing is custom fit - see a previous post. Swapping bolt heads is more complex than most people think - if you are going to reload, just size the brass to headspace on the shoulder and don't look back.
 
the11 said:
The forend is brand new, and yes I have the inner band and spring installed. As well as the forend stud and spring. When I put the rifle together I was careful to avoid tightening the king screw overmuch.

I have decided that I need to install it before I shoot it again. I guess they put all of those parts into the rifle for a reason. Also, I want it to be an accurate 1915 #1 Mk III, no star. I put one box through it while it was still sporterized. Which revealed case disfiguration just above the rim on one side. Got some gauges, and confirmed that I need to address the headspacing issue. Therefore, I have not fired it at all since restoring it. Though it was shooting quite accurately. And the bore looks nice, and slugs at .313, so I think she will make a pretty good shooter. I discovered that I do actually have a bushing in my parts bag, but an initial attempt to install it was unsuccessful, as with the bushing in place I could not get the king screw to line up with the hole in the receiver. But I don't know if the bushing I have is from a number 1 or a number 4, or if it makes a difference. Obviously I need to do some fitting work. Any advice on this would be welcomed. More questions below:

1) Does anybody know just how long the bushing is supposed to be?
2) If I cannot practically address the alignment issue, would it make sense to drill out the bushing hole to a large size, and then glass bed the bushing in place? Or would it be better to glue a walnut plug in the hole, and attempt to redrill the hole?
3) Or is there a proper method of addressing this issue that some armourer type person could help me with?
Click to expand...

1) They vary. I had one that wasn't long enough, bought a replacement and lucked out- it was longer (sorry, didn't measure it), and was exactly what was needed. Elsewhere on this forum someone came up with this suggestion: the threaded rod that holds many table lamps together often has an unthreaded centre section that by chance is exactly the right diameter to use as a collar- you cut to length needed. I'm hoping this will spark someone's memory so that that thread can be referenced.
2) Having a hard time imagining this- it sounds as though someone has buggered about with the area where the collar goes, in such a way as to prevent the collar from being put where it should go. Can you post pics?
3) I'm sure there is, but I'm headed out the door to work!
 
cosmic said:
Bulging cases are typical - BTW, and not indicative of a headspace issue. The bushing is custom fit - see a previous post. Swapping bolt heads is more complex than most people think - if you are going to reload, just size the brass to headspace on the shoulder and don't look back.
Click to expand...

They were more than bulging. They were stretched much more on one side than the other at the base above the rim. When I stood an empty case on the table, it leaned like the tower of Pisa. One of the cases even stretched so much that it broke about 1/8 of the way around. The stretching is on the extractor side, and the headspace is definitely off. The rifle came with a mismatched bolt. The guy said it was good to go, but I did not have a gauge at the time and took his word for it. My bad.
 
The stretching case is caused by the oversize chamber diameter. The spring loaded extractor pushes the case to the opposite side of the chamber, causing the lop-sided expansion. All Lee Enfields do it to some degree - yours sounds worse than most. What type of brass was it, and was it new?
 
It was brand new Remington 174 gr fmj. No o rings of elastics were used. Had never heard of that trick. I bought some once fired brass from the EE, and those cases don't look stretched in the same way. But when I load one into my rifle, it goes in, but is a tight fit. So the chamber on mine is smaller than the chamber on whatever rifle they were fired from. In any case, the headspacing needs to be addressed. We'll see if they still stretch the same way after I get it corrected.
 
Update: I finally got time to take my rifle apart. I put in the bushing, and just like before, I could not get the trigger guard screw to line up enough for it to start threading. Then I looked at the bushing, and sure enough, it was stuck out proud from the wood. I ground off about 25 thousandths, until it was flush, or even a little short on both sides. Then I put it together, and the screw lined up and started perfectly. And to top it all off, I worked through every possible combo of bolt bodies with my bolt heads, and I came up with 2 bolts that headspace properly! The best of them will not quite close on my .070" gauge! The other will, but won't on the .074" gauge. Can't wait for the first range day. I want to put this idea that my previous case bulging problem was not a headspacing issue to the test.
 
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stevebc said:
1) They vary. I had one that wasn't long enough, bought a replacement and lucked out- it was longer (sorry, didn't measure it), and was exactly what was needed. Elsewhere on this forum someone came up with this suggestion: the threaded rod that holds many table lamps together often has an unthreaded centre section that by chance is exactly the right diameter to use as a collar- you cut to length needed. I'm hoping this will spark someone's memory so that that thread can be referenced.
Click to expand...

That was my suggestion and you pretty well nailed it. I don't remember the specific thread. As I recall, it was a "where can I get" type of thread. Both the ID and OD of the threaded tubing are correct and one need only cut a section to the desired length. The threaded tubes are easy to find. Just keep an eye peeled on garbage day or visit your local Value Village type store. I have used the threaded tubing to make quite a few bushings for Long Lees, carbines and No 1s. It beats buying surplus bushings, only to find they are too short.
 
The forward trigger guard bushing/collar height also controls the angle of the trigger guard up and down. When the fore stock has excessive wood crush the bushing becomes short enough that proper trigger adjustments to the lobes become impossible. At this point the military would replace the fore stock, "BUT" without replacing the fore stock "WE" can place a metal shim in this area and this will raise and decrease the angle of the trigger guard. In normal British military the fitted bushing was to be recessed .010 below the surface of the wood

This is one of the major reasons the trigger was later hung from the receiver and not effected by wood crush and bushing height. You always bed the Enfield first and then adjust the trigger pull. Another trick is to bend the trigger guard downward to decrease the angle and if your lucky no adjustments will be needed on the trigger lobes.
 
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Well, I am just glad that when I put it together without the bushing that I had this nagging feeling that I should not torque things down. So I just snugged it. When I think more about it, given the fact that the forend meets the wrist at an angle, that an overly long bushing would mean the screw was entering the receiver hole at an angle. I am a firm believer that if you are trying to put something together and it is fighting you, something is wrong, so don't force it. I have learned this lesson many times, and the hard way. lol.

Anyway, I can't remember when I have had more fun. This past year is my first foray into working on firearms. Fairly steep learning curve. Thankfully, I have not seemed to screw anything up too terribly badly .... yet .... I sure appreciate people on the boards willing to share their knowledge.

Now to see how she shoots. Come on spring!
 
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