I've been given a sporterized P14 that has some issues. First among these is the trigger. What should be a 2 stage trigger is now a one stage trigger, and very light: around 3 to 3.5 lbs. If I concentrate, I can just barely feel where there might be a first stage, but if I release pressure, then take it up again, there's no first stage at all, then off it goes. Apologies if I use the wrong terminology, LEE Enfields I know, P14's I don't.
The sear face:
The cocking piece:
The sear face picture isn't very clear, but it's not an even front face on it. As you can see from the cocking piece face, the sear is only contacting a small portion of it.
I haven't removed the "sear block" and trigger yet, and I'm hoping that doing so will show me exactly how the 2-stage trigger is supposed to work. I don't know enough yet to say whether someone filed or ground the sear face in an effort to lighten the trigger, or if that's just normal (if off kilter) wear. I DO know that someone took a Dremel to the feed ramp...
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Second issue: someone attempted to put on a rear sight forward of the receiver, and so cut a dovetail into the barrel. They blew it, and it was subsequently epoxied into place. A ramped front sight was likewise epoxied into place. I've left that alone for now.
First thing I did was remove that:
My question is (I'm probably being overly cautious here), should I be concerned about either the depth or placement of the dovetail attempt? I can hide it cosmetically, but I need to know if that's a concern.
The original job of cutting off the rear sight wings was actually rather nicely done, tidied up well and nicely blued. Some decent chequering was added around the grip area, the barrel wasn't cut down, but the butt stock was shortened by an inch and a quarter.
My initial thought was to simply part it out, but it seems to me that if the trigger issue can be fixed, and the dovetail isn't a problem, any other issues are largely cosmetic and this could be made into a decent truck gun. The bore is clean and bright, but looks very worn to my eye. That is probably ok, many worn bores shoot well.
You'll notice I used a grub screw from the front sight block off an No. 4 to hold on the portion of the SMLE rear sight. Having removed the other sight, I was just trying to see if I had something (anything) that could function as a rear sight.
I'm in no hurry to do anything with this, and am on a budget of pretty much $0. I'm ok with parting it out, but would like to salvage this if I can do so safely and cheaply.
Thoughts?
The sear face:
The cocking piece:
The sear face picture isn't very clear, but it's not an even front face on it. As you can see from the cocking piece face, the sear is only contacting a small portion of it.
I haven't removed the "sear block" and trigger yet, and I'm hoping that doing so will show me exactly how the 2-stage trigger is supposed to work. I don't know enough yet to say whether someone filed or ground the sear face in an effort to lighten the trigger, or if that's just normal (if off kilter) wear. I DO know that someone took a Dremel to the feed ramp...
-----------------------------------
Second issue: someone attempted to put on a rear sight forward of the receiver, and so cut a dovetail into the barrel. They blew it, and it was subsequently epoxied into place. A ramped front sight was likewise epoxied into place. I've left that alone for now.
First thing I did was remove that:
My question is (I'm probably being overly cautious here), should I be concerned about either the depth or placement of the dovetail attempt? I can hide it cosmetically, but I need to know if that's a concern.
The original job of cutting off the rear sight wings was actually rather nicely done, tidied up well and nicely blued. Some decent chequering was added around the grip area, the barrel wasn't cut down, but the butt stock was shortened by an inch and a quarter.
My initial thought was to simply part it out, but it seems to me that if the trigger issue can be fixed, and the dovetail isn't a problem, any other issues are largely cosmetic and this could be made into a decent truck gun. The bore is clean and bright, but looks very worn to my eye. That is probably ok, many worn bores shoot well.
You'll notice I used a grub screw from the front sight block off an No. 4 to hold on the portion of the SMLE rear sight. Having removed the other sight, I was just trying to see if I had something (anything) that could function as a rear sight.
I'm in no hurry to do anything with this, and am on a budget of pretty much $0. I'm ok with parting it out, but would like to salvage this if I can do so safely and cheaply.
Thoughts?
