Sporterized No1 mk3 stuck magazine

tysonv686

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Hello, I've picked up a sporterrized no1 mk3 and I'm have a issue with not being able to insert the magazine. What I've found is the front of the magazine is getting pinched. With the king screw loose it will latch in but if I tighten the king screw up it will come unlatched and gets stuck. Also if the magazine is out and everything is tight when I try and insert the magazine you can see it get pinched in the front.
 
By the sounds of it, you might be trying to fit the wrong mag into your Sht.LE.

The problem might be that it is a mag for a No.4 rifle. No.4 mags tend to be wider and more squared off at the front of the mag body. It does vary slightly between manufacturers. Sometime you get lucky and a No.4 mag will fit in a No.1 rifle, sometimes not.

There are a lot of No.4 mags floating around on the loose that were factory converted from No.1 as a war time expedient. The lower half of the back rib was removed, ground flush and the mag refinished.

If the mag has been converted (to No.4 style from No.1) the back rib can't always be used to identify the mag as it might be ground off and half of it gone. This can create confusion in that some people believe that their No.4 mag fits both rifle models, when in fact it is not an original No.4 mag, so they are puzzled when another what appears to be identical No.4 mag doesn't fit.

So we can positively identify the mag by looking at the auxiliary spring attachment tab at the front.

At the front top edge, there is a little auxiliary spring that clips over the front edge (or there should be) and it sits inside the front face of the mag. The bullet tips will bear against it and the bullets are prevented from hammering the front of the soft metal of the mag body under recoil. It is retained by clipping over the mag body edge and snapping onto a little 'pimple'.

Without this auxiliary spring, this hammering by the bullets can peen the front of the mag outwards increasing its size causing a problem as you describe.

Auxiliary springs on Sht.LE mags clip over a tiny round boss pressed out of the metal and corresponding round hole in the aux spring tab, No.4 mags have an oval boss and slotted hole.

If it is a No.4 mag, that might be the source of your problem, the nose is too wide. If a No.1 (Sht.LE) mag, then something has become distorted. Then the fix is to get the hammer and hardwood drift and 'encourage' it back into shape.

Armourers would have a hardened steel mandrel over which they would slip the mag and pound on the thing with a hammer to get it back into spec.
 
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Haha. As both previous posts state, could be a mag problem. I bought a few Enfield's from an auction a few years ago and had the same problem with one. I think they were short one for an otherwise great gun. Smashed it in, and gave me one hell of a job getting it apart. The magazine was put in after the auction and during shipping, so never had a stuck magazine during viewing.
Other then that, cosmoline dried up and stuck in places. Use some degreasers and lube up the mag and it will help if cosmoline is the issue.
I've experienced both of these on different Enfields.
 
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Thanks for the fast responses. I'll try and upload pics of the mag.
 
Sometimes they just like to be #####es. :) Not put in properly and jammed or tolerance stacking. these things originally came with matching numbered magazines I believe.

Grizz
 
It might be that your front guard screw is missing the front collar in the stock and when you tighten it down you are causing the trigger guard to bind.
 
If he is tightening the trigger guard front screw without the collar and is shifting the position of the trigger guard front to bind on the mag, then the wood in the forearm inletting is crushed and beyond repair. Tightened that far, the relative position of the trigger and sear would give pull off problems too.

The mag has been clearly identified as a No.4 rifle mag. He is trying to fit it into a No.1 rifle. There is the problem.
 
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