shim SMLE bolthead?

[dualsport]

This is so obvious I figure it's been thought of already and either works or doesn't. It seems to me a shim of apprpriate thickness could be made to install between the bolthead and the body, like a hardened steel washer, thereby decreasing maximum headspace. Considering the scarcity of #3 boltheads might this be a workable solution to bring a No. 1 or No. 4 back into spec? Am I looking at this wrong? If not I wonder why it isn't more common?

[Reload3006]

a lot of people use o rings to do the same thing once the brass is fire formed they neck size only.

[docone31]

If the bolt head is shimmed, it will be way out. You will have to go one turn out or it will be off center.
An O-ring on the brass will help on first firing, then neck size. I get a lot of loadings out of Privi brass.
I am lucky, both of my Smellys are real close in head space.

[dualsport]

OK, I looked at this a little more and can see what a dumb idea that was. A shim would prevent the bolt from lining up right to be able to close. Oh well. Fireform and neck size in a Lee collet die. I have to keep seperate brass for each LE. Brass from a Savage No. 4 will not come close to chambering in a Lithgow No 1 and so on. Still, very interesting guns and fun to mess with.

[303Guy]

Keeping brass separate for them be a pain. I got clever and allocated the brass for each gun according to head stampings. Wonderful idea if one can remember which stamping goes in which gun!:roll: My pig gun is easy - it gets the smaller capacity PMP brass and my sporter has a very distinctive shoulder but the others are all pretty similar.

My Prvi brass has three stampings; PPU 303 British, PPU 303 Brit and NNY. Handy.

The 'O' ring trick is pretty cool. Not only does it set the head-space correctly, it centres the case too.

Lee Enfield's are indeed fun rifles to have and play around with

[m.chalmers]

Silver solder the shim on the front of bolt head. That is used to make length. This way your bolt is still timed. Or pull the barrel and cut some threads off (ie: turn the barrel).

[dualsport]

That's one I didn't think of. If it's going to be lengthened it would have to be on the front. Sounds like a cottage industry idea to me for someone with a little home machine shop.

[303Guy]

It's not overly easy! You might get away with glueing the shim in place with the right glue. It's a compressive load so not so difficult. Otherwise, I'd try soft solder. Less chance of overheating the steel and softening it. That would ruin the bolt head. I still think the 'O' ring trick is the best. It's a good way to keep those cases out of other rifles too. Even with a good headspaced rifle, it's wise to use the 'O' ring trick for the first firing of a case in that rifle. I do it routinely now. Chances are the new case body will be loose in the chamber, mainly because new cases are a little under size. That plus the generous milspec chamber of the SMLE. Essentially all new 303 Brit case will have a shoulder clearance in the chamber.

[twotoescharlie]

where do you put the O ring??

TTC

[Reload3006]

place the o-ring in front of the Rim toward the pointy end LOL it will head space the round (keep it against the bolt face)

[303Guy]

This is about the size 'O' ring that works for me. The bolt does close tight. It's a 1.5 x 9 mm. 1/16 x 3/8 would be fine I should think.

http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/303Guy/001-3.jpg

[m.chalmers]

303Guy, I would guess your not a gun plumber. As a MOD gun plumber by the name of Capt Laidler taught the silver solder shim.

[Multigunner]

303Guy, I would guess your not a gun plumber. As a MOD gun plumber by the name of Capt Laidler taught the silver solder shim.

I can't see why Laidler would suggest this, since he has practically unlimited access to the best replacement parts. I don't think the British military would saddle a soldier with a worn out rifle with shimmed boltface.

A shim build up bolt face on a badly worn .22 trainer to keep it in working order when spare parts were no longer easily available might make sense. Theres a great deal less stress and lives wouldn't be at risk should it fail.

I've seen a tutorial which showed a lengthening operation thats not exactly a shim.
They cut back the bolt face and either welded or soldered a fairly thick spacer.
I don't remember much about that operation, they may have also counter sun the spacer and left a cetral stud turned fron the bolt head to brace against side forces.

A friend of the family who repairs very expensive equipment for local industries had a set up that welds by induction with molecules drawn together by the currentm effectively turning two pieces of steel into one on the molecular level.
He welded a few things for me at no charge but later said he couldn't charge what it cost to turn the machine on for small jobs any way. The machine cost well over a million bucks counting supporting equipment and wiring, and was built to weld huge parts from heavy equipment such as road graters and cranes. Its big enough that it has its own dedicated building to house it. Yet precise enough to weld a cylinder release pin onto the thumb piece of an old Spanish revolver without distortion.

Before I'd mess with the bolt head I'd set the barrel back one turn and rechamber.
The internal bilkhead of the receiver ring limits how far back the shank can go, so it would have to be ground back by a few thousandths. The breech of the shank would require some facing off as well.
An upside is that when freshening out the chamber with a finishing reamer a tighter commercial spec chamber reamer could be used, and the throat and origin of rifling cleaned up at the same time.

None of these methods is really cost effective. If a action body is far enough out of spec that neither new bolt body or new bolt head will reticfy it then its a wallhanger.
If within maximum military specs for headspace with the best available bolt head abd/or bolt body then fireforming makes a lot more sense than messing with the bolthead.
Early bolt heads and some later production were made of White cast Iron, a maleable iron with great resistence to compression, but not as much shear strength. Later boltheads are of case hardened steel.

Electroless nickel plating can be used to build up a fairly thick even layerm and would not mess up the heat treatment. This plating is also used as a thread builder, so plating the shank of a worn bolt head would take out any slop in the threads.

The Enfields I still handload for have very close headspace after I fitted new bolt bodies and boltheads. No need for fire forming tricks like the O-ring.

PS
Every fatal or life threatening injury from a Lee Enfield action failure that I've found records of was due to large chunks of broken bolt heads being blown out at high velocities. So I just don't see trusting a radically altered bolt head.

[303Guy]

My cavalry carbine barrelled rifle has a very worn barrel (good for paper patching) and had developed burrs on the locking face edges so it's set back some. I never found that to be a problem. I knew it had excess head-space but I did my usual tricks to head-space on the shoulder - that was before O-rings. I should stress that my loads do not come close to factory pressure and I wouldn't dare fire a factory loading in it. But somebody did and a lot of times to get it to where it is now. It will only shoot custom sized boolits but it does it well. I have slipped a replacement bolt body into it but more for the dust cover and lighter striker (losing the old style striker mounted safety catch - I don't use safeties, I open the bolt).

[leadman]

I'm running into the too many rifles of the same caliber also, but it is 1903 and 1903a3 Springfields.

I am putting all the brass for these in the 50 round plastic cases and making tags with my labelmaker. Fired cases go into the cases, come out and into a tumbler, maybe with another caliber. The plastic case is beside the tumbler so when clean it goes back nito that case. Take them out to reload, back into the case when done.
Seems to be working out alright.

I have gotten rid of the 303 that had an excessively large chamber, but I used the Unique and Cream of Wheat fireforming method. did it out in the desert so I could point the rifle straight up and fire it, that way the bolt face and case head were together.

[KCSO]

Back in the day a fix was to silver solder a shim to the front of the stripped bolt head and then turn down in a lathe to proper headspace. I had this done on a 303 in the 70's and the gun still shoots fine.

[303Guy]

I guess I just don't know how to silver solder, is all! I've done it, but on a not critical part, that being the clip charger bride when I affixed the keyed black to mill the scope base. It's not something I'm comfortable so i just won't do it. I did start making a new bolt head for a mate but he wouldn't stop using the gun as was (with about a millimetre excess head space) and when the gun locked up he took it back.

Setting the barrel back was mentioned as an option but I would say that by the time the bolt has set back that much the breach face won't reach it anyway. One can set it back and rechamber it to headspace on a factory case shoulder. But being a rimmed design, factories aren't bound by tight shoulder position specs. Still, setting the shoulder to match a sizer die would be fine. But cost effectiveness? Not sure.

[Multigunner]

I guess I just don't know how to silver solder, is all! I've done it, but on a not critical part, that being the clip charger bride when I affixed the keyed black to mill the scope base. It's not something I'm comfortable so i just won't do it. I did start making a new bolt head for a mate but he wouldn't stop using the gun as was (with about a millimetre excess head space) and when the gun locked up he took it back.

Setting the barrel back was mentioned as an option but I would say that by the time the bolt has set back that much the breach face won't reach it anyway. One can set it back and rechamber it to headspace on a factory case shoulder. But being a rimmed design, factories aren't bound by tight shoulder position specs. Still, setting the shoulder to match a sizer die would be fine. But cost effectiveness? Not sure.

The internal bulkhead/shoulder limits how far back the breechface can go so in order to have any sucess in reducing headspace of a rimmed cartridge like the .303 or any rimmed cartridge you might rebarrel for you have to grond the inside face of that shoulder back a bit. Hopefully no further than the desired reduction in headspace.
A friend have blue printeded front locking mauser actions for long range target rifles. He used a cut off barrel shank bored out for the shaft of a diamond coated wheel to even up the locking lug recesses. He only removed a maximum of .002 when doing this, leaving at least .006 of the carburized layer intact. The bolt lugs were then lapped to a perfect equal bearing.
The cut off shank with face turned flat acted to hold the disc against the internal shoulder of the locking recesses with no wiggle to get a clean flat cut.
I'm not up on Mauser types but i remember he had two similar Mausers, one of which had another internal shoulder that the barrel butted against like the bulkhead of the Enfield receiver, the lug recesses being in the normal position.
He prised that action as it provided a torque should at front and rear, so a properly fitted shank was better supported and barrel mating more rigid.

Anyway, if this sort of diamond disc is available from Brownells or a similar supplier, one made for the Small ring Mausers might fit.

Also I figure I should mention that the loosest Enfield actions I've run across had a visible gap between the bulkhead and barrel breech. The shoulder of the barrel was probably not properly fitted, and cranking it tight did not do the job.
I understand that during No.4 rifle wartime manufacture proper fitting of the torque shoulder was difficult and slowed down production so much that they went to a under sized shoulder ( or slightly longer shank) and used a selection washers of varied thicknesses to ensure clocking in without excessive torque. Excessive Torque was found to cause stress lines in the shank that led to bulging or elongation of the chamber.

As I may have mentioned earlier, if radical alteration of the bolt head is necessary to bring within max allowable headspace the action is pretty much shot and good only for parts or habging on a wall.
But if a rifle is intended for precise target shooting obtaining a minimum headspace and tight chamber is worth putting some effort into.

One thing to think on is the strength of the shim itself. A thin shim could crack right across and/or come loose if too brittle, or deform and tear if too soft.

There are a few GEW 88 owners who have made their own boltheads for those rifles, there seem to have been a good number of these imported with the bolt head missing.
A Machinist on another board makes these, and customers seem pleased with his work.
I've tried to interest him in trying his hand at making Enfield boltheads, either extra long to be fitted by the customer or sized to the customer's liking, but so far he has shown no interest in doing so.

India manufactures new SMLE actioned Sporting rifles. Surely new boltheads could be obtained. A member living in India could make a few bucks on the side by buying, sorting, and selling and shiping new manufacture replacement boltheads if the factory won't sell parts outside the country.
Don't know if Indian export laws would allow it though, due to recent UN stumbling blocks on international arms dealing to non government customers.

[Four Fingers of Death]

That o ring trick is neat, never thought of it. I have used cut down sticky tape in the past.

Spares for Lee Enfields are freely available here, but mailing gun parts overseas is a big no no nowadays.

[303Guy]

... but mailing gun parts overseas is a big no no nowadays.Dang! I'm after one 303/25 over there in Ozz. I'm out of money right now but I was hoping .....

[Bloodman14]

FFOD and 303Guy, could you label the parts as 'machine parts'? Something to consider. I mean, after all, the gun is a tool, isn't it?

[Multigunner]

FFOD and 303Guy, could you label the parts as 'machine parts'? Something to consider. I mean, after all, the gun is a tool, isn't it?

Odd that you mention it, but years ago I ordered a small innocous part from a seller living in one of the old British possessions and when it came it was labeled as a machine part.

[Four Fingers of Death]

FFOD and 303Guy, could you label the parts as 'machine parts'? Something to consider. I mean, after all, the gun is a tool, isn't it?

That would be no problem at all, but what I meant that shops would be reluctant to send stuff as they could comprimise their business. There are shops in Australia that sell these parts and invariably have pretty good stocks.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Dang! I'm after one 303/25 over there in Ozz. I'm out of money right now but I was hoping .....

What are you after? A rifle or a barrel?

[303Guy]

A rifle but if I could get a barrel cheap enough, I'd take that.

[Bloodman14]

I guess what I meant was, buy the parts and ship them yourself to us here in the states.

[303Guy]

I think for us in NZ shipping parts is not a problem. We can have complete guns shipped to us. All we have to do is show our firearm licences to customs and we can collect them. We may need import permits, I'm not sure.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I think for us in NZ shipping parts is not a problem. We can have complete guns shipped to us. All we have to do is show our firearm licences to customs and we can collect them. We may need import permits, I'm not sure.

I ahve been told by my mate that in our state at least, importing guns and bits is ok, provided the correct paperwork is ok. Laborious, but ok. He has mega bucks and imports guns, etc from America all of the time.

One strange thing is trying to export scope sights from the States by individuals is very difficult. The US govt' is petrified that they will end up as sniper scopes. Amazing, we can wander into a gunshop without a license and buy any number of scope sights without any fuss or recording/reporting. Some of try to import them direct because it is cheaper that way. If Iwas doing something shifty, I'd just buy one at teh shop quietly.

Another issue that has been confusing to me is the way our customs get their knickers in a knot about importing brass. I can buy it by the truckload here without any problems (apart from trying to pay for it! It is expensive here). Try and import it an there is a huge fuss. We have to get a permit which has the exact weight, number of cases, etc before applying for a permit. This means you have to buy the brass and ask the dealer in the States to hang onto it for you. Then you apply and have to post the permit to the States for the dealer to attach to the package. Huge PITA. I applied once and the lady at the firearms registry said 'just import it, if customs pick up on it they willl issue a permit then!' Amazing. The brass went through that time. If it had of been a big bag I am sure they would have picked it up though.

[Bloodman14]

Good God, there's gotta be an easier way. . .

[PAT303]

That o ring trick is neat, never thought of it. I have used cut down sticky tape in the past.

Spares for Lee Enfields are freely available here, but mailing gun parts overseas is a big no no nowadays.

Mick,do you know where I could get a number 3 bolthead for a No.4 rifle?. Pat

[Four Fingers of Death]

Mick,do you know where I could get a number 3 bolthead for a No.4 rifle?. Pat

Yep, have a look in my gunbox, lol, got the full set, but reluctant to part with them.

I will ring around and see.

Mick.

[45 2.1]

Back in the day a fix was to silver solder a shim to the front of the stripped bolt head and then turn down in a lathe to proper headspace. I had this done on a 303 in the 70's and the gun still shoots fine.

I did much the same on a No 1 Mark 3. I stripped the head and had its face welded with a Mig welder. With a little lathe, I turned the face back until tight headspace was achieved, then redrilled the firing pin hole and reassembled the bolt. Easy permanent fix.

[303Guy]

So the heat of the weld is not a problem then? Did you hold the head in water to prevent overheating of the threads?

[45 2.1]

So the heat of the weld is not a problem then? Did you hold the head in water to prevent overheating of the threads?

The threads just hold the bolt head onto the bolt body. Not heat transfer critical.......... Thats why it got Mig welded.

[303Guy]

The threads just hold the bolt head onto the bolt body. Not heat transfer critical.....They do need to be hard enough for wear resistance. Often small components air cool fast enough to case harden anyway. Cap screws don't anneal very easily so I suppose nothing to worry about. In which case silver soldering would be quite safe for me to attempt - if I needed to.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Mick,do you know where I could get a number 3 bolthead for a No.4 rifle?. Pat

The guy I normally get those sort of parts from has not got any left and hasn't seen them around for awhile. I rang a gunsmith friend and he is going to get back to me. He has an amazing range of bits, but I am sure he would be aware of it if he had any.

I have another guy who has a range of milsup spares, but I can't think of his name for the life of me at the moment.

We will wait and see,

[Multigunner]

I ordered three unissued #3 boltheads back in the mid nineties, I think these cost 8 bucks each back then. I ordered two of these for friends who also had No.4 rifles.
Had I known these would become as rare as hens eggs I'd have ordered a bucket full.

Since final fitting of boltheads required sanding the bolt face till they obtained optimum clearance for reliability in the field, many boltheads no longer measure out at the value indicated by their numbering. A used #3 bolthead can be shorter than a #2 or even a #1 if sanded to fit by an armorer and worn in service.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Mick,do you know where I could get a number 3 bolthead for a No.4 rifle?. Pat

Lawrance Ordnance in Sydney has them in stock now. They are $45 each.

Contact Simon Lawrance if you are interested, I spoke to him this afternoon:

http://www.lawranceordnance.com/index.php

[PAT303]

Thanks Mick,your a legend. Pat

[Four Fingers of Death]

Thanks Mick,your a legend. Pat

What did they say? 'a legend in his own lunch box!' I have a couple of people looking as well, they may have one cheaper, but they would be most likely from stripped guns, Lawrence would be from milsp auctions and more likely to be correct (easier to return as well.

I'd be asking him to measure it so you can compare it to your current one.

[midnight]

I have a #4 MKII that had slightly excessive headspace with a #1 bolt head. Back in 2005, Springfield Sporters in Pennsylvania had many #4 parts for sale. #1 bolt heads were $10 and complete bolts were $28. They didn't have any #2 or #3s. I bought several #1s and one complete bolt with a #1 bolt head. I mixed and matched and solved the problem. Cumulative sloppy tolerences fixed it. Later in a corner of a big gun show in Fond du Lac I found an old junker missing some parts for next to nothing but it had a #3 bold head so I grabbed it.

Bob

[Four Fingers of Death]

I have a #4 MKII that had slightly excessive headspace with a #1 bolt head. Back in 2005, Springfield Sporters in Pennsylvania had many #4 parts for sale. #1 bolt heads were $10 and complete bolts were $28. They didn't have any #2 or #3s. I bought several #1s and one complete bolt with a #1 bolt head. I mixed and matched and solved the problem. Cumulative sloppy tolerences fixed it. Later in a corner of a big gun show in Fond du Lac I found an old junker missing some parts for next to nothing but it had a #3 bold head so I grabbed it.

Bob

Worth buying to get the bolt and bolt head, lol.

[Frank46]

From what I have read the threaded section of the bolt head should never take the thrust when being fired. Might have been in one of skennerton's books. What I did read about was a gent who brazed a solid steel planchett or solid disk on to the face of the bolt head and then trimmed it back to correct the headspace problem. The bolt head was re-heatreated . Frank

[45 2.1]

They do need to be hard enough for wear resistance. Often small components air cool fast enough to case harden anyway. Cap screws don't anneal very easily so I suppose nothing to worry about. In which case silver soldering would be quite safe for me to attempt - if I needed to.


From what I have read the threaded section of the bolt head should never take the thrust when being fired. This would be correct. Might have been in one of skennerton's books. What I did read about was a gent who brazed a solid steel planchett or solid disk on to the face of the bolt head and then trimmed it back to correct the headspace problem. The bolt head was re-heatreated . Frank

Having many friends who make a living brazing, silver soldering, conventional welding, mig and tig welding.......... I asked them which one is best for the application. Useing the right wire helps to. Be carefull what you do and be knowledgeable about the steel your working with. Some of these methods require you to get a deeper heat in the base metal to achieve the weld. Since we mig'd on about 0.050" of metal and the heat left fairly quickly.... hardness checked with a punch and i'm the one who turned it off and fitted it....... I believe that it was quite safe ( for the steel added to) and the pressures developed.

[ToolNut]

This is so obvious I figure it's been thought of already and either works or doesn't. It seems to me a shim of apprpriate thickness could be made to install between the bolthead and the body, like a hardened steel washer, thereby decreasing maximum headspace. Considering the scarcity of #3 boltheads might this be a workable solution to bring a No. 1 or No. 4 back into spec? Am I looking at this wrong? If not I wonder why it isn't more common?

Take a look at the bolt head. There should be a number stamped there. then get a head space gauge set. Follow the instructions to the letter. If you do indeed need to adjust the headspace, order next number up from what you have. Check Sarco Arms or Numrich Arms for your particular model. That is the best way to go. I dont recommend that you o-ring or silver solder shims in place. That will cause all sorts of prblems.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I recall talking with several Epps employees at a William`s gunsight dealers confab back in the early `60`s. I asked about their building up a bolt head on Lee Enfields. They replied that yes they did that sort of work and they did warrantee their work.Robert

[HollowPoint]

A while back I posted my idea of milling my own replacement bolt-head in leu of taking any of the other steps for fixing excessive head-space in my Enfield.

In my search for detailed information about the make up of these bolt heads here and in other forums I found far more second, third and fourth-hand information than I did first-hand information. In fact; I found no first-hand information from anyone who'd ever made their own bolt-head. I'd heard rumors to the effect that other had done it but, as of yet, I haven't been able to track them down.

It's understandable since it's not that hard to find all but the longest or highest numbered bolt-heads.

When I inquired here on this sight, several of the more knowledgeable Enfield guys came through with some of the specific answers I was hoping to get.

When I inquired about detailed drawing and specs about these old Enfield bolt heads in forums dedicated to Enfield rifles, I felt like a Fox in a hen-house full of cackling know-it-all hens.

I got no real useful information, just lectures and warning and snide remarks from folks presuming to know what they were talking about. And some of them may very well have known what they were talking about but, in place of the answers I was looking for, the respondents seemed compelled to put forth their Know-it-all attitude instead.

I should have just gone to the public library to begin with. Alot of the information I was looking for can be found there without the Know-it-all attitudes of Arm-Chair Experts.

That Enfield replacement bolt head project is still pretty far down on my list of things I want to do. I have the preliminary CAD drawings done. It's not a project that I ever planned to do without first consulting people who I consider to be genuine experts. (metallurgists, master machinists, structural engineers, etc.)

It is a project that I intend to do in the future. Mainly because I'd like a bolt head that fits so that I don't have to do any of things mentioned above in order to bring my head spacing into spec without having to re-barrel or re-cut my chamber. And, after all the research and safety precautions have been taken, I'd like to know that it is possible to make my own working, reliable replacement bolt head.

All the existing Enfield bolt heads in the world had to be made by somebody. I consider myself to be a "somebody" even if none of the arm-chair gunsmith and self proclaimed experts do not.

HollowPoint

[303Guy]

I did mention that I started making one. I got as far as the bolt body diameter and the guide/extractor carrier diameter when the guy got rid of his rifle. I could see it was going to be quite tricky. The plan was to to thread it and hollow it out then determine where it locked up on the bolt body to work out where to start removing excess material. I would have pulled off I'm sure but it would have taken me a while. I was using 4140 and I did not plan on heat treating it.

[leadman]

I have had auto parts and outboard motor parts built up with "spray metal". Had a shop do it so don't know the whole process but somehow they can target a certain area on a part for the metal to stick too. Most of this work was to repair worn bearing or seal surfaces. The shop also did alot of this work on crankshaft for engines.

I would think this would work for building up the face of a bolt head. I don't remember any heat involved in this process.

[PAT303]

Hollowpoint,I will be in Sydney in two weeks and will buy a number three bolthead for my No.4,If you want me to buy two and post one to you that won't be a problem. Pat

[Four Fingers of Death]

Hollowpoint,I will be in Sydney in two weeks and will buy a number three bolthead for my No.4,If you want me to buy two and post one to you that won't be a problem. Pat

Unless you specifically want visit Simon's shop (Lawrance Ordnance), I'd get it posted. There is absolutely no street parking anywhere near there and the minimum is $10 per hour, which is probably dearer than the postage.

He had them in stock, but I never thought to ask him how many he had, it might do to check.

Simon is the owner of the shop and he is the one with the posh accent, he's one of the good guys though.

[HollowPoint]

Hi PAT303:

Good of you to offer. I did manage to purchase a #2 bolt head that measured slightly longer than the #3 bolt head is said to be. The actual length of the bolt heads would be more important to me than the number stamped on the head.

At present I have three bolt heads in all. One in each number. The number 2 is longer than the number three bolt head.

Would it be possible to measure the length of these #3 bolt heads before buying?

My reason for wanting to make my own was so that I could make it to the length I was wanting it without having to scour the internet or attend numerous gun shows in hopes of finding what I was looking for.

I know that making my own is doable. It's just a matter of planning. It's not something anyone would want to just dive into without taking the proper precautions. This is a critical part with potential for danger if made incorrectly.

For someone who didn't have the option of making their own, what would be the total cost of taking you up on your offer? I mean, what would be the price of the #3 bolt head and the postage to have it shipped?

My appologies; I kind of feel like I've hijacked the OP's topic.

Before I end this post I'd like to mention that I have heard of another method of increasing the length of your existing bolt head. I've never tried it myself. I just read about it during the course of looking for information about these bolt heads.

It entails milling off the face of the bolt head, then enlarging, drilling and tapping the firing pin hole, into which you would fit a shaped and threaded replacement face-piece. That replacement face-piece would be lengthened to your desired head space, then drilled to allow for the firing pin.

Thanks for your patience as I rambled on.

HollowPoint

[Red River Rick]

A source for Enfield bolt heads: http://www.shop.tradeexcanada.com/parts/26

RRR

[Four Fingers of Death]

I suppose you measure from the front to the base of the bolt head and not to the base of threads or overall length I suppose. I have a complete set, but never measured them. I might be in for a surprise, but from memory, they looked new (hope so!).

[PAT303]

Hollowpoint,I'll measure mine and take a set of verniers and measure what I can get and get back to you.Give me a few weeks and I'll have an answer,it's hard for me to call as I'm on the other side of the country with a three hour time difference,I'm so far in fact I'm in a different tropic zone. pat

[HollowPoint]

Thank You PAT#303:

I'm in no hurry at all. In fact I just notice that my Enfield may have to be relegate to wall hanger status.

HollowPoint

[303Guy]

Why is that, HollowPoint?

[HollowPoint]

The Enfield I'm using now is the same Enfield that blew up in my face a couple of years ago. (literally)

I purchased a different barreled action and bolt assembly so only the wood stocks are the same.

On my last outing to the range, I noticed that alot of my bullets were Key-Holing. This in itself generally doesn't mean the the rifle needs to be retired but, upon closer examination I noticed that the front sight is not aligned straight up and down as it should be. It's almost as if it had been unscrewed; or, it may have never been properly indexed to begin with.

Looking at it from the muzzle end, the front sight is cocked somewhere between the eleven and twelve o-clock position. It's way off. I seriously doubt that this has anything to do with the Key-Holing I experienced but, I need to check it out just to be safe.

I found it odd that I never noticed it before now. When I get some more free time I'll disassemble it completely and see what I can do to remedy this problem. If by some strange circumstance the barrel has somehow come loose, (not bloody likely) I can use that as an excuse to re-barrel this rifle.

If I were to re-barrel this Enfield I could start from scratch with my #0 bolt head and the proper head space. Then I could conceivably move my Home-Made Bolt-Head project farther down on my list of things to do.

HollowPoint

[303Guy]

Blew up? Wow! Do you have photo's? I've never seen pictures of a blown up Lee Enfield.

[HollowPoint]

By, "Blew Up" I mean that the existing bolt head was destroyed, the receiver was effected to where an original spec bolt assembly will no longer slide into it without forcefully inserting it and, if I look close enough in the mirror, it left multiple little powder burn scars on my face. Not to mention the few innocent bystanders that were effected.

I still have that damaged bolt head somewhere in my storage closet. I also have the old barreled action but, from just looking at them it would be hard to tell that any such "Blow Up" ever happened to them.

Every time I've mentioned this incident it seems to open the floodgates of finger-pointing and fault-finding accusations from those who have no real first hand experience with this type of catastrophe so, I won't be posting any pics of either the barreled action or the blown-bolt head.

With any luck, no one else will ever experience an incident like this with their Enfield.

Although I wasn't physically hurt by the incident (other than powder burns), an unfortunate fellow standing a few yards away did catch some shrapnel in the back of the neck.

That in itself was bad enough. I thank God it wasn't any worse.

HollowPoint

[Multigunner]

I suspect most bolt head failures were due to cord worn chambers. Loose headspace would exacerbate any wallowing out, ovaling, or dishing of chamber wall near the case head, since the .303 case has significant taper. The looser the head gap the further back the case can sit which increases the play between case wall and chamber wall. Some older S&B brass I've used had a fairly thin case head as measured from contact with bolt face to begining of the internal powder space. These would likely be more vulnerable to case wall blow out. Some late 80's winchester brass I've used had thin spots in the side walls, these gave long ways splits in rifles with good chambers and better than average headspace, the brass there was tissue thin. If fired in a rifle with cord worn chamber these would very likely have had blown out side walls or split all the way back to the case head.

The generous headspace and loose chamber of the milspec .303 rifles were intended for use with sturdy cartridge cases and fairly mild pressures.
Many surplus rifles were on the edge of being condemned when sold off, and those sold off by third world users or as captured war booty may have never been gauged or serviced since they left the factory.



Looking at it from the muzzle end, the front sight is cocked somewhere between the eleven and twelve o-clock position. It's way off. I seriously doubt that this has anything to do with the Key-Holing I experienced but, I need to check it out just to be safe.

Not clocked in completely, which is easier to rectify than if over clocked.

If over clocked a No.4 front sight can be set right by filing one side of the sight base lugs and shiming the other sides. If the over clocking isn't severe enough to cause binding of the extractor in its clearance cut.
The front sight base is off set to the shooters left to begin with, so that should be kept in mind.

[303Guy]

... no real first hand experience with this type of catastrophe so, I won't be posting any pics ...Yes of course. I'm glad things were no worse than they were. I came close to a catastrophe once when I failed to powder a round. The bullet got pushed into the throat by the primer and I thought I had not re-chambered. Fortunately, I was using a powder that almost fills the case so the next round wouldn't let the bullet get pushed back into the case. Your's truly here was dumb enough to try force the round to chamber thinking the case might be a little tight. Neck tension wasn't very high due to over-annealing. I haven't forgotten that lesson. I've tightened up up all my loading and shooting safety procedures since that incident.

[Mooseman]

AS a Gunsmith , I am a bit confused by some of these posts....303 British headspaces on the rim only, not on the case shoulder or case body.

Here is a quote from 303British.com.
"People did not bother reading (or perhaps did not understand) what was written in the manuals. These days we have headspace gurus that suggest, amongst other things, putting rubber O rings around the rim to fill the excess space in the rim recess or using tin foil to gauge headspace. These strange and unusual ideas are supplemented by misusing maintenance manuals. The manuals to which I refer - Australian, Canadian and British - were produced by different countries, for different models of Lee Enfield and over a long time period. Modifications to technical instructions were (and still are) commonplace. What may have been the standard practice in 1920 may have changed by 1930.
There also seems to be a lot of confusion between headspace and long chambers. If anything, 303 British chambered Lee Enfields suffer most from long chambers. What exactly do I mean? The area forward of the recess where the rim sits when the action is closed is often longer than what the original specifications called for. A rifle could have absolutely perfect headspace, yet have a long chamber. When this happens, brass stretches. In fact, long chambers are the number one reason for brass failing. Rarely is case stretching caused by excessive headspace. Nor does rim thickness ruin headspace. Thinner rims may have a small affect, but it's not nearly as bad as some of the "Internet experts" would have you believe.

Next time, when you are at your favourite website and someone goes on about headspace being at fault for case failure, you may want to step back and think about the area forward of the rim recess. If you really want to get to the bottom of the problem, take your rifle to a gunsmith and he can make a chamber cast. He will measure the chamber cast and tell you the exact dimensions of your rifle.

If your rifle has a long chamber, it is possible to have a couple of threads removed from where it attaches to the action and have the chamber re-done. A finishing reamer will eliminate the long chamber and clean up the shoulder area. end quote"

Rifles should be examined and or repaired by professional Gunsmiths that are qualified to do such work. Do it right or don't do it at all and hang it on the wall.

[Mooseman]

Lets see if this works...This is From Edward Horton who is a known expert on Enfields and taught me a lot about them over the years.

38447

The reason there is no bolt head larger than a #3 for a No 4 Enfield ... by the time you need a number 4 bolt head the surface hardening in the receiver lug recesses has worn through and you are in untreated softer metal.
I hope this helps.
Rich

[PAT303]

I wrap tape around the case base and put a false shoulder on the front end to center the case and keep it against the bolt face not to headspace it,the diagram above is accurate and the reason for case head seperation.I haven't had one CHS since doing my case prep method. Pat

[HollowPoint]

I tried the "Tape" wrapping thing with my most previous foray into reloading for my Enfield No.4. It actually seemed to work quite well for me.

I got no visual evidence of the case stretching or over expansion of the brass like in previous shooting with brand new brass. I was up to my third range session and still no signs of deformation. Before, the third firing was when I could expect to throw out the brass; even with neck-sizing only.

Just yesterday I took my No.4 apart for further inspection. Until I can get it re-barreled, it's now officially a wall hanger. Actually, it's not a wall hanger, it's in a bunch of pieces in my storage closet.

I've presently got feelers out for a new barrel. I'm thinking of installing a 30 caliber barrel instead of the 303 barrel so I can use my 30 caliber bullets molds with it.

HollowPoint

[Four Fingers of Death]

I have just been thinking (yer know what thought did?? LOL!), rather than shimming th ebolt head another approach may be possible. I am new to lathe work, etc, but if we were to chuck the bolthead and trim a reasonable amount from the bolthead near the threads, enough to fit a machined washer which would be silver soldered in place. It may be better to continue the threads of the bolthead into the part of the bolthead that has had the metal removed, so that the 'washer' can be threaded on, allowing and easy fit and more surface area for the solder. The base of this could then be gradually machined down until the desired heaadspace was achieved.

Am I on the right track here or just whistling dixie?

[303Guy]

Mooseman, technically that would be correct. However, since the rimmed cartridges did not require close tolerance fits for proper headspacing, there was a tendency to use clearance fits in the shoulder area. No problem for non-reloadable cartridges but for the reloader, the case needs to be fire-formed to an individual chamber. I have several 303 Brits and none of them can share brass with the others. Well, one of them can take any case but that one is the end of the line. One of them has a short chamber another a longer but narrower chamber. Actually the 303 Brit does not allow headspace correction by taking off a turn unless one simply wants to shorten the chamber so that factory spec cases will headspace off the shoulder rather than the rim. What we as reloaders do is modify our rifles to headspace off the shoulder so as not to suffer the effects shown in the animation. In fact, it's exactly that situation that we are trying to prevent. If we don't, we get short case life. I personally get indefinite case life as long as I remember to anneal the case necks when I actually use neck sizing.

That's a good point you make on #3 bolt heads being the last. I have a Sᴴᵀ LE I with visible wear on the thrust faces of the locking lug recesses and that gun will not be getting anything more than light loads from now on. Of course I do have to consider what will happen when I snuff it and it gets passed on. Mmmm ....

[Multigunner]

Actually the 303 Brit does not allow headspace correction by taking off a turn unless one simply wants to shorten the chamber so that factory spec cases will headspace off the shoulder rather than the rim.
Setting the breech back to tighten headspace requires grinding the internal shoulder at the rear of the receiver ring using a disc with shaft held in a sleeve formed of a cut off and bored out barrel shank. The barrel shank then has to be shortened by just short of one turn because of the extractor clearance cut that must line up when clock in, and the sights which are keyed and pinned on the SMLE or fitted to the sight base lugs of the No.4. The barrel shoulder must also be turned of course. This all requires very careful measurement anf fitting.
The set back barrel will need to have its chamber freshened as well.

Just setting back the barrel without freshening the chamber would not allow the standard length case to fit.
Set back barrels were at one time used with a special shortened .303 cartridge known as the 7.7X54R in Australia, or the .303 Sporting in France. The purpose of these was to get around laws against a civilian owning a rifle chambered for a military cartridge. Those laws are no longer in effect in Australia, don't know if they still apply in France.




A rifle could have absolutely perfect headspace, yet have a long chamber. When this happens, brass stretches. In fact, long chambers are the number one reason for brass failing. Rarely is case stretching caused by excessive headspace. Nor does rim thickness ruin headspace. Thinner rims may have a small affect, but it's not nearly as bad as some of the "Internet experts" would have you believe.

Every instance of case cracking or seperation I've observed was due to excessive headspace/head gap. In every case where a new bolt head or new bolt body corrected excessive headspace there were no more incidents of case cracking or seperation.

Reynolds wrote of excessively long chambers being a result of over torquing of poorly fitted barrels during wartime mass production. The stress resulted in stress lines that resulted the the front of the chamber swelling and shoulder of the chamber moving forwards on proof firing or after some time in service.
How much effect a grossly out of spec chamber shoulder could have I don't know, but I have reloaded for rifles displaying longer than normal shoulders, the shoulder being hemispherical and front of the case less tapered and nearly cylindrical, and these showed no greater tendency to stretch, crack, or seperate so long as headspace was good.

There is significant clearance at the shoulder of the .303 British chambers, this is not un common for chambers of bottle neck rimmed cartridges. The Enfield chambers have a bit more clearance than other .303 rifles. This in in large part because the original .303 cartridge used a compressed cylinder of Black Powder rather than Cordite or other smokeless propellents. There was of course a good deal of Black powder fouling to deal with. Without a good deal of clearance not very many shots could be fired between cleanings of the chamber.

The generous clearances were continued as this allowed used of out of spec, dented, or grimy cartridges to be chambered easily.
The very poor quality of most of the .303 ammo used during WW1 made the generous chamber a real advantage. Ross rifles had too tight a chamber to operate with most of the .303 ammo the British supplied to Canadian troops.
Canadian manufactured .303 ammo was kept within the specificarions of the original Royal engineers cartridge drawings. There were far fewer problems with the Ross rifle if Canadian ammunition was used.

Also due to the pronounced case body taper the greater the headspace the more clearance between case wall and chamber wall when the case head is against the bolt face. Greater clearance means more room to expand, and more room for the case body to cant which in turn cants the bullet in relation to origin of rifling. This also allows the case to lay in the bottom of the chamber which makes firing pin strikes off center.

To get the best accuracy from reloads I mark case rims and after first reloading I rotate the cases 180 degrees from the position they were in on first firing when chambering. On second firing the case body and neck are now expanded evenly to fill the chamber with primer pocket centered to the firing pin.
I neck size only 2/3 of the neck. When chambered the evenly expanded rear 1/3 of the neck, along with evenly expanded case body centers the bullet to origin of rifling.
These are very old benchrest shooter tricks, from the days when a shooter sometimes reloaded the same case or a small number of cases at the bench for each shot.
Groups sizes are greatly reduced and results repeatable.

[303Guy]

The Enfield chambers have a bit more clearance than other .303 rifles. This in in large part because the original .303 cartridge used a compressed cylinder of Black Powder rather than Cordite or other smokeless propellents.
It hasn't been my finding that earlier Lee Enfield chambers were oversize. I understood that came about with the SMLE to reduce chamber pressure and inprove battlefield reliability. The older rifles I have have fairly well fitting chambers. My two SMLE barrels have the large shoulder clearance. My two Two-groove No4's have fairly close fitting chambers too.

I use the O-ring to fire-form cases which also centralises the case. I never used to use the O-ring trick - that's a new one I learned on this site. My cavalry carbine with the very worn receiver locking lug recesses was quite fine with lighter loads but then I am not shy to lube my cases. I found a long time ago that even with neck sizing only (⅔ of neck), head separations would kill my cases after as few as five firings. I have been challenged on the issue of case lubing many times over the years and have look into it very critically and have come to the conclusion that if done correctly it actually reduces the stress on the action - and of course preserves cases - like forever. Of it's essential that the cases headspace firmly on the shoulder for that to happen. The O-ring trick compensates for shoulder clearance.

The animation provided by Mooseman illustrates this quite clearly. A loose fitting cartridges gets driven forward by the firing pin, the case expands and grips the chamber walls, the neck gets blown forward and the case head then gets blown backwards as the web essentially fails, thus applying not only the full force of the rearward thrust onto the bolt face but it does so with a hammer like effect. What is known in engineering as a suddenly applied load. This can double the momentary applied load. The lubed case settles back earlier and without web failure by spreading the load over the length of the case as it elastically elongates and 'creeps' rearward at lower pressures. And believe me, a lubed case still grips the chamber walls. I have one that has the primer protruding about a millimetre - that one did not settle back. (That gun went 'away' when it started locking up on the recess burrs. That was the one I started making a bolthead for).

[Mooseman]

I have just been thinking (yer know what thought did?? LOL!), rather than shimming th ebolt head another approach may be possible. I am new to lathe work, etc, but if we were to chuck the bolthead and trim a reasonable amount from the bolthead near the threads, enough to fit a machined washer which would be silver soldered in place. It may be better to continue the threads of the bolthead into the part of the bolthead that has had the metal removed, so that the 'washer' can be threaded on, allowing and easy fit and more surface area for the solder. The base of this could then be gradually machined down until the desired heaadspace was achieved.

Am I on the right track here or just whistling dixie?
After determining how much head clearance you need to compensate for,
The Proper way to bring an Enfield in spec at the rim (Headspace)is to remove the extractor and weld a piece of Good heat treatable steel to the front of the bolt head face, Machine it to match diameter, machine it for length, re-drill the firing pin hole , cut the extractor relief, and then heat treat. Re-assemble and if your measurements were precise as was your machining the problem is solved without the barrel cut and rechamber hassles.

[Multigunner]

It hasn't been my finding that earlier Lee Enfield chambers were oversize. I understood that came about with the SMLE to reduce chamber pressure and inprove battlefield reliability. The older rifles I have have fairly well fitting chambers. My two SMLE barrels have the large shoulder clearance. My two Two-groove No4's have fairly close fitting chambers too.
My two groove Savage also has a much tighter than average chamber, though due to the badly worn bolt and bolt head of the non-matching bolt that came with it case life was basically non existent due to headspace at the maximum limit.
Since fitting a new condition bolt body and unissued #3 bolt head, fired cases are indistinguishable from new cases to the naked eye. This with a load in the 46-48 K CUP range, so the cases definitely fire form to the chamber.
I would expect that the difference though miniscule could be measured in some manner.

The clearance at the shoulder may well have been increased during SMLE production, as an answer to the effects of built up fouling on previous rifles.
Since the SMLE came out more than a decade before WW1 its unlikely that out of spec war time manufacture brass was a major factor in any decision to increase shouler clearances.




I use the O-ring to fire-form cases which also centralises the case. I never used to use the O-ring trick - that's a new one I learned on this site. My cavalry carbine with the very worn receiver locking lug recesses was quite fine with lighter loads but then I am not shy to lube my cases. I found a long time ago that even with neck sizing only (⅔ of neck), head separations would kill my cases after as few as five firings. I have been challenged on the issue of case lubing many times over the years and have look into it very critically and have come to the conclusion that if done correctly it actually reduces the stress on the action - and of course preserves cases - like forever. Of it's essential that the cases headspace firmly on the shoulder for that to happen. The O-ring trick compensates for shoulder clearance.
Then you would agree that achieving what is effectively zero head gap does prevent first shot formation of internal annular rings that lead to short case life by work hardening and thinning of the case wall.




The animation provided by Mooseman illustrates this quite clearly. A loose fitting cartridges gets driven forward by the firing pin, the case expands and grips the chamber walls, the neck gets blown forward and the case head then gets blown backwards as the web essentially fails, thus applying not only the full force of the rearward thrust onto the bolt face but it does so with a hammer like effect. What is known in engineering as a suddenly applied load. This can double the momentary applied load. The lubed case settles back earlier and without web failure by spreading the load over the length of the case as it elastically elongates and 'creeps' rearward at lower pressures. And believe me, a lubed case still grips the chamber walls. I have one that has the primer protruding about a millimetre - that one did not settle back. (That gun went 'away' when it started locking up on the recess burrs. That was the one I started making a bolthead for).

Is it possible that lubing the cases contributed to this action's demise?

I can see your point when it comes to very light loads, but generations of British and Australian gunsmiths, manufacturers, target shooters, and ordnance officers agreed that use of lubed cases can put excessive strain on the action body, and can cause cracking of the SMLE action body in particular.

Theres occasional confusion over the wording in manuals that tell of the ammunition being "oiled in the service manner".
The Regulations for Musketry make it plain that this meant to wipe the cartridges once with a piece of flannel moistened with a thin oil. The Cartridges were then set aside till the microscopic layer of oil air dried. This was intended to prevent formation of verdigris and prevent mud and grime from adhering to the surface of the barss casings. They never intend for the rifle to be fired with catridges still oily to the touch.

Of the Enfields I've examined that left fired cases with a hemispherical shoulder and forward section of the case nearly cylindrical without noticable taper , one was an otherwise excellent Longbranch with nearly pristine bore.
That rifle had not been fired enough to suggest any other answer than the chamber stretching was the result of over torquing as Reynolds described.
The fellow that owned that Longbranch had fitted a #2 bolthead to it to achieve near minimum head gap and had no problems with fired cases developing rings and/or cracks.
I remember that rifle especially because the juncture of case neck to shoulder of once fired cases was very sharply defined.
That rifle was extremely accurate with taylored handloads. The hemispherical shoulder looked to have a somewhat larger surface area than normal so when fired formed the shoulder gave greater resistence to being driven forwards by pin strike or by primer detonation.

I'm glad my Enfields don't require use of O-rings, but I'd give it a try if I had a rifle that needed it.

.068 was the commercial standard for maximum headspace of a .303 rifle. .064 was the minimum suggested headspace.
Depending on the dimensions of the case, thickness of rim and side walls, and the pressure curve of the propellent, headspace of .068 is fine. Tighter headspace or use of brass with a rim thats on the thick side of acceptable(.064 max) would increase case life.
A .004 headgap gives excellent case life, a .006 head gap gives decent case life. Any greater head gap and case life is usually adversely affected.
Of course there are always exceptions. A slickly polished chamber can reduce the friction that lets the case wall grip the chamber, reducing the amount of plastic deformation and work hardening.
My 1915 SMLE has an extremely slick chamber with no sign of wear. The headspace of this SMLE is between .067-.068. Fired cases show no sign of internal annular rings. The once fired cases the previous owner gave me also show no sign of annular rings, and those are Winchester cases which have a rep for rims on the thin side.
The Winchester Olin powder used for those cartridges may have helped by having a lower chamber pressure and a slower or smoother pressure curve.

A rifle with headspace on the maximum side of acceptable for the service Enfields (.074) is almost certainly going to give short case life unless cases are fireformed to headspace on the shoulder, or only light loads are used.

[303Guy]

Is it possible that lubing the cases contributed to this action's demise?I don't believe so. This one has a well worn bore and throat, I suspect from being used as a target rifle with cordite ammunition.

My mint bore LE I is fitted with a N04 barrel which ad some thread removed to align the extractor groove (the No4 has a different thread start position) and the guy who did it had to ream the chamber to fit a new case. It pretty much headspaces on the shoulder with new cases. That gun lost cases to head separation within five shots. My gunsmith Uncle who started out as a WW II armourer told me about the case lubing trick. He said some shooters did that with target guns although others liked the case to take some of the thrust off the bolt face. But then other folks polish their rifle chambers which has the same effect as lubing. I'm not sure but I seem to remember it being said that polishing a chamber can improve accuracy - more consistent bolt face thrust perhaps? I can see how a slow pressure rise powder would prolong case life.

[Multigunner]

Ideally every chamber should have a high degree of polish, though polishing a chamber thats already on the loose side could make it far too loose if the polishing isn't done properly.
A properly finish reamed chamber can be as slick as if polished.

Artificially roughened chambers have been tried for several types of retarded blowback .30 carbine chambered weapons, and the S&W Model 52 autopistol.
A French carbine in .30 Carbine used indentations in the chamber to slow opening of the bolt by taking up some back thrust in stretching of the cases. A Pistol tested by the U S military, the Evans auto loader, used a line of similar indentations down each side of the chamber to slow down opening till the bullet left the muzzle. Both the Evans and the S&W 52 have barrels that move back under recoil to add thrust to the slide to ensure complete extraction.

The effect of a polished chamber is a bit different from that of lubed cases. A relatively thick layer of lubricant floats the case away from contact with the chamber wall. Excessive lubrication can also be forced into the throat , which was found to slightly increase velocity by forming a momentary seal around the bullet base, or worse excessive lube can form an incompressible layer around the case neck, increasing pull strength and increasing chamber pressure. The neck not being allowed to expand properly.
Build up of lubricant mixed with carbon fouling can also choke the chamber neck. This sort of build up isn't readily detected by the naked eye because it becomes compressed to a smooth shiny surface that can look like the chamber surface.

[303Guy]

Thanks for the cautioning and interesting information. On the question of oil and carbon choking the throat, as cast boolit shooters and as in my case paper patch shooters - especially paper patch shooters who can drive a lubed boolit at jacketed velocities, would this still be of concern? In fact, I lube my jacketed bullets! Apart from getting copper free bores, I don't need to clean or preserve the bores so they get left in the as fired condition unless I plan on storing them.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Thanks for the cautioning and interesting information. On the question of oil and carbon choking the throat, as cast boolit shooters and as in my case paper patch shooters - especially paper patch shooters who can drive a lubed boolit at jacketed velocities, would this still be of concern? In fact, I lube my jacketed bullets! Apart from getting copper free bores, I don't need to clean or preserve the bores so they get left in the as fired condition unless I plan on storing them.

In the 70s I used to shoot long range / Palma style target rifle every Saturday. There was an old WW2 and Korean vet that use to lube his 7.62 (we were only allowed to shoot issue F4 NATO ammo at that time). He did this by picking up the cartridge he was about to chamber, placing the buttet against the side of his nose and giving it a turn which imparted a thin coat of 'lube.' Fishermen also used to do this on the bamboo fishing rod ferrules of two piece rods. This was especially important with salt water fishing rods as they sometime would jam without lube and with too much, might pop apart at a cruical 'fighting a fish on the line' moment.

No doubt his less than scientific approach lubed the bullet, but would have invariably imparted 'lube' to the neck of the case as well, which is less than desirable.

The Heckler and Koch 7.62 autos that were popular here (before we couldn't be trusted with semi auto rifles) and the G3 (I think) have lines impressed down the sides of the chamber to allow some gas to escape down the sides of the case and 'float' the empty case away from the chamber walls. Scary to watch and see, but worked like a Swiss watch. My mate had one and his cases would come out filthy with black lines down the sides. He used to reload them after lots of cleaning, etc (well, he reloaded the few that he could find, lol), etc. One day he was in a hurry and just lubed and reloaded, thinking that he might be ok. They worked fine and he just reloaded the crappy looking cases without any special treatment after that.

I will post a story about the H&K on the off topic page which is pretty funny.

[303british.com]

Hello all. Just a quick observation or two.

First, bolt heads for the No 4. They weren't made to correct headspace that had gone long. They were a manufacturing expedient. Tolerances allowed a number of different bolt heads to be used when rifles were being assembled. If it failed the gauge check with a 0 bolt head, you screwed on a longer one.

Mooseman, not to be unkind, but I hardly consider Horton an expert on LEs. He just reads stuff. I do not believe that he understands everything that he reads on the subject either. WRT softening of the lug, that would be cause for a bolt replacement, not a bolt head replacement! I do not know of one bolt head that was replaced because the lug was peened down.

Honestly, I know that parts replacement isn't easy (or even possible) depending on where you live, but if headspace is out, it's easier and safer in the long run just to set the barrel back. Fix the problem properly and get shooting!

My two cents.