Multigunner
08-08-2012, 01:14 AM
From a statement on injuries from a Cadet accident.
The next one was another Cadet firing a service rifle on a range without a bolt head. The rifle was hand loaded and fired. The bolt blew and tore off the bottom locking lug but the top lug remained intact.
I've only seen photos from one controled experiment in firing a SMLE with out the bolt head, and from descriptions of damage done plus knowledge of the structure of the Enfield action the above description of bolt damage does not sound right to me.
In the controled experiment the case seperated and the case head with some mangled case wall ended up wadded up around the firing pin which had ended up centered in the primer pocket and flash hole.
Seems to me the following would apply.
For a blow out to tear off a locking lug there would have had to be resistence to the chamber pressure by the bolt, and that would not be possible if there were no bolthead in place at time of firing.
For the "bottom locking lug", which would be the lefthand lug when action was locked, to be broken off without there being any damage to the Top (guide rib) lug, there would have had to be severe flexing of the action body, or no contact by the guide rib lug for some other reason.
IIRC couple of descriptions of known action failures dure to bore obstruction have mentioned the bolt head not being present when the action was examined, but in these cases it was known that the bolt head had shattered.
While you'd expect remnants of the threaded shaft of the bolt head should remain in the bolt body, this may not always be the case, and broken up pieces of the shaft may have simply fallen out when the bolt was opened, or when remnants of the case were pried out.
The following sounds feasible.
At the time, the RAF still retained their own Ordnance system for Cadets and this rifle was a DP rifle. The RAF method of DP'ing was to bore a xxxxing big 3/8" hole down, through the top handguard, through the barrel and through the fore-end and had the letters DP stamped in equally xxxxing big letters all over the rifle. However, they weren't marked with white bands like the Army versions. Anyway a Cadet, under supervision (?) on a range, fired this rifle and naturally, it didn't go bang because the bolt was welded up and the striker was short. So the supervisor, put another bolt in and this time it DID go bang ....., in a big way which took a couple of fingers off.
It was said that he looked at the fore-end when the rifle was in the rack but there was no hole visible. They didn't find sufficient wood after it blew to state with any certainty that it DID have a xxxxing big hole. Mind you, it certainly DID have a xxxxing big hole after the event!
Except according to Captain Mainwaring no accidents ever occured involving the RAF Drill Rifle while in RAF Cadet service.
http://www.rifleman.org.uk/L59A1_and_A2_DP_Rifles.htm
Captain Mainwaring was senior armorer in charge of specifications for deactivation of No.4 rifles for use as drill rifles.
There was a similar accident, reported on another board, involving one of these rifles that had been restocked with a fore end that covered the hole in the barrel, but this was a recent accident and the rifle was in civilian hands having been bought at a gunshop.
The next one was another Cadet firing a service rifle on a range without a bolt head. The rifle was hand loaded and fired. The bolt blew and tore off the bottom locking lug but the top lug remained intact.
I've only seen photos from one controled experiment in firing a SMLE with out the bolt head, and from descriptions of damage done plus knowledge of the structure of the Enfield action the above description of bolt damage does not sound right to me.
In the controled experiment the case seperated and the case head with some mangled case wall ended up wadded up around the firing pin which had ended up centered in the primer pocket and flash hole.
Seems to me the following would apply.
For a blow out to tear off a locking lug there would have had to be resistence to the chamber pressure by the bolt, and that would not be possible if there were no bolthead in place at time of firing.
For the "bottom locking lug", which would be the lefthand lug when action was locked, to be broken off without there being any damage to the Top (guide rib) lug, there would have had to be severe flexing of the action body, or no contact by the guide rib lug for some other reason.
IIRC couple of descriptions of known action failures dure to bore obstruction have mentioned the bolt head not being present when the action was examined, but in these cases it was known that the bolt head had shattered.
While you'd expect remnants of the threaded shaft of the bolt head should remain in the bolt body, this may not always be the case, and broken up pieces of the shaft may have simply fallen out when the bolt was opened, or when remnants of the case were pried out.
The following sounds feasible.
At the time, the RAF still retained their own Ordnance system for Cadets and this rifle was a DP rifle. The RAF method of DP'ing was to bore a xxxxing big 3/8" hole down, through the top handguard, through the barrel and through the fore-end and had the letters DP stamped in equally xxxxing big letters all over the rifle. However, they weren't marked with white bands like the Army versions. Anyway a Cadet, under supervision (?) on a range, fired this rifle and naturally, it didn't go bang because the bolt was welded up and the striker was short. So the supervisor, put another bolt in and this time it DID go bang ....., in a big way which took a couple of fingers off.
It was said that he looked at the fore-end when the rifle was in the rack but there was no hole visible. They didn't find sufficient wood after it blew to state with any certainty that it DID have a xxxxing big hole. Mind you, it certainly DID have a xxxxing big hole after the event!
Except according to Captain Mainwaring no accidents ever occured involving the RAF Drill Rifle while in RAF Cadet service.
http://www.rifleman.org.uk/L59A1_and_A2_DP_Rifles.htm
Captain Mainwaring was senior armorer in charge of specifications for deactivation of No.4 rifles for use as drill rifles.
There was a similar accident, reported on another board, involving one of these rifles that had been restocked with a fore end that covered the hole in the barrel, but this was a recent accident and the rifle was in civilian hands having been bought at a gunshop.