No.4 Mk1 not kicking out the empties

[fatelvis]

My No.4 Mk1 feeds, fires, and extracts flawlessly, but doesn't eject the empty brass out of the receiver. I thought it might be a worn ejector screw, so I put a longer one in with the same result. Any tips please? Thanks-

[curator]

Your extractor spring is weak or your bolt manipulation is. The No.4 Mk1* needs an energetic working of the bolt to "eject" the case from the action. If the extractor spring is weak it won't hold the case head over far enough to interact with the left side of the action which is intentionally tapered to bear against the case rim and eject the spent case. The "ejector screw" is supposedly a fail-safe for case heads that are out of spec. Sometimes a bit of crud builds up in the extractor's mortice in the bolt head and that will keep the extractor from providing sufficient tension to get good ejection. A simple thorough cleaning might suffice or a new ejector spring. I think Wolf spring has new-made ones and GunPartsCorp has used springs. They are not exactly easy to install but a bit of dental floss can be used to pull one into place where an hour's worth in fussing won't.

[303Guy]

They don't eject so good without the magazine in place. I have a magazine with no innards. It works great as a case catcher! Not fitting a magazine allows spent cases to drop out the magazine well.

[Mr Peabody]

They don't eject so good without the magazine in place. I have a magazine with no innards. It works great as a case catcher! Not fitting a magazine allows spent cases to drop out the magazine well.
That's just too good 303guy. I've got a rifle that would be just fine like that!

[dromia]

Is the ejector screw in place in the side of the receiver?

[fatelvis]

Yes, the ejector screw is in place and screwed all the way in.

[skeet1]

fatelvis (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?1246-fatelvis),
I believe Curator is correct about the extractor having a week spring or a build up of crud under the extractor. The extractor must push the case head against the left side of the action and hold it there as the case is extracted until the case comes in contact with the ejector screw.

Ken

(http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?1386-curator)

[HollowPoint]

Is this a recently acquired Enfield? I ask because I'm wondering when the last time it was that your gun did eject properly?

What has changed since that last time? Are you shooting a different type of brass than when it last ejected the empties correctly? If so, maybe the rim diameter of the new brass is slightly smaller than the previous brass.

I'm sure you've checked and re-checked all this already. I just thought I'd ask anyway.

You might even try a slightly longer ejection-screw. Maybe the old one wore down over time; that and the combination of potentially
slightly smaller diameter of different brass could add up to no-proper-ejection. On the other hand, I could be completely full of KaKa.

I do remember screwing the ejection screw on my No.4 in too tightly at one point so that it caused a slight drag on the bolt whenever I cycled the action. That might indicate that a slightly longer screw might fix your ejection problem.

HollowPoint

[fatelvis]

It never did eject strong. I rplaced the spring a couple years ago, and replaced the screw with a longer one that
a l m o s t touches the bolt, but doesnt drag on it.

[HollowPoint]

I wonder if there's an odd-ball chance that your receiver somehow got blown out at some point. I had an enfield that blew up in my face a few years back.

The bolt-head was ruined, the extractor claw and the spring flew off into oblivion and my receiver was measurably widened from side to side. If a longer extractor screw doesn't fix the problem and use of brass with a slightly smaller diameter rim isn't the cause of the failure to eject, I have a hard time coming up with any other reasons for the symptoms you've described.

Is it possible to measure the inside of your receiver at the area where the ejection screw comes through? If you can give me that measurement I can compare it to the measurement off of my Enfield No.4. Maybe some of the other Enfield owners can do the same. These Enfields seem to have set tolerance levels for just about everything.

Maybe it's just a matter of putting your receiver in a vice and carefully pinching it back to the factory spec. OR, maybe this is just another case where I may be full of KaKa again.

HollowPoint

[Stoats]

A few points - an empty case should eject before it ever reaches the screw by friction against the side of the receiver. As others have said, check the extractor and its spring. Also, American brass (Remington in particular) sometimes has small rims and thus does not eject well. Compare with HXP, prvi or other European cases.

[fatelvis]

Ahhh. I bought 200 peices of virgin PRVI cases and they eject MUCH better! I guess rim thickness is to blame?

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Sounds like you're on to the solution now. I've noticed that some of these rifles have an angle either filed or worn on the business end of the screw also.

[Multigunner]

Ahhh. I bought 200 peices of virgin PRVI cases and they eject MUCH better! I guess rim thickness is to blame? If the brass you were using previously has a relief groove above the rim sometimes an extractor with a too thick edge will bind in the groove and the case won't move over far enough to scrubb hard against the inside of the receiver wall and the added grip of the edge stuck in the groove prevents the case from flipping free.Remove the bolt and hold one of the problem cases up against the extrator edge and see if the edge digs into the groove. If the case has the groove that is.I had a lithgow No.1 that had this problem though when I tested to see if it would eject rimmless cases, even the 7.62X39, it ejected those cleanly.I suspect this rifle had a 2A bolt , bolt head or extractor. The bolt was non matching.The extractor was noticeably larger than that of my Enfield SMLE.