Lee Enfield MK1 III Safety Question

[brstevns]

Don't know a lot about Lee Enfields so here is the question. When safety is all the way back can the trigger be pulled. I have one that allows you to pull the trigger but does not let the firing pin hit the round, but when you push the safety forward the bolt goes into half cock position? is this normal.
If safety is all the way back then pushed completely forward all is good to fire just like any other bolt action. Is all of this normal for a Lee Enfield?

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Yes, the trigger can be freely pulled back and forth with the safety on. No, it is not right for the cocking piece to fall to half-cock when the safety is pushed off. When the safety is rotated to the rear a little nub comes up and blocks the cocking piece. I'd look for wear on the safety's nub or on the cocking piece itself and replace as necessary.

DG

[brstevns]

Yes, the trigger can be freely pulled back and forth with the safety on. No, it is not right for the cocking piece to fall to half-cock when the safety is pushed off. When the safety is rotated to the rear a little nub comes up and blocks the cocking piece. I'd look for wear on the safety's nub or on the cocking piece itself and replace as necessary.

DG

Thanks will try to figure out which it is

[brstevns]

Must be the cocking piece I had 2 different safeties I tried and it still did the same.

[2152hq]

I think the Safety may be assembled incorrectly.

The Safety lever and the actual Safety arm at engaged with a thread to eachother.

It's a multiple start thread,,so the two parts can be put together in quite a few (6? different) positions. But only one is the correct one for the Safety mechanism to operate correctly.

Yours right now is not camming the cocking piece off of the sear when the Safety is engaged.
So,,when you pull the trigger with the Safety engaged, the cocking piece is really not being held back. Instead it is allow to jump forward just enough so the sear and the cockingpiece sear edge are not engaged.

Now when you disengage the Safety fully, there is nothing to hold the cocking piece from dropping the rest of the way and it falls to the fired position.

Remove the screw and tension flat spring from the Safety mechanism
Pull the Safety lever out with the Safety arm
They should be attached to each other by a threaded shaft.

If the Safety arm is not in place as shown on the assembly on the right in the pic,,
then unscrew it from the shaft and put it back on and screw it up tight until the arm ends up in that 11:00 o'clock position as shown in the right picture.
Then place the assembly back in the rifle like that,,place the spring back on and then thescrew and tighten the screw.

The Safety that is working correctly should very slightly and visually cam the cocking piece backward off of the sear and hold it there when placed in the SAFE position.
Pulling the trigger while the cocking piece is cammed back and held out of contact with the sear cannot let the cocking piece move forward.
Placing the Safety back in 'FIRE' position resets the cocking piece squarely back onto the sear ready for firing.

https://i.ibb.co/B6nHFzd/372349296-1.jpg (https://ibb.co/KsKcS0R)

[leebuilder]

Your trigger or sear could be sticky/gummed up. I remember having a similar problem on a build i did years ago and it was the sear/breech.
Be well

[brstevns]

Ok replaced the cocking piece with a new one and the safety is timed right but it is still doing it. Could it be a worn sear?

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Could be. Also, might be too much wiggle between the trigger and sear. Maybe the V spring is weak? I've got a No.1 Mk. III right here in my hands, but it works perfectly--so no help there. It's such a simple design I'm surprised one of the suggestions offered so far hasn't been the right one.

DG

[brstevns]

Will keep trying, well get it figure out sure it is something simple I am not seeing.

[leebuilder]

Got me stumped
Is the sear from that rifle?
Is the cocking piece nice and tight on the firing pin, no wiggle, none?
Is the sear installed right side up?
Is the breech allowing the sear to go all the way up, or to far?
Is your breech damaged, at sear stop, where the bolt lock engages the cocking piece, pin holes not to loose?
Is the bolt lock sheared or worn, not a expedient variation?
Bolt lock = safety
Be well

[brstevns]

Got me stumped
Is the sear from that rifle?
Is the cocking piece nice and tight on the firing pin, no wiggle, none?
Is the sear installed right side up?
Is the breech allowing the sear to go all the way up, or to far?
Is your breech damaged, at sear stop, where the bolt lock engages the cocking piece, pin holes not to loose?
Is the bolt lock sheared or worn, not a expedient variation?
Bolt lock = safety
Be well

Will check all of these out, Thanks

[Multigunner]

A early production No. 4 belonging to a friend had a problem with the trigger always catching in the half cock notch.
Turned out the sear leg was bent, probably from someone pulling hard on the trigger while it was already in the half cock.
The sear was beat up so I heated and reshaped it and case hardened it using Kasenit. No further problems

[brstevns]

A early production No. 4 belonging to a friend had a problem with the trigger always catching in the half cock notch.
Turned out the sear leg was bent, probably from someone pulling hard on the trigger while it was already in the half cock.
The sear was beat up so I heated and reshaped it and case hardened it using Kasenit. No further problems

Have a sear coming in, hope that is the problem.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

It could be. I keep going over this in my head (wish I had your rifle to look at) and I come up with: Safety blocks forward movement of cocking piece when applied. Check. Trigger moves freely, disconnected from sear when cocked. Check. Push safety off, cocking piece falls to half-cock. What has changed? Sear has somehow become less engaged with cocking piece. If it was shortened in quest of a lighter trigger pull it likely wouldn't engage at all. So, maybe the lumps on top of the trigger have been filed in an attempt to get a "trigger job" and the trigger does not maintain adequate pressure on the sear once it is moved from it's cocked position. Take a look at the trigger's lumps......:confused:

DG

[brstevns]

It could be. I keep going over this in my head (wish I had your rifle to look at) and I come up with: Safety blocks forward movement of cocking piece when applied. Check. Trigger moves freely, disconnected from sear when cocked. Check. Push safety off, cocking piece falls to half-cock. What has changed? Sear has somehow become less engaged with cocking piece. If it was shortened in quest of a lighter trigger pull it likely wouldn't engage at all. So, maybe the lumps on top of the trigger have been filed in an attempt to get a "trigger job" and the trigger does not maintain adequate pressure on the sear once it is moved from it's cocked position. Take a look at the trigger's lumps......:confused:

DG

Well check this out also, have a new sear coming in Tuesday.

[brstevns]

Put and the new Sear and Sear spring in and everything seems to be working as it should. I may have been able just to ping the end of the old sear and everything would have worked (it was that close), Still may put in a better trigger.
Sure want to thank everyone for their help and wisdom on this one. Just could not see the problem.