Need Help with Removing Pins on a Lee Enfield

[303Guy]

Magazine catch pin and rear sight pin. I've never had difficulty with a rear sight pin before.

I actually bent a pin punch on the magazine catch pin. The action is a 1896 so pretty old but the barrel is a bit later, being an SMLE barrel but who knows what vintage.

Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

I make my pin punches from high tensile music wire and only long enough to match the pin. You seem to have them started so a spray o/n in the hole with a penitrating fluid or even just diesel should move them.

[GregLaROCHE]

A good penetrating oil and give it a few days to work. Otherwise, afterwards maybe you could try setting it up in a press.

[Gtek]

Over the years my bent punches became my starter punches. Straighten up as best you can and then cut back to 1/4"-3/8" in length and I use these to get it moving and until taper hits. Then finish push with standard issue punch. My nice straight punches have pretty much stayed straight. And also having to be hit object on or in something very rigid is a plus, but you knew that.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

They have screw driver slots--are you sure they don't have 3-5 threads under the heads?

DG

[W.R.Buchanan]

Heat the bosses where the pin goes thru with a small torch the pin should break loose and come out. It won' t hurt anything if the bosses get red. That gun was made form 1890's mild steel.
The slot in the Rear sight pin is not for turning beyond positioning the hole so a small pin can go in, There are no threads on those pins. I figured this out after trying to unscrew one of those pins for about 10 minutes once.

Randy

[303Guy]

Thanks all.

The pins haven't moved at all - that's just how they were. One thing I noticed when posting the photos is that there appears to be rust around the pins. So I can soak them in diesel? Is diesel better than or equal to other penetrating oils? I'll have to get some from somewhere and if diesel is the way to go, then I'll get a container of it as I'll need it again for other projects plus It would make it useful for soaking things in. And I shall go out and get a set of decent pin punches and recharge my pencil torch. Or get a new one.

I have another two of those 1986's but what is special about this one is that the barrel has a particular throat wear in it that makes it desirable for paper patching. The bore tapers down into fairly clean and sharp rifling and has a fairly on spec bore. It might be good for plain cast too.

I'm just thinking, I have made punches from drill bit shanks that seemed to work quite well. But a complete punch set is something I don't have but I will get one.

[Driver man]

Mix equal parts ATF(not synthetic) and acetone as a penetrant and soak for a couple of days.

[GregLaROCHE]

In my opinion there’s nothing better than a real penetrating oil. Acetone and ATF maybe second. The trick is to wait. Adding a little bit more and tapping each day for a week or more. Heat could solve the problem too. Make sure if it is a tapered pin, you are removing it in te right direction.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Any help here?

Attachment 313254 Attachment 313255

DG

[Moleman-]

I wonder if the rear sight base pin ended up getting soldered when the base was soldered on? If so you'll likely have to heat up the RSB until the solder flows to get it out. The other pin for the magazine catch is just a pin. Worse case drill just shy of all the way through the pin with a 3/4" or so diameter drill and drive it out.

[303Guy]

Any help here?

Attachment 313254 Attachment 313255

DG

I'm getting a "Invalid Attachment specified" message on the links.

[303Guy]

In my opinion there’s nothing better than a real penetrating oil. Acetone and ATF maybe second. The trick is to wait. Adding a little bit more and tapping each day for a week or more. Heat could solve the problem too. Make sure if it is a tapered pin, you are removing it in the right direction.

I thought about that. The mag retainer pin is flattened on the one side so obviously it must go out to ward that side. The rear sight pin I wonder about.

[303Guy]

I wonder if the rear sight base pin ended up getting soldered when the base was soldered on? If so you'll likely have to heat up the RSB until the solder flows to get it out. The other pin for the magazine catch is just a pin. Worse case drill just shy of all the way through the pin with a 3/4" or so diameter drill and drive it out.

The SMLE sights are not soldered as far as I know. None of the others I have removed were soldered. However, I did wonder about that.

I did think about destroying the sight off but that's not too easy either. I would want to preserve the pin so I can still get it out. I'd apply heat as a first resort if the penetrating oil doesn't work with a decent punch.

I haven't been back to yet. Still need to make the punches.

[gunwonk]

If you can set up to apply pressure to your target pin with a vice, jig, repurposed sight pusher, whatever, and preload it -- and then apply some impact, that might help get it moving the first little bit. After that it's usually easier.

Also, I've sometimes been able to keep punch pins from bending by sleeving them. If you can keep the punch from bending that first sideways .005" or so, it won't bend the rest of the way.

Looks like there's plenty of room on your project for a pretty thick sleeve. You could even make one, by drilling a hole through a cutoff piece of bolt.

Of course this is in addition to the penetrating oil, soaking time, intermittent tapping, etc.

Good luck!

[303Guy]

Thanks gunwonk. The project got put on hold for a while. I'll be getting back to it soon I hope. Good tips there.

[country gent]

Another way to pull pins is to drill small hole thru the center and tap it to a fine thread use a bolt and spacers to pull it out. Also remove any burrs or rolled edges on the hole.
The hole will allow it to collapse slightly relieving tension and the fine thread puts a lot of force in a straight square pull

[Reg]

As a long time license holder who mainly did general repair on thousands of firearms of all types the most important thing I found when working on older guns was ask yourself WHY first. Do you really need or want to take it apart? Is it going to be used or just hung on the wall. To use it does it actually need to come down to the last nut and bolt. Will it function in its purpose without removing that frozen pin or screw? Some excellent examples of removing these problem pieces have been given here but in many cases there was a price to be paid in the appearance of the part that effected the overall appearance of the firearm. Unless specifically told to remove that whatever my approach was if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. If it’s doing what it is supposed to and working just fine then give it proper protection and move on. In my experience more damage was done to firearms by wanting to “take it apart” than was ever done through actual usage and wear.
This is just my humble opinion and nothing more.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Just heat it up and knock it out! This is less than a 5 minute job. It won't come out by worrying about it. And it won't come out with any Penetrating Oil known to man. It is rusted in place. There has to be some clearance for oil to penetrate. since yours is filled in with rust, that ain't gonna happen. Just heat it and be done with it.

Randy