New to the Enfield World!

[sean46953]

I've finally got an Enfield after wanting for the past seven years. lol I picked up a NO.4 Mk.1* by Savage I believe, for $100. Now, I bought it at that price realizing it wouldn't be much more then just a shooter, which is all I wanted in the way of an Enfield so far. After tearing it down today, I realized that it was completely missing it's ejection screw, the buttstock was a bit loose, the barrel had bad pitting on the outside, and the plunger/spring assembly for the rear sight was rusted stuck and useless. So far, I have managed to free up the plunger/spring and cleaned it up to where it operates just right, cleaned all the bad rust that caused the pitting on the barrel and then just generally cleaned it back up to being somewhat respectable. lol In the process I did happen to manage loosing the forward barrel band's screw... Whoops! lol Now, my questions are... One, is there anything that can be used in place of the specific ejection screw, i.e. just a machine screw of some sort? Or, do I need to order the $10 one and wait a friggin week for it? lol
Two, is there any way to tighten up the buttstock on these things? Mine has what looks to be like four little nails in a row going towards the receiver obviously in an effort to wedge the stock in securely. I don't know who did that, some guy or the Britts, but none the less, it's there. Also, I'll have some pictures of it up soon, one just to show (even though she ain't great, she's mine and I'm PROUD to finally have one!) and two, to get an opinion on how bad you all think this pitting is. I'll be running it to my gunsmith to get his thought on it too. So far, my dad seems to think it's fine, but I'm just paranoid and would much rather just try to be safe then sorry! Thanks alot guys! I look forward to learning much about Enfields from you all, (probably alot of the same guys that I gained so much from already with Mausers, Mosins, and K31s) and also looking forward to being as helpful as I possibly can be to others!

[Alan De Enfield]

Two quick and simple answers :

Ejection screw : you dont need one. Its a last ditch 'fail safe' and normally would only come into play for inert or unfired rounds. The Enfield action will eject the case long before it gets to the 'ejector screw'. Its normally a 3BA thread if you do want to replace it. (3BA is .1610 Diameter, 38 TPI with a pitch of .0287)

Stock bolt : Remove the brass butt plate, take a long (12" +) wide, flat blade screwdriver and tighten it up 'impossibly' tight - use a screwdriver blade and socket set extension piece if necessary. No idea what the nails are for but they shouldnt be there.
Tip 1) Make sure the coiled washer is in place (on the bolt), if its not then you'll never get it tight.
Tip 2) Take off the forend and make sure the butt-bolt is not too long. It should end up 1 thread short inside the butt-socket if its correct.
Tip 3) There may be a leather / felt washer over the top of the butt-bolt so have a poke about with a small hooked piece of wire and see if it makes a metal-to-metal noise, if it doesnt you can pull out the washer with the hooked end.

[sean46953]

Thanks for the great advice Alan! I couldn't see a coiled washer on the bolt, but I was able to get it tightened up so, I'm guessing it's probably there. It only took an 18'' flat tip with a pipe wrench torqueing on it after a generous dose of PB Blaster! Lol No leather washer either and the bolt looks to fit as you discibed it should. Thanks again! I truelly appriciate you're sound advice and excellent tips!

[rondog]

I've also read that when you separate the action from the forend, DON'T separate them at the front by spreading the barrel and wood apart! This can screw up the fit of the rear of the action where it's fitted into the "draws" of the stock, and screw up the rifle's accuracy. The "proper" method, so I've read, is to separate the wood from the receiver right at the action, by using a mallet and a block of wood to tap on the sides of the forend stock. Place the block on the top edges of the wood and tap downwards.

This is an excellent tutorial, print it out and keep it.

Collecting and Shooting the Enfield No. 4 - Rifle Disassembly/Reassembly

[sean46953]

Thank you rondog, that's actually the first place I went. Lol. At first I pried a bit, not too much though. Now, I just drift it out as shown on that site. Shouldn't have done too much bad to it. Who's to say that some one else didn't beat me to it though. Who ever had it before me, didn't take the greatest care of it. I'll have to shoot it soon and see how it all goes. Thanks for all the advice though guys! You two have been really helpful to me!