No4Mk1 bolt heads

[Alan De Enfield]

"Clock" ensure the bolt head aligns with the bolt body. Any 'overturn' is detrimental but if you get up to 20 degrees then you start to have problems.
If you click on the link I posted in post #4 you will see what I mean.

[John Sukey]

Okay...I found a #1 bolt head & tried it out. It passed both the no go & field gauges. Now to get the extractor spring & extractor installed.

Installing the spring. Get some dental floss. make a double loop through the spring,feed it through the bolt head and pull the spring into position. Have installed a couple of springs in that way. Or you could spend money and get the ordnance tool

[JB White]

Use waxed floss...or the frayed line will be tougher to completely remove. (voice of experience )

[budmant]

How about braided fishing line such as Fireline?

[JB White]

How about braided fishing line such as Fireline?

I haven't heard but I'm thinking......
So long as it has both the ability to flatten without snapping, and is able to roll around a screwdriver shank (as a T-handle) without too much slippage. I reckon it would be worth a try if you have some on hand. Then you could let us know!!!

[budmant]

Could not find my Fireline, but had some Gorilla Braid handy...worked like a charm, so now we know

[JB White]

What #test did you use?

Up until now the only alternative use I had for braided fishing line was in my blue chalk reel. The 20# test makes a nice fine snapline to follow when installing cabinets and trim.

[budmant]

10#

[Guamsst]

Sarco has Size1 heads in stock as of today. $24.
I also have one on ebay that is a bit worn and may go for less or more than that.

[budmant]

The one I picked up was from Sarco..saw yours on Ebay, looks nice.

[Guamsst]

The one I picked up was from Sarco..saw yours on Ebay, looks nice.

I certainly would go with Sarco too. Theirs has a fixed price, mine may go cheaper or a Frenchman and a Lithuanian may drive it to an insane price.

[JB White]

Just out of curiosity, what do you suppose that Frog and Lugen might do if it were a new, unused size 3 bolthead?

[Alan De Enfield]

Just out of curiosity, what do you suppose that Frog and Lugen might do if it were a new, unused size 3 bolthead?

The size 3 bolt heads I've sold on ebay have all made over $150 and thats selling to crazy Americans who have a fixation about headspace. ( I only have a couple left so may have to save those)

For some reason Enfields do not have headspace problems on this side of the 'pond' - maybe its the weather ?

[JB White]

$150+ USD????

Holy moley!!! Had I known they'd be fetching more return than gold I'd have bought the whole lot instead of one for the spares box. That was a while back when I wanted one of each size just in case. Size 3's were just a few dollars more than a new-in-grease 0.
In the past there were a couple instances of me swapping out boltheads to a smaller one because someone HAD to have tight headspace. They made it too tight.

Here in the US they (gun writers) used to talk about headspacing and OAL to where the bullet was just slightly back from engaging the rifling. That might be great in a target rifle or high end hunting rifle, but it doesn't do much good in a generously chambered military arm or low end sporter. Couple that to having tighter SAAMI specs and gauges and half the population here thought the sky was falling if something was off just 0.001 from what last months article said.

[Guamsst]

Who knows what would happen with a 3. I'd probably get $5. It is a weird market. I sold a 1918dated (only the upper half) US sling a few weeks ago. The bottom half was obviously later (WW2 era). I got about $130 out of it to a Lovely Frenchman. When they spend $130 they are not a "Frog"....LOL

I think a big part of the problem in the US is that there are 3 myths floating around. 1.) Without tight headspace you will have poor accuracy 2.) All guns are built with tight headspace 3.)"excessive" headspace is dangerous!!!

I'm not sure how bad your headspace has to be to blow the rifle up in your face but I am thinking it would have to be in the range of ludicrous bad. I had a friend in South Dakota who was obsessed with "Fixing" the headspace on every Enfield he could get his hands on. He said they "Always" had poor headspace. I said it was a battle rifle not a target rifle and I just shot mine, as found, with no issues. I never had bad headspace cause accuracy problems on one with good wood and a strong bore.