Loose Enfield?

[crak]

I bought a wartime Enfield (1941) last year and cleaned it up. Unfortunately, everything's a little loose on it now that the gunk is out. I suspect this is pretty normal (designed that way), but the part that's bugging me the most is the bolt.

It used to be awesome but now it has enough play to move up and down significantly within its channel. When I took it out to shoot it for the first time, it didn't really pick up rounds out of the magazine every time (just skipped right over them instead). What do you milsurp guys do about this sort of thing? I don't exactly want to start replacing parts like I would on a new gun... everything matches here.

 

[Pilgrim]

if it's not 'picking up' the rounds in the mag, it means that the rounds are not being pushed up high enough for the bolt to hit it and push it forward. Doesn't sound like a bolt problem to me.

Clean out the mag, make sure the spring is ok. I'm betting the mag is either damaged and squeezing the rounds or the spring needs strectching a bit.

I can't remember, it's been a while since I had mine apart, but I think the spring can be put in backwards, you might check that.

 

[crak]

Thinking more about this, I think the mag is the only thing I didn't take apart and clean. Thanks for reminding me.

 

[crak]

Checked this out again last night after cleaning the mag and think I have it figured out. The mag doesn't stay as far up as it can in the gun. The round on the left always feeds fine but the round on the right is a little low. If I rest the mag against the bench when I'm working the bolt it raises it high enough to work perfectly every time.

Now to figure out some way to keep it up there...

Didn't have enough bullets to figure that out the first time.

 

[Nickle]

Are you sure you have the right mag? No 1's and No 4's use different mags.

 

[crak]

Yeah, all the serials match. It's not a lot of play, but it's enough to make the bolt miss.