I took 5 dummy rounds I made up from some spent berdan cartridges and some 174gn hornady 303 bullets. When you cycle the action( after finally getting the mag feed lips to work) the live rounds eject fine from the cartridges on the right side of the mag but just flop from the rounds loaded and extracted from the left side seems odd but that's what happens?
Yeah that does seem odd. It would be logical to assume that once the round is chambered it would not make any difference from which side of the mag it was loaded from. I assume the same cartridges will extract fine when hand loaded into the chamber one at a time with the mag not in place. I also assume that you tried loading the rounds in the mag in the opposite way so that the rounds that were loaded from the left side are then loaded from the right side and vice versa. I am assuming that both of those were tried and the problem was still there. If so, then you have excluded the rounds as being part of the problem.
Even with excessive head space, the round should be chambered exactly the same regardless of which side of the mag it is being loaded from and once the bolt is closed on it.
So, that leaves us with two possibilities. 1) the fact that the rounds mis-extracting are always from the left is a coincidence or 2) there is a factor about the mag that we cannot understand.
If the issue is #1 then I have two suggestions. First get a hold of a second magazine that is known to work and try it in your No. 4. If your mag works in the other rifle then it is your mag. Then I would take your mag and put it into a different No. 4. rifle. If you get the same results with extraction then it is the mag. And vice versa.
But I find it hard to believe it is the mag. So lets assume the left side mag issue is a coincidence and look at other possibilities.
The extractor action on an Enfield should be real stiff. If not, it could be the spring. You could also have a worn claw on the extractor. The claw should measure .20 inches. If it is longer (.24 inches) it belongs to the 7.62 version and it could be the problem. If it is shorter it could be worn. Replace in either case.
But most likely it is the extractor screw. The screw should be .33 inches long and has a .16 inch diameter. Check for those dimensions and if different replace the screw.
As I was reading Stratton's book to get those dimensions, I came across an idea. It might be possible that you have a 7.62 magazine in your No. 4. If so and since the 7.62 cartridge was rimless and shorter, the magazine held the extractor lip and the screw was retained even though it had no use. I would image google search the 7.62 mag and compare it to yours to make sure you have the right mag. The followers are different as well. If you have the right mag, I would check to make sure you have the right follower in the mag.
Hope that helps. Let me know what you come up with.
I have found when trying to fix guns that if a problem makes no sense, then you have multiple problems. I once bought a used IAI M1 Carbine that would not feed consistantly. It took me over a year to figure out what was wrong. Not only did I have the original problem to fix, which was an incorrectly angled feed ramp, but I had to undo all the problems created by previous owners in trying to fix it. So it could be that a previous owner messed with it as well.
![[crying]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/006.gif "Crying [crying]")
Boy, did I feel umbday. Speaking of which, I can't find my effing head space gauges. I have one for the Enfield and two for Mosin Nagant. They are about the size of a dime, so I put them somewhere where they wouldn't get lost. So, I lost them. It's a good excuse to clean up the work bench area. Nothing else to do today. No doubt I'll find 20 other things that I didn't know I was missing.
