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#4/MK1 Size 4 bolt head

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Canuck View Drop Down
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    Posted: April 03 2018 at 7:30pm
I just secured this bolt head size #4. First one I have seen ever. Length is .650". Here are a couple photos.The bolt race channel doesn't appear to be tapered rather it looks like it was meant for a no-* rifle.
Castles made of sand slip into the sea.....eventually
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Goosic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 03 2018 at 7:44pm
When I was a teeny bopper,my dad had a beater No4 Mk1 with a #4 bolt head. It measured out to .648. Nobody that had anything to do with Enfields believed it to be true until we showed them the bolt head,and then they accused my dad of sanding off the 3 and restamping it with the 4. Everytime I read about there only being four sizes I would shake my head and say,no,there are five sizes. You,have just picture provided proof of that...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Goosic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 03 2018 at 7:47pm
Please secure another one and allow me to purchase it from you. I have a rifle that just acquired a #3 bolt head.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Canuck Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 03 2018 at 7:49pm
I'll ask the guy who sold it to me, Goosic.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Goosic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 03 2018 at 7:51pm
Thank you kindly...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Macd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 04 2018 at 5:32am
Be interesting to see where the #4 originated.  Was it always available or was it an addition for refurbishments or FTR purposes.  I read online a unit armorer manual that only referred to #0-3.    Trouble is that was quite awhile ago and I don't have the link anymore.  If I can find it  I will post. Maybe someone with a reference book might be able to shed some light on the subject.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Goosic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 04 2018 at 5:54am
Not alot of light shedding will be had Macd.
Everything I be ever read regarding the bolt heads have always indicated there are only a #0,#1,#2,and a #3. Like I stated previously,I've seen a #4 with my own eyes but have been told they don't exist,like a unicorn.
We might ask a Captain Peter Laidler. Skennerton only seems to know of those #0-#3.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 04 2018 at 6:05am
AhHa! a mythical beast at last.
Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Zed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 04 2018 at 11:57am
That truly is an interesting piece Canuck. I must say I've read some speculation about the actual existance of an extra bolt head size. That's the first time I've ever seen proof. The vernier caliper measurement is actually the proof!
I suspect that very few of these were made for trials. I suspect the reason for not having seen more of them is the fact that if the bolt needs a head larger than the number 3 to pass the field gauge; it would be the receiver that is worn and therefore unserviceable.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 04 2018 at 1:42pm
I wonder if it had anything wartime emergency increase in allowable head space?
Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MJ11 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 04 2018 at 4:36pm
I know a collector I met at Bisley who had a #4 bolt head but I never asked for the actual measurement. None in my collection but a ran into a man at a match in California who was also shooting an Enfield #4 and he had done a bit of work on it. One thing he had done was to tighten up head space by silver soldering a bit of quality feeler gauge to the bolt face with a hole for the firing pin.  He said it gave him just over a #3 bolt head spec. but then I know from experience that number can vary from one #3 to another. As in not all #2's are the same either.

 


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Macd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 06 2018 at 5:02am
The plot thickens.  Check this quote from Roger Wadham The 2012 Complete Book on Lee Enfield Accurizing.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote A square 10 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 06 2018 at 7:28pm
it is one of the drawbacks to handfitting the bolt to the receiver , the US 'interchangeable' stipulation did have its plusses beyond the obvious . 
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