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Notch on bolt head

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DeeCeeTee View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DeeCeeTee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2017 at 11:49am
I used the okie gages today. bolt closed on G and NG, but not on the F. This is with the bolt that came with rifle. Non DP. So I think I will try measuring the 4 head bolts to see if any are longer than my head bolt and try them accordingly. Thanks for all the info guys, and especially you Bear43.Smile 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2017 at 1:30pm
Originally posted by Zed Zed wrote:

Shamu; I think you've got it the wrong way around! 
If the bolt closes on the "Field" gauge it's a FAIL. Because head space is over 0,074". 
If it does not close on the  "Field" gauge the the head space is GOOD, because it's less than the 0,074" limit.
The 0,064 No Go is only really useful if changing a barrel or new bolt body.


Yes you're right I brain pharted. Thanks.
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 Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2017 at 1:35pm
Don't get fascinated by length, there are other things to consider also. If the 0.074" did not close it passed, there's no need to "extra pass". Its pass/fail, you don't need to "meet or exceed", just not fail.

The bolt head should over clock (past aligning with the bolt's rib by no more than 15 degrees. ( a bit less is fine but there should be  some.)
The reason for this is that the shoulder of the bolt head should transfer the pressure & recoil impulse directly to the front face of the bolt body. If its more than the 15 degrees (also 1/16" from the 2 corners of the bolt head & the bolt ribs corner) then the threads are doing this instead.
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 englishman_ca Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 10 2017 at 6:42am
Morning ramblings while I drink my first coffee.....The bolt head with the notch was introduced with the Sht.LE Mk.I around 1903.

The bolt could be dismantled without tools for cleaning.  The striker retainer screw at the back of the cocking piece was more like a spring loaded knurled knob to be gripped, pulled and given half a turn to release its hold on the striker.
The striker had a corresponding lug on the collar which fitted into the notch. In effect, the bolt head then became a wrench to unscrew the striker.

As with all crunchies, anything on a weapon that could be unscrewed and fiddled with would be unscrewed and fiddled with. It was then thought that maybe the army didn't want a soldier dismantling his bolt in the field, so the feature was discontinued around 1907.

Since there were many, many rifle still in circulation with the striker with the lug and notch combo, current production of the bolt head with the notch had to continue to allow for any replacement bolt head to have a universal fit.
So a notched bolt head could be described as a Sht.LE Mk.I bolt head, although they were actually manufactured for many more years even though obscolete.

DP means drill purpose. Drill as in training, not just parade marching on the drill square. A soldier had to be taught how to load, unload and do all the other good stuff, sometimes ham fisted. Not a good thing for a live rifle that would be expected to be taken to the range or into battle and shot.

The British had a maintenance schedule for each and every firearm in the British inventory. Once a year, traveling armourers would inspect each rifle with gauges to ensure that it was in tip top condition. Can you imagine the logistics of doing this? But that is how it was done. A huge expense of time, money and resources.
DP rifles were not in this maintenance routine. They got zero inspection. No need, they would never be used for live fire. 

So if you find a DP rifle, that tells you that it has had zero maintenance while in service while marked as such.

Now some people will argue that although armourers would take poor condition rifles and parts that were deemed unserviceable, usually due to wear or some other serious problem and convert them, if there were no scrap rifles available for conversion to DP, perfectly good rifles would be pulled from stores and converted. Yes. that did happen but there are no differentiating markings to distinguish so.

It could be that the rifle is just fine. It could be one of those perfectly fine rifles that were pulled from stores. It could be worn and not economically repairable. It could have a cracked receiver. It might look perfectly fine but had been in a flood or a fire. Ya just never know as to why a rifle was made DP. So it is Russian roulette if you were to shoot one.

I have noticed that most of the people that argue that some DPs can be shot are the owners of such.
I confess that I have shot some of my DP rifles but I have gauges and can do an inspection a bit deeper than most people, but it is still a judgement call on my part. 18500 lbs per square inch of an instantaneous pressure spike going off inches in front of my face. 

DP marked arms are not intended for shooting, period. You are an adult, do your own risk assessment.

.
.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 10 2017 at 1:31pm
So it was both a different striker (with a "pin", instead of 2 cuts), a different locking mechanism for the striker in the cocking piece AND a different bolt head. All of them carried over from a different rifle?
Wacko
That would explain why I couldn't figure it out!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bear43 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 10 2017 at 5:50pm
I took pictures tonight of an early bolt I have to illustrate it all, Shamu. I will get them posted up over the weekend.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2017 at 9:15am
Thanks.
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 Bear43 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 22 2017 at 12:44pm
I spaced this out completely. First picture is the older and newer strikers. Older bottom, newer on top. The only difference is the nub standing proud on the older style. The second pic shows how it fits in the bolt head. To remove these strikers you remove the locking screw, turn the cocking piece to the "fired" position then simply turn the bolt head out while unscrewing the striker. The thing to note is that these strikers and bolt heads must fit together like this in the "fired" position so the collar on the striker mates with the base of the bolt head.




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 22 2017 at 1:55pm
Excellent! Thanks.
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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: November 23 2017 at 11:34am
"A picture paints a thousand words"
Thanks Bear. That is worth knowing!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote paddyofurniture Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 23 2017 at 3:33pm
Thank you for showing me something new about Enfield's.
Always looking for military manuals, Dodge M37 items,books on Berlin Germany, old atlases ( before 1946) , military maps of Scotland. English and Canadian gun parts.
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