1939 No1 MkIII headspace issues

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   he!!o everyone. I (mistakenly) purchased a No1 MkIII from RTI. After the first one failed headspace I received this one as a replacement from them. It also failed headspace but they refused to replace it. The bolt is mismatched and, based on the cocking piece, is significantly older than the rifle. I loaded it on a lead sled and fired one round while safely behind cover. The casing was bulged on one side near the case head and the primer backed out slightly (Remington UMC round). I checked the lug engagement and, while it was relatively even, there was little engagement on either lug. The bore is frosty with strong rifling. However it swallows a Remington UMC .303 bullet (.308 diameter bullet IIRC) and almost swallows a 7.62x54r bullet(.311 bullet, also iirc). For what it is worth, the bolt head measures .631 on one side and .628 on the other.I am wondering how to proceed with repairing this rifle. The bore isn't great to begin with and now Apex Gun Parts has several no1 barrels in stock. I suppose one of my questions is: Assuming I re-barrel the rifle, can it be headspace such that I can use the original bolt and cocking piece after a gunsmith has stoned them to ensure better contact with the receiver? As far as I know these barrels are take-offs so I don't know how that would affect the headspacing process.
As you may have suspected this is my first foray into Enfield rifles so please don't be too hard on me for my idiotic missteps. As of right now this thing is a total wall hanger and, aside from the buyers remorse, it just kills me to have a gun that can't do what it was built to do. Thank you all kindly for your time.

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freemang20 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: April 22 2024 Location: Virginia Status: Offline Points: 2	Post Options Post Reply Quote freemang20 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: 1939 No1 MkIII headspace issues Posted: April 22 2024 at 1:11pm
	he!!o everyone. I (mistakenly) purchased a No1 MkIII from RTI. After the first one failed headspace I received this one as a replacement from them. It also failed headspace but they refused to replace it. The bolt is mismatched and, based on the cocking piece, is significantly older than the rifle. I loaded it on a lead sled and fired one round while safely behind cover. The casing was bulged on one side near the case head and the primer backed out slightly (Remington UMC round). I checked the lug engagement and, while it was relatively even, there was little engagement on either lug. The bore is frosty with strong rifling. However it swallows a Remington UMC .303 bullet (.308 diameter bullet IIRC) and almost swallows a 7.62x54r bullet(.311 bullet, also iirc). For what it is worth, the bolt head measures .631 on one side and .628 on the other. I am wondering how to proceed with repairing this rifle. The bore isn't great to begin with and now Apex Gun Parts has several no1 barrels in stock. I suppose one of my questions is: Assuming I re-barrel the rifle, can it be headspace such that I can use the original bolt and cocking piece after a gunsmith has stoned them to ensure better contact with the receiver? As far as I know these barrels are take-offs so I don't know how that would affect the headspacing process. As you may have suspected this is my first foray into Enfield rifles so please don't be too hard on me for my idiotic missteps. As of right now this thing is a total wall hanger and, aside from the buyers remorse, it just kills me to have a gun that can't do what it was built to do. Thank you all kindly for your time.

BrianBDL Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Special Member Joined: April 01 2024 Location: South Carolina Status: Offline Points: 20	Post Options Post Reply Quote BrianBDL Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: April 28 2024 at 4:39pm
	I've rescued a number of the Ethiopian issue RTI SMLEs from the dead in the past but that was when Sarco had a plentiful supply of nos and excellent condition Indian, (RFI), barrels. They are long out of stock now. My advice would be to not bother buying a replacement barrel from APEX as they are all out of spec. I've had a few sent here and they fail the gauging standards miserably every time. Then you wind up in the return process unless you want a $200 piece of rebar. If they don't pass muzzle, throat and bore gauging, they are rebar in my humble opinion. I asked them to check barrels before they send them out to buyers since they sell the .307 plug, .310 plug and .301 run gauges but they refuse to do it. Like everyone else, you need to keep an eye on the auction sites for a useable barrel.