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Replace Firing Pin, Get 3.5# Trigger

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105GunGrunt View Drop Down
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    Posted: March 27 2020 at 1:07pm
I recently acquired a 1942 BSA #Q3943.  The stock was pretty beat up, with two well executed arsenal patches.  I bought it because the bore was in almost new condition with good headspace, and I love restoring old rifles.  The trigger pull was two stage with about 4.5 - 5.0 pounds on each stage.

I completely dissembled the rifle looking for worn or broken parts.  The firing pin had an almost imperceptible bend on the threaded end, and the cocking piece had smooth sides.  Since IMHO it is always good to have spare bolt parts on hand I ordered a used, but like new firing pin (real thing, not some after market copy) and a new cocking piece with grooved sides.

First, the new firing pin screwed on to both the old and new cocking piece, but the locking screwed head was too large to fit the recess in the new cocking piece.  As a result I attached the old/original cocking piece to the new firing pin.  When I reassembled the rifle I found I now had a single stage trigger with a 3.5# trigger pull!  The reason was the sear was now just barely catching the mating surface on the front of the cocking piece.  It seems to me that at some point someone (an armorer?) had bent the end of the original firing pin with the cocking piece installed up in order to for the front of the cocking piece to be far enough down so the sear/cocking piece relationship was correct.

This is my first Enfield but it seems from my experience (and from other posts on this forum) that if I were to pick five No 4s at random, completely disassemble them, put the pieces in a box and shake them up I might be able to only put two or three back in working order.

I shoot the M1898 Krag, M1917 "Enfield" and 1903 in CMP As-Issued competition.  These rifles all seem to have been built to a strict set of specifications.  If I buy original parts I know they will always fit without adjustment.

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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: March 27 2020 at 5:28pm
big difference between an enfield and your M1917s and M1903s [not so much the krag ] is that the US contracts demanded interchangeability of parts , the commonwealth hand fitted theirs and parts were meant to stay with the rifle till armorer hand fitted replacements , probably did not help much but just mentioning for the record , hard to say who fit your rifle up but the parts need to number match , 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote britrifles Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 27 2020 at 5:42pm
You may not have the correct striker locking screw (the screw that goes in the back of the cocking piece to secure the striker from turning). You can get them from Numrich.  

If you install the new cocking piece w/o the screw, check the trigger pull.  Make sure the cocking piece Is not loose (rock up and down) on the striker threads, many do, and can result in a single stage pull.  Applying solder to the threads of the striker will cure this.  

Also, make sure that the front of the cocking piece does not come into contact with the rear face of the bolt body, it it does, you have the cocking piece screwed too far into the striker. The collar on the striker is intended to arrest the striker forward movement on the back of the bolt head. 



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