Dr.Mall Ninja
Member
I went and bought that jungle carbine last Saturday, and I was hoping you guys could give me some advice on it. I had fistful help me to break it down and look it over, but he's never dealt with an Enfield before, so we were needing some help.
The bolt head catch was extremely stiff, so I thought it would need to be taken out and cleaned. But when we took it out, we found that a tab on the back side had broken off. It was still there, but must have been moving around a lot, and that must have been what made it so hard to operate. Here's a picture, with the semi-circle tab just above it. Without that tab, the catch sticks up too far, and won't allow the bolt to cycle, unless you push down a little bit on the catch.
What would be the best way to find a new one? Should I worry about firing it with a broken bolt head catch?
Another problem is that the previous owner gave me a box of Winchester Super Speed .303 cartridges, with some fired and unfired cartridges inside. On a couple of the fired primers, the firing pin made a very deep dent, and even went all the way through the primer on one of them. Is that a problem with the ammo, or with the gun? I looked around, and it seems that a lot of people have problems with their Enfields piercing primers. Is that as dangerous as it seems?
I also had a question about cleaning. Should I use the same .30 caliber brush I would use for a .30-06? Or do I need to use a brush made for the slightly larger .303 bore size? I used a .30 caliber brush, and some Shooter's Choice bore cleaner, and some Hoppe's No. 9, and cleaned the bore for about an hour. There is still a lot of nasty inside.
Finally, I did check for signs of fakes or replicas that I found on the internet. It seems genuine. It is marked No5MK1ROF(F), although the markings don't look very professional. Beneath that, it is marked 5/44, and I can see four digits of a serial number. It is marked ENGLAND on the wrist band, and also has a circle D on the knox form. It has other markings there. Some of them were partially removed by the lightning cuts. Here are a couple of pictures.
Thanks!
The bolt head catch was extremely stiff, so I thought it would need to be taken out and cleaned. But when we took it out, we found that a tab on the back side had broken off. It was still there, but must have been moving around a lot, and that must have been what made it so hard to operate. Here's a picture, with the semi-circle tab just above it. Without that tab, the catch sticks up too far, and won't allow the bolt to cycle, unless you push down a little bit on the catch.
What would be the best way to find a new one? Should I worry about firing it with a broken bolt head catch?
Another problem is that the previous owner gave me a box of Winchester Super Speed .303 cartridges, with some fired and unfired cartridges inside. On a couple of the fired primers, the firing pin made a very deep dent, and even went all the way through the primer on one of them. Is that a problem with the ammo, or with the gun? I looked around, and it seems that a lot of people have problems with their Enfields piercing primers. Is that as dangerous as it seems?
I also had a question about cleaning. Should I use the same .30 caliber brush I would use for a .30-06? Or do I need to use a brush made for the slightly larger .303 bore size? I used a .30 caliber brush, and some Shooter's Choice bore cleaner, and some Hoppe's No. 9, and cleaned the bore for about an hour. There is still a lot of nasty inside.
Finally, I did check for signs of fakes or replicas that I found on the internet. It seems genuine. It is marked No5MK1ROF(F), although the markings don't look very professional. Beneath that, it is marked 5/44, and I can see four digits of a serial number. It is marked ENGLAND on the wrist band, and also has a circle D on the knox form. It has other markings there. Some of them were partially removed by the lightning cuts. Here are a couple of pictures.
Thanks!