Lee Action – (Trigger, Bolt, Safety, Headspacing, Rifling and Barrel Threading)

The Lee-Enfield trigger assembly
This graphic shows the 2-stage trigger pull.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Safety
This image shows the positioning of the Lee-Enfield safety/locking bolt in the cocked and un-cocked positions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The SMLE bolt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                A - Bolt head,
                                                                                                                B - Extractor,
                                                                                                                C - Bolt head lug which housed the extractor and extractor spring,
                                                                                                                D - Bolt guide rib/locking lug
                                                                                                                E - Cocking piece,
                                                                                                                F - Left locking lug and
                                                                                                                G - Gas vent hole in the bolt head

 

Headspace

Headspace adjustments can be easily accomplished with the Lee-Enfield, simply by replacing the bolthead. As the Enfield rifle was a military, combat designed rifle there are actually two sets of specs listed for headspace. These are:

 

 

 

 

 

Remember that the .303 is a rimmed cartridge, so headspace is the distance between the bolt face and the cartridge rim. Unlike the rimless cartridge, which draws it's headspace from bolt face and the cartridge shoulder.

For the SMLE/No1 family of Enfield's adjusting headspace can be accomplished by swapping different boltheads until one is found to produce the desired distance. This is necessary because the SMLE was only manufactured with one size of bolthead and the unit armourer stoned the bolt face to correct for headspace.

In designing the No4/No5 family of Enfield's, this minor headache was cured by producing 4 different bolthead sizes. This allowed the unit armourer and now the private owner to simply select the correct bolthead to quickly adjust headspace to specs.

Each No4/No5 bolthead is numbered 0, 1, 2, or 3. Each number specifies an increase in length, nominally .003 of an inch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lee Enfield Barrel Threading

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metford and Enfield Rifling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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