Steve - Good thing you mentioned about the binding screw, because I was about to head off tomorrow to the range and shoot it without any real idea. I had another much closer look at the sight tonight and I have included a photo just taken to better show it.
As it looks from the photo, the slide binding screw is hitting the slide group first rather than the leaf, and I can see under a bright light from above that only a fraction of the slide binding screw's tip is contacting the leaf. So, yes, it is possible the slide binding screw's has been worn out at one stage and no matter how tight I bear down on the screw by hand, I can still shift the slide group by my hands.
That said, it doesn't look healthy at all. Ah, well, learning something new every day.
sc928porsche - Thanks, mate. In that case and what I've seen from a closer inspection, I reckon I'll give your solution a go. I just have to learn how to pull it apart (the '03 techincal manuals will come in handy!!), now it's off the '03 at the moment. All this is being a very interesting exercise as I've been more used to fixing all the quirks of the SMLE .303s and the occasional P-14.
Scharfschuetzer - You're making me drool again by your latest pic of your M2 .22 training rifle!
I have lusted after one ever since I saw one of them in a collector's guide to military rifles book, but that is an
extremely rare bird as I have never seen one for real in the last 15 years of shooting. I see more of the single shot SMLE .22 trainers though at some competitions.
Regards to model '05 bayonets, well, I'll have to find a place where I can just try one on because there was a few for sale, yours truly at $500 AU!
Speaking of 'rare' birds, anyone even seen a Canadian Ross rifle in the .303? I saw a bloke shoot the MkIII version just the only one time in a competition many moons ago. It was very, very interesting to watch him shoot the Ross rifle as I've read much of the stories about it. Then again, he had feeding issues after every time he reloaded with a stripper clip.