VIDEO: How to Remove a Lee Enfield Bolt

A

Amsdorf

Moderator
The Lee Enfield's bolt is held in place in a rather interesting way and there are a couple tricks to getting it out of the rifle. When I purchased my LE there were four or five guys huddled around it trying to figure it out. One guy was trying to remember...finally...another guy came up and showed us all how it was done.

I made this video to help somebody trying this for the first time.

LINK TO VIDEO

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You probably need to clarify which model that technique works on. The method you demonstrated is not applicable to mine.
 
Thanks, good suggestion. Let me know if you think this information is correct.

As somebody else mentioned:

As far as I know all the British variants of the rifle designed by James Paris Lee utilized the same method for bolt removal, at least the ones commonly encountered do.

Those would be the No. 1 Mark III and variants, No 4 Mark I and variants, and No 4 Mark II.

I can't say for certain about the original Lee Metford introduced in 1888 but seems it's also the same.
 
IIRC the Enfield NO4 MK1, NO4 MKII, and NO5 MK1 utilize a spring loaded locking tab behind the stripper clip feed lips which is pressed down to allow the bolt face to slide past it, rotate 90 degrees up, and slide all the way out. the Long Branch and Savage NO4 MK1* utilize a cut out in the bolt face guide ramp which allows you to rotate the bolt face up 90 degrees and out of the way to be removed. the NO 4 MK1 and NO4 MK1* are two separate models and have many slight differences in operation which are not applicable to British made Enfields.
 
The British Lee Enfield's confusing array of numbers and features is really bizarre. You would think they would have wanted everything to be standardized and able to have parts interchanged easily, as was the case with the Garand, etc.
 
that is the largest drawback of the enfield. it seems like every factory that made them had slight differences that completely took interchangeability off the shelf. as for the designations
NO1MKIII is the most common of the NO1 variants made by all major members of the british empire during WWI

Pattern 14 Enfield, actually manufactured in the US during WWI and based off a mauser action. didn't catch on with english troops so the P14 was scrapped. te P14 design was modified to take 30-06 instead of 303 and was made for the US military as the US model 1917 30 cal and was given the misnomer Enfield 1917, P17 or most common American Enfield.

NO4MK1 made in England to replace the NO1 MKIII leading up to WWII. IIRC australia and india continued to use no1 MKIIIs throughout WWII while the brits and Canadians went with the newer NO4.

NO4 MK1* was made by Savage arms in the US and Long Branch in Canada and sold to great britain under the land lease act. in order to ease production the different bolt release was made to get rid of moving parts among other small modifications.

NO5 MK1 most often called the Jungle Carbine was made at the end of WWII as is a semi sporterized variant of the no4 MK1 action with lightening cuts throughout to cut down on weight.

NO4 MKII is a post WWII production rifle that never saw actual war time service. they are highly sought after just due to the relatively small numbers in which they were made and the fact that many have never been fired.
 
I replaced the video in the OP with a new version, clarifying the fact that this process is the one required for the LE No. 4 MK1* and it may be different from the process required by other LE rifles.
 
;)

Basic Enfield tool kit.

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...:rolleyes:...
 
The No 4 Mk II saw wartime service in Korea and numerous post war skirmishes such as the Malay Emergency and Kenya.

The P14 wasn't adopted primarily because it was never produced in numbers and thus most British soldiers never saw one. It was highly regarded as a sniping rifle.
 
;)

The #4 MkII was still in production well into the mid 1950's and I have seen pictures of one dated 1957. The late rifles are very well made and sought after by shooters/collectors.

Cheers
...MJ...
New '53 and '54 MkII's.
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