No.4 fires on half cock

[Gaz]

I discovered on the weekend that my No.4 will, with some serious pressure on the trigger, fire while at half cock. In theory this means the rifle is no longer drop-safe, although as a range shooter I'm not overly worried about the safety implications - after all, I only chamber a round when I'm nn the point and about to fire!

I do want to fix this, though. There's no obvious damage or burring on the half-cock bent on the cocking piece and all lips are nice and sharp. However, if I run my thumbnail across the half-cock bent I can feel a very subtle imperfection. The upper face of the sear is rounded at the 'point'.

Any suggestions?

[saddler]

Aye - get a new sear!

[Rearlugs]

"Serious pressure" on the trigger would be enough - depending upon the wear on the two components - to force the sear to cam the cocking piece backwards enough to release the sear. The system is not really designed for "serious pressure" - it is an old bolt locking technology (when safety catches were not fitted) that was retained as useful safety fall-back for when the safety lug fails (the little oval lug that prevents the rifle firing when unlocked). I guess they assumed that shooter would notice that the rifle was on half cock when normal/moderate pressure on the trigger showed it was blocked...

Your rifle is probably perfectly ok, unless it also has a tendency to fire on single pressure/ hair trigger/ variable trigger pressure, in which case usually the cocking piece needs to be swapped for one that gives more "face" to the sear - or the action body itself is too worn to limit the vertical movement of the bolt body (as with old No1s that have fired about a million rounds...).

[Gaz]

Your rifle is probably perfectly ok, unless it also has a tendency to fire on single pressure/ hair trigger/ variable trigger pressure, in which case usually the cocking piece needs to be swapped for one that gives more "face" to the sear - or the action body itself is too worn to limit the vertical movement of the bolt body (as with old No1s that have fired about a million rounds...).

Which is happily not the case! Phew - glad it's not a real problem.