The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

This is one of those wee hour thoughts while waiting to fall back to sleep.....

Over the years I've heard a number of accounts of No.1's and No.4 actions exploding due to various reasons, fatigue, over pressured reloads, incorrect head spacing, bad juju to name but a few. The story's always seems to be from a friend of a friend of a friend at his/her club!

Since owning a couple, again I've had people come up and tell me I'm taking a risk shooting one. Usually by a person who appears to have never shot anything greater than a 22. These are the minority, as most people say "oh that's nice or it takes me back..."

I did a google search and didn't come up with a scary number of stories to back this up. A photo that was repeatedly labeled as a chamber explosion, turned out to be a result of a WW1 German sniper bullet and I think the rifle is in a museum with a label saying lucky escape for the British sniper! To be honest the results suggest it will be one of my AR's that will get me in the end!

Is there any truth to these stories or is it a myth, like firing a No.5 will put your shoulder into a different county!

I have seen sprung Enfield action but never a blown one and that was due to a hand load that was a bit stiff. The main issue is always going to be head space and I see a lot fail than pass when head spaced, some by a lot as well. These days people tend to treat them nicely and keep them clean and well maintained so the incidence of failures is not so high.

Guns that do blow up? Mostly Winchester and Marlin under levers, add a couple of Ruger offerings and the occasional Remington, always because of misuse.

Cookisan wrote: Is there any truth to these stories or is it a myth

Myth....apart from badly maintained rifles back in the old days when they were ten a penny as mil surp, or stories from the USA where Bubba and Co gunsmiths think they know better than anyone else.

Cookisan wrote:like firing a No.5 will put your shoulder into a different county!

Pah......firing my K98 makes my No.5 feel like a .22 in comparison

Weakness in the lee action is total nonsense made up by the yank shooting press. There are no recorded incidents of the action failing with in-spec ammunition and a clear barrel. The below article explains why the lee action is strong.

https://www.vintageguns.co.uk/magazine/who-won-the-war-

That's something I heard a few times "a weak action" particularly in the No.1's,

That article was particularly interesting. Thanks for that.

Sadly I've come across this in other walks of life, where half truths and folk law get regurgitated time after time then somewhere along the line makes it into actual fact.

Cheers chaps!

I have seen No1 Mk3's 'sprung' (Deformed or twisted) due to heavy hand loads however they invariably end up with a very heavy bolt operation as opposed to exploding

When you say "sprung", do you see damage to the small lug or is the action stretched?

I have seen a No1 action body cracked on the left hand side in front of the bridge.

Bolt bodies can of course sheer, but this is always down to a poorly fitted bolt that's not bedded correctly/evenly, on both locking lugs.

It's always worth checking even lug bedding, especially on an Enfield with a miss matched bolt.

Cookisan wrote:When you say "sprung", do you see damage to the small lug or is the action stretched?

The receiver had stretched.

Ovenpaa - sorry I didn't respond to your original text, I feel bad you had to send it again.

Alan D - I spent ages blacking the lug faces with a permanent marker and repeatedly operating the bolt and checking for even polishing, the wife thought I was barking mad!