Thread: Stock fitting/torque
Retrieved: 06/06/2014

Not sure this counts as stock fitting as such but I'm planning on taking my No4 Mk1* to a 25 metre range to play with the torque setting on the king screw and barrel bands.

I'm not even sure if torque wrenches were around in '43, but is there a factory standard to start with? Or has anyone come up with a good place to start?

Not expecting miracles but thought it'd be a nice way to kill a morning at Bisley.

Alan de Enfield
07-29-2013

The 'King Screw' on an Enfield is correctly called the "Front Trigger Guard Screw."

There is no torque setting for this as it should be installed and 'bottomed out' - as long as the correct length collar is used you wil not crush the forend.

Here is a short excerpt from a series of 'lectures' given by Peter Laidler (have a look in the MIlsurps Library to view them)

"...Now it's time to fit the trigger guard and Screw, rear, tie, fore-end if you have a Mk1/2 or 1/3. There's a good chance that the rear of the trigger guard will foul due to the height of the new wood. If that's the case, then simply scrape away the wood inside its seating to allow it to seat correctly all the way to the front. The trigger guard should not spring at the rear or front... NO it shouldn't! If it was meant to, it'd be made of spring steel! Now for a little tip. The COLLAR. You MUST have a collar and spring washer. This is what WE used to do. Put the front trigger guard screw into the trigger guard and body WITHOUT the washer or collar. Reverse it (that's anti-clockwise...) until you hear it click over the start thread and tighten it BUT COUNT THE TURNS UNTIL IT TIGHTENS AND LOCKS. Say, that it'd 7 ¼ turns to lock. Now do this with the collar fitted if it's now, say 6 ½ turns, shorten the collar, a smidgin at a time, until the screw tightens up at exactly 7 ¼ turns. That way, you KNOW that the screw is tight, the fore-end is tight between the trigger guard and the screw and you are not crushing the living daylights out of the fore-end. And if it feels a little loose in a years time, then you can safely turn a few thou off the collar."

A loose, or backed out Front Trigger Guard Screw will initially result in vertical 'stringing' of your bullets and eventually - probably - a split forend.

A loose FTG screw will also result in the Triger Guard being loose, this will mean that the trigger is not presented at the corect angle to the sear etc. Everything is interlinked, trigger guard, trigger, sear, bolt, cocking piece, firing pin etc. etc.

BritishBeer
07-29-2013

Thanks Alan, I really ought to have checked Peter Laidler's articles before asking. I'll leave the Front Trigger Guard Screw as is, which is locked down.

I'll have a check on the articles regarding the barrel bands (apologies if that's the wrong nomenclature) but as far as I've heard before the idea is to fire a series of groups and see how tight they work best?

ssj
07-29-2013

I would, or I am assuming that first you should be making sure the draws are correct first, plus the front bearing loading. At least thats how I read what Peter L and others have written.

ssj
07-30-2013

Originally Posted by BritishBeer
I'll have a check on the articles regarding the barrel bands (apologies if that's the wrong nomenclature) but as far as I've heard before the idea is to fire a series of groups and see how tight they work best?

There is a school of thought for target shooters that at the centre band point the barrel has a new bearing underneath and that this point the top is packed with cork to give a mid point bearing all around, forward of this the barrel is made fully floating. However looking at the original No.4 setup Ive not seen anything that suggests there is any part of the top woods bearing down or touching on the barrel (if I've understood correctly). On top of that the std. No.4 setup at the front bearing with 3 to 5lbs upward pressure with the top wood above free seems and gives the best long term results from what I've read. There is a YouTube series on accurising Enfields back to "as issued": The Lee Enfield Accuracy Secrets Channel - YouTube. So your first work IMHO is look for defects and correct to whats is a 50~70 year old gun. Especially as during the war and indeed afterwards as furniture wood was very variable in quality and hence bad effect on accuracy. For instance I have an un-issued lower forestock that has virtually no support for the trigger gaurd in the safety side of the magazine cutout, I will have to add wood or synthetic bedding material to fix that.

BritishBeer
07-30-2013

Regarding the extra contact at the mid point, I thought one of the main benefits of the No.4s over their predecessors was that it only had contact and pressure at the muzzle end?

Not speaking from experience or having tested what you mentioned but I can't imagine any target shooter having wanted a less free floating barrel.

Keeping mine std. as well. My No.4's not exactly rare but I like it being as original as possible.