I have a 1917 Enfield that a gunsmith made into a 404 Jeffery barreled action.

I hadn't played with it until I started stocking it last week.

Thing is, it doesn't feed reliably. For a dangerous game rifle (or any rifle) that's not good.

It holds 4 rounds down. Here are the issues:

1. The 1st round and 3rd round feed from the left side. Most of the time the 1st round is canted (looks to be pivoting on the left rail) and it points towards the chamber and the rear end points to the magazine wall. The bolt face will not pick the round up in this position. I have to push the front of the round towards the left rail. it does this about 70-80% of the time. It also does the same on the 3rd round, but only about 10% of the time. The 2nd and 4th rounds feed from the right fine.

2. I've tested rounds loaded with NF 430 gr Solids and 380 gr soft points. Both have the issue. They are loaded at 3.53". Length and bullet shape don't appear to be causing the issue.

3. The bolt is also hard to pull back with extracting rounds. I noticed that lighter springs made a difference on it.

4. Looks there rail work and underside of the rails were free-handed with a grinding bit. LOTS of ridges, bumps, etc. Maybe that's the problem?

5. It would be great if the mag box longer to be able to load to 3.6", but that's a nice to have, not must have.

I've tried a combination of different springs and followers to correct the problem to no avail. That's the extent of my ability. It looks like the left rail needs to be adjusted (filed, welded, or both). Don't know if opening up the lower lip feeding into the chamber would work or not.

I need some recommendations on some gunsmiths that can work make in this area and have a very quick turn around on this issue.

Thanks!

The front left might need to be opened up. Hard to say without looking at the rifle though.

Here are some pictures. I'm pretty sure it's a rail issue and unfortunately, I think I need more rail, not less.........

This is a pic of receiver where it narrows down to the feed ramp. If you look closely, the radius of the left side (top radius in the pic) doesn't go in as much. I thought that might be causing it, so I loaded a round short so it wouldn't interfere. It still had the issue. Onto the rails.





This is a picture of the 1st round which comes up on the left. This is the position that prevents it from positioning correctly. See how the base of the round is below the bolt face? And the tip is higher? The bolt can't pick it up. However, if I push the front down, it returns to the correct position and will chamber. The subsequent 3 rounds work fine (well, the 3rd round, again from the left, has failed to feed one time).


Wrong Position



Magic Finger



Correct Position


So, here is a sequence showing when the rounds "pop-up" into the bolt face/extractor. The first picture is the 1st round. It comes up very soon. In fact, with a strong spring and with the bolt not moving fast enough, it pops out of the rifle altogether!


Round 1



The second picture is the 2nd round feeding from the right. It engaged further out.


Round 2



The third picture is the 3rd round from the left, again engaging early.


Round 3




The last picture is the 4th round from the right.


Round 4




So, is the verdict a messed up rail that needs to be welded back up?

Any suggestions?

I'm not sure. You may be on to something. The way the 1st and 3rd pop up early makes it seem likely. Can you tig weld? Maybe try a new follower? Hopefully someone else will chime in.

I ran a bunch of experiments today with different combinations of followers, springs, and spacing between the mag box and the receiver.

With a small gap (created by some pillar bedding towers that I was going to reduce slightly), I can get 100% reliable feeding on the solids. But the gap on the feed ramp that is created needs to be fixed. I can also get it to work with no gap, but only with one of the followers.

I suspect the combination of the less than ideal rail configuration and the tightness in the mag box is creating the issue. The different follower with and without the space seem to make enough of a difference. The spitzers will never feed under any circumstance.

Starting to wish I started with a model 70 chambered in a RUM, then all I had to do was rebarrel!

That's, weird. I'm not sure why a solid will feed but not a Spitzer. Is it the same issue as in your pictures?

Yep, same issue. I would have expected the opposite or for the bullet not to make a difference since it's the position of the round.

Really strange.

I sent it back to the gunsmith today to see what he could do.

Well fudge! I got the rifle back and it feeds now due to some rail/ramp work and a new follower, but the rounds that feed from the left side (first round up and third round up) never seat into the bolt face and extractor - it's just a pushfeed for those rounds (I could have built it on a Rem 700 Ultra mag!!!) And then the extractor snaps over when I close the bolt. Lovely.

Right side works perfectly.

I'm about ready to give up. I need to find someone else to look at it. Any suggestions?

Damn, sounds like you can't catch a break. What does the cartridge do that causes it to miss the bolt face?

It doesn't catch when it pops up. I think the extractor maybe to tight because the rounds from the right don't fit all the way in either. I tried stiffer springs and that didnt work.

I want to thank all of you for helping getting my 1917 404 feeding correctly.

Through a combination of bullets to try, a new follower, opening the receiver more, etc. I was able to put the final touch on it today.

If you remember, the original gunsmith opened the left rail a wee-bit too much. I could get 3 of the 4 rounds to feed 100% of time. The remaining 3 round would feed randomly. It would load into the chamber and extract fine, but the it wouldn’t always catch in the bolt face/extractor; in effect becoming a “push feed” for that round. And when it did catch, you had to cycle the bolt very fast.

I looked at every other CRF rifle I had – Mausers and Rugers – and noticed the rim on the lower side of the bolt face sat equal to or outside the left rail on the receiver. However, on my Enfield it sat inside the rail on the receiver. I noticed if I canted the bolt to the left when closing it that I could catch the round with higher frequency, but still required the bolt to cycle fast.

So I went in today and contoured the lower rim so it sat a hair outside the rails ….. and BAM – it feeds everything 100% every time, slow or fast. Hornady and Norma brass. 400 gr Woodleighs; solid and soft; 430 gr FPS Northforks, and 380 gr SP Northforks.

Sweet. Glad you got that worked out. It has to be darn near ready for the checkering by now?

Jeremy

quote:

Originally posted by farbedo:
Sweet. Glad you got that worked out. It has to be darn near ready for the checkering by now?

Jeremy

Need to bed and seal it. I delayed those steps until I got the feeding fixed.