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Stronger Striker spring
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:34 pm
by NuJudge
I'm looking for something to improve ignition with old British .303 ammo. Has anybody here tried this?
I tried a stronger striker spring to try to improve lock time in a 1903 Springfield, and did not notice that. What I did notice was an intollerable increase in force necessary to lift the bolt handle.
CDD
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:50 pm
by Aughnanure
NuJudge,
More info please.
1) What's the condition of your main spring?
2) Firing pin protrusion?
3) Shape of the point of the pin?
It's been my experience that old .303 will either go off, if the rifle is OK, or it wont because of detioration of the primer.
In the 1960s I was using stuff from the late 1900s and recently fired some late 1930s ammo with no problems.
A #4 Mk I and a freshly FTR'd #5
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:03 pm
by NuJudge
I'm just girding my loins in case of the worst. I bought quite a bit of British surplus, split about evenly between Kynoch 1952 and a mix of late WWII makes and years.
I've shot both with commercial and South African (HARD primers!) and they had no problems with ignition. The #4 appears to have come out of India, and appears to have been shot quite a bit, but the barrel is smooth and not pitted or rusted. I have not examined firing pin protrusions, but tips look nicely round and have given no problem with pierces.
CDD
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:12 pm
by Aughnanure
I'd fear the worst too
If they've both been performing OK with other ammo then it looks like you may have some bad rounds.
Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 12:47 pm
by brewstop
Putting a stronger striker spring in an Enfield makes absolutely no difference to ammo ignition. The ammo is "click-bang" because the primer compound has deteriorated and takes longer to flash-dry and ignite. Thumping the primer harder and quicker makes no difference. I've fired thousands of rounds of "click-bang" whilst testing 100s of different rifles (I group test each rifle with up to ten types of .303), and the ignition rate remain consistent regardless of the rifle (unless you have under-protrusion of the firing pin, which is a different matter).
Heavier striker springs generally increase the trigger weight, often worsen the pull-off, and can cause the typical Enfield "bolt handle rise" to increase to the point where the rifle auto-unloads itself...