Thread: .303s

Originally Posted by Old_School

I wouldn't be too concerned if it was missmatched, it wasn't uncommon for them to ship with a different serial on the bolt sometimes
My rifle has the serial out by only 5 on its bolt.

Nope….they were never shipped with non matching bolts.

Originally Posted by omark

Nope….they were never shipped with non matching bolts.

I believe you are right Omark - mix up at a dealer somewhere maybe

Originally Posted by omark

Nope….they were never shipped with non matching bolts.

Ok, I was reading a post on another forum that suggests it doesnt mean much at all.
My rifle has a 4 digit number, no letters in front at all like most appear to have, the number is the same on the barrel and action but the bolt ends with a different number to the rest, thats pretty close a number to the rest of the gun, its only out by 4. That seems a bit co incidental to get mixed up with a bolt that is still only the 4th rifle stamped after this one. Could likely have been shipped with a different bolt, if thats what the armourer installed.

https://www.gunboards.com/threads/ho...numbers.46535/
Quoted:
"They are of no consequence whatsoever. They were only put there because it was initially thought that components that required a certain amount of hand fitting might go missing when an armourer had a bench full of rifles to service.

When components were being cannabalised to repair rifles, so long as the bolts were lapped in and produced witness marks when blued, they were fit for service. I don't suppose for a minute that re-numbering was considered necessary at the time, although many SMLE backsights have as five different numbers on them as they were chopped and changed beteween rifles.

I think people are living in a fools paradise if they accept that a common numbered bolt is the one the rifle was originally built with.

We have several rare Enfields with non-matching bolt numbers. I get an little cross when people become rude about the fact. I do point out that the bolt fits, it is safe and the rifle passes headspace and probably the bolt was the one fitted by an armourer many years ago, so for all purposes, the bolt is the correct one."