Can anyone identify this bolt piece?

Long story short, I bought an Eddystone 1917 because the local Cabela's was selling it....$700 off the regular price. They had others there for $800-$900, but this one was $200. There was a metric ton of rust and dirt on the outside of the rifle, but the internals looked pretty good. I thought it's about time for another project gun.

Why was it $700 off? Well, the bolt wont close when trying to chamber a round. After some time of searching through the internet, I cannot find a picture of an Eddystone 1917 bolt cocking piece that looks like mine. It looks like the cocking piece is from a different rifle. Here's what the cocking piece looks like on my bolt.





And here's a few picture of what the piece is supposed to look like.





I really have no idea what kind of piece is on my bolt.

What caliber is it .303 british, or 30-06 ?Custom Cock on opening speed lock assembly from Sarco for 1917 Enfield, that looks close to it. may need to order a new cocking piece.could be the Dayton Traister P14/17 Enfield Replacement Cocking Piece.

a reply to: chopperswolf

Yup, those look identical to mine. Thanks.

Looks like I'll have to order an original cocking piece. Good thing they're only about $10....still a pretty good deal considering how much the other Eddystone's were going for.

ETA - Mine's in 30-06

a reply to: buni11687
Glad I could help, I have a fondness for the old war horse battle rifles, used to have a couple myself.

a reply to: chopperswolf

Im a big fan of the older guns to. I didn't even plan on buying this today, but when I saw the price, I just couldn't resist.

If it has a good bore, I think that you made a good buy.
What surprises me is that Cabelas let it go that cheap. they don't have good deals in my opinion.
on your find.

I swear I seen something like that on Discovery channel. Not sure but rambling on further to avoid one line penalty post.:-)

I wondered if it was that too. a reply to: buni11687

Well, I finally got an original cocking piece in the mail today and installed it.

The bolt now cocks on closing, but the bolt still wont close while chambering a round. Im beginning to wonder if maybe it's the extractor? If I take the bolt out of the rifle and place a round under the extractor, the round is very very loose and falls off with just even a tiny shake.

I also believe the bolt sleeve may be something non-original, which "may" also be a cause of the problem. The sleeve is the same color as the unknown cocking piece (these 2 pieces are the only different colored pieces on the bolt, the rest are similar in color) and I cannot see any symbols I recognize on it.

Im leaning towards an extractor issue this time.

I looked over Ebay and a few other places on the internet and see that there's a hole in the top area of the extractor on the side (side towards the chamber). My extractor has no such hole. Pictures below.

What the extractor is supposed to look like, atleast from all the images Ive looked at.



What mine looks like.

Here's a better picture of the underside of the extractor.



The left arrow points to a curved cut, compared to the more straighter cut in the above pictures.

The right arrow points towards near where the hole should be.

a reply to: buni11687

Little known fact about the Enfield, they have a certain amount of receiver stretch over their service lives. This obviously affects headspace. Now where this applies to you is the British solution to this, and most likely explains why your rifle was 700 bucks cheaper than it's siblings.

That's the bad news... the good news is you're looking at a fix that's pretty easy and at worst will cost 150 bucks.
To counter receiver stretch the British have a variety of bolt heads with varying lengths to be installed as the rifle ages and thus stretches. The fix is to get a go no go gauge set for the caliber in question if it won't close on the go gauge you'll know headspace is too short, incidentally your gun being that cheap probably means that they bought the guns in bulk from a reseller and to get a number of "good" guns with high resale they most likely took your bolt head and swapped it.

Once you've gauged it my recommendation is to pm me and I'll help you determine the proper bolt head and help you find one.

The bolt head on a 1917 "American Enfield" or British P14 is not replaceable. The bolt assy. that you have has the cock on opening cocking piece or a modified cocking piece. The bold has also been modified for cock on opening by cutting a ramp for the modified cocking piece. If you also have an extractor problem try chambering a dummy round without the extractor installed. You can go either way...obtain a Dayton Traister or Sarco trigger and "cock on opening" kit or if you are lucky you will only need the trigger assy. If you want to go back to the original configuration you may need to replace the bolt, sear and trigger. If you still cannot chamber a round check to see if you have a P14 bolt. The locking lugs and extractor have to be modified in order to use a P14 bolt in a 1917 .
a reply to: buni11687