Striker Pin (firing pin) Does Not Reach The Bullet.

[Tom]

Bought a beautiful bolt body with handle lowered and lengthened for scope clearance. I then installed a new Buehler safety. PROBLEM: THE PIN WILL NOT PROTRUDE OUT OF THE HOLE.(when firing).

1. I then installed a different, "firing assembly". Same problem.
2. I checked headspacing with my go-no go gages. It was fine.
3. Fired it, Wouldn't even touch the primer. WON"T even come out of the hole.
*******4. I tried dropping a firing-pin into the empty bolt. No problem. SEE PIC. #3 *********



Soooo: The problem cannot be the rifle itself. (It has always worked).
Cannot be the internal firing parts. (they were swapped

I can't believe that a gunsmith would make such a nice modification and leave it unusable. I just assume that he never tried to fire it, I'll never know.

There is (possibly) a little more meat on leading edge of new bolt handle, where it is shiny. See first picture.





Thanks, Tom

[Emri]

Are you screwing the firing mechanism in all the way ?? I've "repaired" plenty of bolt action rifles where the owner unscrewed everything to clean it and it wouldn't fire afterwards. Most were just re-assembled improperly.

[chuckindenver]

the bolt in the pictures appears to be slightly warped.
doubt thats your issue, likely with the striker sticking out as much as pictured, it should set a live round off with no issue.

[jgaynor]

In picture #3 of 5 - Did you just drop the striker down the bolt? With that much protrusion you should be marking the primers. Reassemble the bolt, with the firing pin cocked, pull back on the cocking piece move the safety to "Fire" and ease the cocking piece all the way down. The striker tip should protrude from the bolt face just as in pic #3. If it doesn't, either the bolt sleeve is not screwed in far enough or the firing pin/ striker is incorrectly assembled. Did you change the mainspring by any chance?

Regards,

Jim

[wayne]

Try firing without the extractor on the bolt.

[Fred]

Sounds like you might not've turned the sleeve/striker rod/cocking piece in all the way or One More Revolution. Could you confirm this?

[Tom]

Yes Emri, Jim, and Fred the sleeve is screwed all the way in. And checked head space.

Doesn't anybody believe that the factory bolt body, with a handle modification, that NOW won't shoot. Must not be ground correctly?

Remember: assemblies from my other rifles WON'T work in it either.

Wayne thinks that the extractor is holding the bolt from battery position, the gunsmith at our club said same thing, but I doubt that. I will try anyhow.

Chuck, you missed my point: when firing the rifle the firing pin does not come out of the bolt. But, when holding the empty bolt body-the firing pin can be "dropped" all the way in and on through the hole.

[kcw]

Tom,
Considering what issues you've already eliminated, my best guess would that the reconfigured bolt handle is hitting either the receiver rail or the wood (maybe both), thus not allowing the bolt to rotate quite enough to obtain battery position. I might suggest that you paint a THIN layer of "Whiteout" on the underside of the bolt handle and then work the bolt handle closed several times (pressing it closed with moderate pressure to the handle) to see if any of the Whiteout is transferred to the receiver or wood via contact with the underside of the handle. I'm thinking that the issue will be found at that shiney crease area in pic #4, or somewhere further out on the underside of the reconfigured portion of the bolt handle.

[Tom]

BETTER PICTURES. Bet you didn't know a cleaning rod would "snap nicely" into a firing pin. lol

PS Charlie is very disappointed, he wants to go.

Thank you kcw. I will try it tonight.


Be sure to "click" on the pictures.

[John Beard]

Something about the description of your problem is not adding up.

You say the bolt sleeve/firing pin assembly in your bolt will not protrude out the striker hole in the bolt face.

You say the striker protrudes out the striker hole in the bolt face just fine if dropped into the bolt separately.

You say that a bolt sleeve/firing pin assembly from another rifle will also not protrude out the striker hole in the bolt face. Your statements suggest that this bolt sleeve/firing pin assembly works fine in the other rifle. Please confirm.

With respect to the cause, some possibilities are:

(1) The bolt has been stretched. This seems a bit far fetched and unlikely.
(2) The bolt sleeve/firing pin assembly is not screwed in all the way. Very likely. I note in your photo what appears to be excessive sleeve lock protrusion, which suggests that the sleeve is not fully screwed into the bolt. Can you provide a photo of the sleeve lock with the sleeve screwed into the bolt.
(3) The mainspring or striker sleeve is binding on an obstruction inside the bolt body. Perhaps.

Try this. With the bolt cocked, lower the safety to the READY or FIRE position. Grasp the cocking piece, pull it back slightly, depress the sleeve lock, rotate the cocking piece counterclockwise one-fourth turn, then carefully lower it into the bolt. Then take and post a picture of the cocking piece resting in the bolt cam.

Do this for Charlie. Thanks.

J.B.

[Tom]

OK kcw, here is pics of handle rotated into the wood. However, it doesn't hit the metal.

But the rifle must be reaching battery because it "clicks". Am I wrong on that?

[Tom]

Charlie may owe you a bone. check-out front alignment (the lug and the extractor) with a standard bolt assembly installed (handle DOES hit the metal). I will take a dowel ( wrapped in sandpaper) to the wood slot, until the other bolt handle touches the metal, right?? I will try to get to the range tomorrow. That is what 40+ years at same company gets ya. lol

Strange that it headspaced ok with the other bolt not fully rotated.

[Tom]

Something about the description of your problem is not adding up.

You say the bolt sleeve/firing pin assembly in your bolt will not protrude out the striker hole in the bolt face.

You say the striker protrudes out the striker hole in the bolt face just fine if dropped into the bolt separately.

You say that a bolt sleeve/firing pin assembly from another rifle will also not protrude out the striker hole in the bolt face. Your statements suggest that this bolt sleeve/firing pin assembly works fine in the other rifle. Please confirm.

With respect to the cause, some possibilities are:

(1) The bolt has been stretched. This seems a bit far fetched and unlikely.
(2) The bolt sleeve/firing pin assembly is not screwed in all the way. Very likely. I note in your photo what appears to be excessive sleeve lock protrusion, which suggests that the sleeve is not fully screwed into the bolt. Can you provide a photo of the sleeve lock with the sleeve screwed into the bolt.
(3) The mainspring or striker sleeve is binding on an obstruction inside the bolt body. Perhaps.

Try this. With the bolt cocked, lower the safety to the READY or FIRE position. Grasp the cocking piece, pull it back slightly, depress the sleeve lock, rotate the cocking piece counterclockwise one-fourth turn, then carefully lower it into the bolt. Then take and post a picture of the cocking piece resting in the bolt cam.

Do this for Charlie. Thanks.

J.B.

Thanks John, I will try to go step-by-step with what you suggested.
#1. Maybe the bolt IS stretched, but why woould they sell it to me, I could send it right back.
#2. Yes, I will send a photo showing sleeve completely screwed-in. It did head-space too.
#3. Yes, I did notice the spring grabbing as I pulled it-out. I bought some lapping compound and used an old firing pin and drill motor,to remove any rust or burrs. I also changed to a thinner spring (I miked it), and different striker rod.
#4. Yes, you are correct, the range guy did that manual firing exercise(out of the rifle) and the pin slammed right through the hole as it should.

Put it back in rifle and at least got it to "scratch" the primer just once. No dent!!

Pictures of this all tomorrow. Thanks.

[kcw]

Charlie may owe you a bone. check-out front alignment (the lug and the extractor) with a standard bolt assembly installed (handle DOES hit the metal). I will take a dowel ( wrapped in sandpaper) to the wood slot, until the other bolt handle touches the metal, right?? I will try to get to the range tomorrow. That is what 40+ years at same company gets ya. lol

Strange that it headspaced ok with the other bolt not fully rotated.

At this point in the closing rotation of the bolt the bolt lugs have already cleared the sloped areas of the races in the receiver; thus the bolt has gone as far forward as it going to go and headspace (good or bad) has been achieved. Unfortunately the bolt is not yet rotated enough degrees so as to allow the striker, as it moves forward, to clear the machined "passage channel" inside the bolt, thus causing the striker to hang up inside the bolt (aka: failure to acheive battery position). At this point I would definetly "paint" the underside of the bolt handle with something like Whiteout and close the bolt on the wet Whiteout, thus marking the high points of contact between the bolt handle and the stock. This will tell you where to start taking off wood. Repeat the process as you see the results of your work starting to allow the bolt to close. When you get the safety lug to line up with the extractor you should be good to go, other than I'd want to have some small amount of clearance (lash) between the wood and the underside of the bolt handle too.

[Fred]

Yes, it certainly does appear that because the bolt handle is shaped like it is, you might have to cut the notch deeper out of the stock to make room for the handle to seat completely.

[chuckindenver]

still say your bolt appears to warped, as well as its not closing enough to be safe..another bolt is in order, or notch the reciever so that the handle will close all the way..
dont fire the rifle until this issue is resolved.

[jgaynor]

OK kcw, here is pics of handle rotated into the wood. However, it doesn't hit the metal.

But the rifle must be reaching battery because it "clicks". Am I wrong on that?

Yes you are! The bolt is not fully closed due to interference with the stock. Once you eliminate the interference it should work fine. If you need to prove this simply remove the action from the stock and cycle the action. If you can make up a primed empty cartridge case I would bet it will fire.

With the bolt partially open the firing pin cam is riding the mating cam at the back of the bolt body preventing the striker from making contact. If you only partially closed a stock GI bolt in an unmodified A3 the power of the firing ping will actually close the action. Because of the stock your bolt handle has no room to rotate.

Regards,
Jim

[Fred]

While the barreled action is out of the stock, if the same problem occures, then I'd think about shaving off a little metal from the underside of the bolt handle Base (from the bolt itself) instead of cutting into the receiver or action.

[chuckindenver]

i would find another bolt, before you grind on the action.

[John Beard]

The photo you provided above which shows your bolt not closing all the way clearly identifies the source of your problem. You need go no further. The striker will not dent the primer unless the bolt is fully closed.

J.B.

[Tom]

IT'S FIXED !! Charlie owes kcw a bone.

Pic #1. Old slot
Pic #2. Prepped for sanding using elec tape. i am not good at this stuff so I use precautions. Sanded with wood dowel, someone mentioned that here, long ago.
Pic #3. New slot and new coat of polyurethane spray. Yes, I see the run.
Pic #4. Bolt handle lays nicely and almost touches the metal. extractor and lug are, now, "aligned" but picture doesn't show it very well.
Pic. #5 New, blank, "snap cap" excellent impact. Before this repair it had no mark at all after firing.


PS, All the other suggestions WERE GOOD, and could have been the problem in a different circumstance. Hope that someone besides me learned something. Thanks
PS, Can't figure-out what that nickel is for, I just leave it there so people at the club think I know a secret.

BE SURE TO CLICK THE PICTURES.

[Tom]

Need to thank JohnMOhio who pm'd me with the fix, that I didn't see.

[JohnMOhio]

No thanks necessary Tom, was a good exercise in details and your photo was the key.
Let us know how it performs at the range.

John