Help please...can't get bolt to cock

[islandhopper]

Reassembled rifle everthing function. Pulled trigger now bolt won't cock. Stripped everything down to receiver and bolt. I mean everything. It just wiggles. Can't even pull firing pin back. What can I do? What happened?

[Fred]

You assembled the bolt wrong Ill bet

[islandhopper]

Success!!! I pulled on the head of the firing pin for a while, then tried tying different size lines to it and yanking on them. They all snapped. I was just getting ready to grab the vice grips but grabbed a brain enhancer (see beer) to calm down and think. I was really hating the idea of yanking on this thing with a vice grips or pliers but what choice did I have? It was locked up. Then the brain enhancer kicked in and I thought why not use a block of wood. Had a piece of 2x2 maple and used the corner against the head of the firing pin. The barreled receiver I laid on a two inch foam rubber rectangle and applied light pressure with my knee to hold it in place. After a few wacks on both sides it came free. No damage at all. Long story short nothing looked wrong but I had replaced the spring with a nos and a new firing pin head. Used another bolt I had to replicate the problem and it was the firing pin head/end piece. Comparing it with the old one it was a bit thicker and was sticking in both bolt firing pin holes. Old parts back in and rifle is functioning fine. That's the most I've ever been freaked out working on a gun. Thought I really did it that time. Thanks to you all. Very much.

[bruce]

Glad it worked out for you. Just a thought but when replacing parts, probably best to do one thing at a time and then check for function. Sincerely. bruce.

[islandhopper]

Bruce,

I agree with you. At the time, a new spring and firing pin tip just seemed like simple, innocuous replacements that would have no negative effect whatsoever. How wrong I was. I was so freaked out. I thought it was stuck for good and would need to be cut out of there or something. I kept trying to remember what I did wrong when assembling the bolt and could not think of one thing so I got another bolt out and re-did assembly. That is how I ended up noticing the firing pin tip difference after I got the other bolt out based on John Beard's advice. One thing I would add, I also posted this on the CMP forum as I was going bonkers and it was there that JB also suggested that I should re-install the sear/trigger so that when the bolt did come free, it would catch. That proved to be a very good suggestion. Without it, I don't think I would have been able to remove the bolt because any little forward movement of the firing pin would re-lodge it in the bolt body hole. Once I figured out what caused the problem I duplicated it in a another bolt body, without it being in the rifle of course, to verify.

[chuckindenver]

possibly a repro striker?

[islandhopper]

Boy Chuck I don't know. It looks like the other one in all other respects (even has a worn finish, though not as much as the original, which is why I thought to swap them in the first place) - though maybe I'd need to look at it with some reading glasses/magnifier. I think I am going to do that. I can say that the two bolts I tried it in are early 1940s SA bolts and it stuck in both (one's a BF 28 and the other a B2). I would never pull the cocker back and let it fly (I don't know why I find that so terrible because that's what happens when you pull the trigger I guess) but after I got the bolt out of the rifle last night, took it apart and started really looking at things, I did just that with both bolts and it locked up tighter than a tick in each one. Because neither bolt was in the rifle at this point, I had to have my wife hold the bolt with both hands while I broke out the 2/2 maple piece that I used to originally break it free, put it against the head of the cocker and whack it a few times to break it free. She was a trooper about it and maybe now I'll get that vice I've been asking for my birthday. The wood block worked great by the way because it didn't even mar the finish. Again, I am so pleased it worked out as I had no idea how I was going to get that bolt out of there without access to anything - even after tearing it down to nothing but the bare receiver/barrel combo. I kept hoping it was the ejector or the cutoff or something that was catching. I bet I looked pretty funny last night.

[dave]

When you get a vice, make-up some blocks (I use oak) for the jaws. I also have a set made up with thick felt padding, at least 1/4" thick, for holding stocks.