bolt close problem

[Richard H Brown Jr]

Greetings:

So I got the 1903 back from the store I asked to have the headspace checked, and why it was hard to close the bolt. Don't ask.

So when you close the bolt and rotate the final quarter turn to lock the lugs, it's hard to do it fast.

I just removed the firing pin assy and tried the bolt body with just the extractor, and it closes fine.

Repeated the same test using the bolt body from my 1903-a3 and closes fine also.

Put the striker/firing pin assy from my 1903-a3 in the bolt body of the 1903 and it closes without the problem.

So looking at a parts list at Numrich, it seems to me that either the Firing Pin Rod, or the Bolt Sleeve is the problem...

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Here's a poor set of pix of the rear bolt assy, with the 1903a3's on the left side.

Comments?

Ideas on what to do to fix it? (other than replacing the bolt sleeve and firing pin rod)

Both parts look like Remington blued ww2 replacement parts, and the striker body has lots of tooling marks on both flat edges.

If someone wants a close up of any part of the bolt body or the striker, let me know.

Also, anyone have a bit of a lip on the inside of the left side receiver hole, on the front of the receiver, where the drill went thru?

I can't really get a pix of it, but it is noticeable on the tip of a finger if you run it across the inside of the chamber.

R. Brown

[dave]

Maybe striker spring too long? The lugs move up so the burr on hole would make no difference. What did the shop say?

[Parashooter]

One likely culprit is the sleeve lock. If worn or deformed, it won't release the bolt body to rotate shut.

[JimF]

I suggest you compare the two striker springs in their "relaxed" position.

Could be a case of "coil binding". --Jim

[Richard H Brown Jr]

Problem Solved? Maybe.

Update, decided to do some detective work.

1903 bolt and striker assy installed, bolt hard to lock in place.
1903 bolt body only, no resistance, locks fine.

Replace with bolt assy from M1903a3.
1903a3 bolt and striker assy installed, bolt locks easily
1903a3 bolt body only, bolt locks fine.

So it seems to be the striker assy, that is the problem.

Stripped the bolt on the 1903 down, removed the striker, collar, spring, bolt sleeve, and firing pin rod.

Inspected and found inside of bolt sleeve with powdered rust on the wall. Lubricated the wall with CLP from a Q-tip, dropped some on the Bolt Sleeve lock pin, and the Bolt Sleeve Lock. And worked the Bolt Sleeve Lock for a few minutes to get the oil inside. Ran some CLP on the Firing Pin Rod.

Reassembled the gosh darned thing, and put it back in the bolt body, and reinstalled in the rifle, and worked the bolt a few dozen times.

Seems to work a little better. So it looks like cleaning and lubrication of the striker assy is the cure.

RHB

[JimF]

When you had the bolt "guts" apart, did you notice flat ends on the striker spring?

I'm wondering if someone installed the spring from a M'17 Enfield. --Jim