Bolt Hard To Close 03-A3

[Kurt]

You might want to edit again, two of your 3 welds have nothing to do with the OP's problem. One of the three, the bolt face weld is not a reciever weld and no, I have not seen a bolt welded to the reciever. I wouldn't say they don't exist, simply haven't seen one. And finally, I could care less what your shop has or lacks, it's not important to the question at hand.

Good day.

[fguffey]

I could care less what your shop has or lacks, it's not important to the question at hand.

Forgive, it was not my intentions to confuse you,; it is not my shop. And I confused you again with the ‘looking new’. I assumed you understood the receivers used were DP 03s, I have no way of knowing how you came up with DP welded receivers that looked new because the barrels were removed. I thought through deductive reasoning you would figure it took hours of work to get those receivers to look good.

The owner did say it was not the receivers that were suspect but the difficulty in finding barrels.

F. Guffey

[louis]

Well I'll agree, barrels are really hard to find.

[Kurt]

That we can agree on, those hard to find barrels...especially in .303. I think there are still a few bolt stops floating around but am struggling to understand why one would weld that. "I will ask you if you have ever seen the bolt stop welded to the receiver? "

I don't know that I can forgive you for the confusion, You ask your shrink and I'll go find one and ask on my end. We'll compare.

[fguffey]

That we can agree on, those hard to find barrels...especially in .303. I think there are still a few bolt stops floating around but am struggling to understand why one would weld that. "I will ask you if you have ever seen the bolt stop welded to the receiver? "

I don't know that I can forgive you for the confusion, You ask your shrink and I'll go find one and ask on my end. We'll compare.

Again, deductive reasoning; If a round could be chambered and the bolt face was welded someone could remove the bolt, chamber a round and then replace the bolt. So they made the DP rifle fool proof. In the beginning that did not happen with the P14s, they drilled a hole through the barrel ahead of the receiver. That made it possible to chamber a round' once they realized the mistake they installed a 5/16 steel rod through the hole and then welded it.

forgive you for the confusion

I had to be Mark Twain that suggested failing to forgive carries a lot if risk.

F. Guffey

[IditarodJoe]

I think there are still a few bolt stops floating around but am struggling to understand why one would weld that.

Bolt stops are getting hard to find these days, and I can't imagine why someone would want to weld this part either.

[Kurt]

A bolt stop is a small arm at the back of the receiver that was intended to keep the bolt from falling out during drills. I don't have any knowledge that those were welded. On the other hand, the magazine cut off switch was indeed welded which did keep the bolt from being removed as it couldn't be centered to that function. I do know about the rods, looked at one the other day as a matter of fact.

[johnny l.]

I thought the bolt stop was supposed to keep the bolt from moving forward, when loading the magazine with a stripper clip or loading a single round when the muzzle may get depressed. There are two indentations on the bottom of the left locking lug that the plunger (tit) on the bolt stop pushes up into when the bolt is to the rear. The spacing of the indentations coincides with the magazine cut off. Cut off in the "on" position keeps the bolt from being able to strip a round from the magazine. Cut off in the "off" position allows the bolt to go all the way to the rear, allowing a round to be stripped from the magazine. The indentation that the "tit" engages depends on the position of the cut off - on or off. The cut off also prevents the bolt from accidentally being removed. The bolt is removed by placing the cut off about half way between "off" and "on".

The bolt stop does not put very much pressure on the bolt, and is easy to over come. Back in the day, many match shooters would remove them anyway. The bolt stop was eliminated during WWll. Regards, Johnny Lawson

[JimF]

I thought the bolt stop was supposed to keep the bolt from moving forward, when loading the magazine with a stripper clip or loading a single round when the muzzle may get depressed. There are two indentations on the bottom of the left locking lug that the plunger (tit) on the bolt stop pushes up into when the bolt is to the rear. The spacing of the indentations coincides with the magazine cut off. Cut off in the "on" position keeps the bolt from being able to strip a round from the magazine. Cut off in the "off" position allows the bolt to go all the way to the rear, allowing a round to be stripped from the magazine. The indentation that the "tit" engages depends on the position of the cut off - on or off. The cut off also prevents the bolt from accidentally being removed. The bolt is removed by placing the cut off about half way between "off" and "on".

The bolt stop does not put very much pressure on the bolt, and is easy to over come. Back in the day, many match shooters would remove them anyway. The bolt stop was eliminated during WWll. Regards, Johnny Lawson

You are "almost" correct, Johnny, except . . . .

Cut-off in "ON" position, means magazine is ON, or capable of feeding.

Cut-off in "OFF" position, means magazine is OFF, or NOT capable of feeding. --Jim

[Kurt]

Johnny,

"I thought the bolt stop was supposed to keep the bolt from moving forward, when loading the magazine"

You are correct, I did misspeak and should have said moving forward. I have read where it was for manual of arms maneuvers but the consensus indicates it was simply to keep the bolt back while loading. Either way, appreciate the reminder.

Kurt

[johnny l.]

JimF, As usual, you are correct. I got so busy remembering which bolt lug had the indentations that I got the "on-off" part goofed up. Thanks for the correction. Regards, Johnny Lawson

I have a Hoffer-Thompson .22, a Mark 1, and a A3. I enjoy them all. The Mark 1 is a blessed rifle. It is effortless to shoot and never misses. It seems to do all of the work, I just hold it and squeeze the trigger. The Hoffer-Thompson .22 gets a lot of attention. Folks are expecting the sound of a .30-06, and the .22 short really surprises them with its lack of noise. The only real problem is that you have to be very careful not to drop the aux. chamber on its nose. J.L.