Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Ruger American issue?

Guys
I purchased one of these in a .223 in a weak moment for a truck gun on the ranch. Good lord this thing is accurate! My problem is the bolt throw. After discharging it’s brutal lifting the bolt. Closing the bolt takes some exercises as well.
I’ve had the bolt polished and as much of the receiver as possible to eliminate any burrs etc. slides beautifully.
Do any of you know what is needed to take the pressure off that closing and opening?
I have worked that bolt probably between 500 and 1000 times in the evenings relaxing and it’s not getting any easier. I’d hate to give up the little tack driver.

Osky

Osky, clean the chamber with a chamber brush, then re check everything.

I once had a little sliver of lead get compressed into the shoulder area of a bolt action chamber. Same problems you were having. That tight chamber, though great for accuracy, can be finicky with any sort of debris in the shoulder area.

I will check that, thank you.

Osky

Magazine? Mine takes AR magazines. I typically use 10 round mags in it. The MagPul mags work fine, but I have a metal 9 round mag that I've had since the 1994 AWB that can be finicky.

If you have one that takes the 5 round flush fit mags they are well known to have issues.

Thanks but no mine has the 10rd magazine and no issues there.
Working mine over this evening I can be more specific and say once the firing pin has released ie fired, lifting the bolt handle is the most difficult. It is the same with a spent cartridge inside or dry fired empty.

Osky

Clean and oil... mine runs fine

Repeatedly including the firing pin casement and polishing the bolt. Also the firing pin back where it rides the bolt body and the bolt body notches have been gone thru and polished.
As far as yours running fine I was out on another ranch of a good friend checking fence when we jumped a coyote on my side the vehicle. He said get it and I did with the rifle handed to me. Exactly the same as the one I bought, and thus the reason I bought. No issues with his either.

This little rifle will rip the same hole at a hundred with Hornady xmax ammo off the bench all morning long. I really want to cure this issue of opening that bolt.

Can a firing pin be too strong and cause this?

Osky

AD Arms claims that their billet cocking piece reduces bolt lifting/cocking effort

https://www.anarchyoutdoors.com/ad-arms-billet-ruger-precision-american-rifle-cocking-piece/

Clean and oil your cocking piece. Verify it’s not binding.

You never said, reloads or factory ammo ?? It almost sounds like your ammo is not sized right.

kwg

That's my question ^. Is the bolt hard to open/close on an empty chamber? Or loaded?

If loaded, you have an ammo or chamber, or headspace problem. If empty, ya got a bolt or action prob.

Sorry if I missed this info.

Rounds from 3 new Hornady boxes. The hard bolt opening after firing is the same wether a round is actually fired or the gun dry fired in the gun room.

Osky

As you roll the bolt handle up, you are compressing the firing pin spring, and cocking the gun. I would look at that particular act itself. Disassemble the bolt and check the cam face that makes the process work ( I see you looked at “bolt body slots”) Burrs, gouges, irregular shape, bad factory machine work, something. Or, something as simple as a too heavy firing pin spring could be it. I’d bet Wolff makes a lighter spring, would be a cheap thing to eliminate.

I’m assuming there is no struggle the throw the bolt once it’s cocked? In other words, you can feed rounds through the action easily with the bolt, without pulling the trigger?

If all else fails, contact Ruger, they have decent customer service.

it sounds like your gun may actually have TOO LITTLE headspace. I have heard of that issue before with some Ruger Americans.

My own American is a plain black sporter in .308 circa 2015. The bolt travel smoothed up after a few hundred rounds and it is now one the the slickest ,fastest working centerfire bolt actions I have ever owned. And yes I have owned Sauer 200s, Sakos and Tikkas etc. The cocking on my rifle is very easy considering it is a 60 degree bolt throw. The rifle shoots well.

IMHO Your gun needs a trip back to Ruger.

He’s having these issues with an empty chamber folks. That’s not headspace. It’s part of the cocking function.

Thank you. With or without a round in the gun….if the bolt is closed, then trigger pulled, the lifting of the bolt handle becomes brutal.
If you work the bolt, gun empty, trigger constantly held back in the fired position you can run that bolt forward, back, close it, open it, as silky smooth and easy as any of my Tikkas or others.
Osky

HeSee there’s your answer. Holding the trigger back keeps the sear from engaging, so doing this never allows it to cock the firing pin. So something in your cocking mechanism is fouled up. Strip it down completely. There is some way that the cocking piece is binding or perhaps the firing pin Spring is out of spec and too strong.

I don’t know Ruger Americans well. Are they cartridge length specific? Maybe you have a long action spring that somehow got put in a short action bolt?

The cocking mechanism to a bolt action is a very simple. Start ruling things out by process of elimination.

You're going to find the problem in the cocking piece, trigger sear and/or the interaction of those pieces. It's possible it could also be in the firing pin assembly....hard to tell long distance. Ruger changed the cocking piece design lately, also.

As this sounds like a pretty new new rifle, my suggestion is to let Ruger handle it under warranty.

Good shootin' -Al