Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters How do I smooth out bolt turn on a 98?

-A little help, please guys. I hunt with a Mauser 98 that was rechambered for 30-06 somewhere along the line. I know it's a military action, because it has the cutout in the receiver where the stripper clip dropped into the magazine well. My dad bought this for a moose hunt in the mid sixties. It's been sporterized-bent bolt, scope safety (Mauser style) and set into a cheap hardwood stock. All that's been done to the gun over the years is that the stock's been glass bedded and a Timney trigger's been installed. It sports an old Weaver 3x9x40. The problem is that the bolt handle turns really hard. It's very tight, and I can't seem to get it any smoother. I sprayed down the bolt and receiver with Gun Scrubber, and lightly re-lubed with gun oil, but that didn't seem to help. When I sprayed the Gun Scrubber, I didn't get much gunk out of the bolt. Any suggestions? The gun shoots really good, so I'm a little leary about doing much to it, but this is getting a little annoying.

If you're talking about the up and down movement of the bolt (locking and unlocking) then it's probaly insufficient headspace. If you're reloading you need to resize your brass fully and make sure your bullets aren't touching the rifling. If you're shooting factory loads then your chamber's too tight and you'll need a gunsmith to re-cut it. BUT first check the extractor collar, with the bolt removed from the rifle grasp the extractor and rotate it around the bolt. If it's hard to turn then the collar's bent or gotten rusted or pitted. Also look at the extractor itself. often they are bent from someone "adjusting " them and they will really drag on the locking lug raceway. If they are not too bad you can bend them back, but for a hunting rifle I would depend on I would get another extractor. A bent extractor will cause rough back and forth movement of the bolt.

Some Military 98 Mausers were soft as they were made during the war and not heat treated correctly. The first thing I would do is have the receiver Rockwell checked for hardness. If it is OK, the second thing I would do is use a good grease on the bolt cocking cam. That should do the trick provided nothing else is wrong as mentioned above.
I had a soft receiver that exhibited the same symptoms as yours. The locking lugs on the bolt put a set into the locking recess in the receiver so that the bolt lugs had to cam up for the bolt to be rotated and removed. After a round was fired, the bolt lugs were tightly held in the dished out recesses in the receiver and required a tremendous effort to rotate the bolt handle to force the fired case back into the chamber so the bolt lugs could get back on track. I had it Rockwell checked and it read 9 on the C scale; dead soft. Actually, it wouldn't come up on the C scale, only the B scale, but we interpolated to what it would be on the C scale.
Do yourself a favor and get it Rockwell checked first. It won't cost that much.
Don

Buckaneer
It might very well be hardened, just shot with hot loads and creating exactly the problem DMB described. If it does test soft the problem is solved, but if it does not, then you need to look at what you have been doing to it...
art

Thanks for the great info guys. I know for a fact that there's never been a handload put through it, as my dad bought it new at Kmart, and neither he nor I handload. I was hoping I wouldn't be making a trip to my gunsmith with it, but from your comments, I think I probably should. I've never heard of the Rockwell test-is that something any competent gunsmith should be able to do, or should I consider going to someone with a little bigger operation. My local 'smith does good work, but he just runs a small shop and I have no idea weather or not he performs this service. My 'bigger gunsmith is about an hour away, but if anyone in the area would perform this test, I'm certain they would do it, as they have a large, well respected operation. Headspacing was mentioned as a possible cause here-I look my fired cases over very carefully, and have never noticed anything unusual. I'm not a real heavy shooter-I probably run 40 rounds through the rifle a year at most. Any further thoughts here guys?

DMB is spot on in his description of the problem and its most likely cause. Headspace, particularly minimal headspace is NOT the issue. At this point you could very easily have excessive headspace from the bolt lugs' set-back.

If you have brass from this chamber you might get some idea about the headspace by measuring the length to the shoulder and compare it to drawings or unfired ammo from the same lot. Some gunsmiths do accept stuff for Rockwell testing, but that does not mean they do it in-house...
art

For my knives I make, I take them to a heat treat house and use their Rockwell machine to find hardness. The machines aren't cheap, so many gunsmiths may not have them, but they will probably have access to one as Sitka mentions. Try a heat treat shop and they will do it for you.
Don

The problem is the locking surfaces may be hardened but you
can't measure there. A reading on the outside tells little.
The best way is a visual with the barrel removed. If you are
lucky you can feel the recesses. Remove the firing pin, put a strong rod down the muzzle to press against the bolt. Now by applying pressure you may feel the recesses (if they aree there). If the bolt works easily without the firing pin you have solved the problem.
Good luck!

Remove the scope mount and recheck the bolt travel. If it's smooth, the mounting screws are a few threads too long. Hope this helps, Okie John

If the problem exists mainly when the bolt handle is lifted or on the cocking motion, the problem is most likely a softened cocking cam. This is especially common on bolts with bolt handles which have been forged to clear a scope. The heat from forging anneals the cocking cam. It is a simple matter for a knowledgable 'smith to smooth out and reharden this surface.
If the difficult lift occurs whether or not the rifle is cocked, the cause may well be as suggested in the posts above. In addition, there is a possibilty the bedding is poor and the receiver is distorted to the point that the bolt is binding. This is, I have to say, a pretty unlikely scenario. GD

Well guys, from the sound of things this is way out of my league. I'll take the gun in and see what my 'smith says about it. Thanks for all your help. I'll post when I find out what the smith says the problem is.