Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Mauser Bolt Sticking

Any idea what would cause the bolt on a M98 to stick on a fired round at about two-thirds the way into the lift? I fire a round, raise the bolt to extract it and it meets with incredible resistance the last third of the lift. Once I get it open, sometimes the extractor releases the round before ever hitting the ejector.

Thanks.

Check camming surface on the bolt for a flaw.

Shoot 'em too hot and the lugs set-back creating a hump. When you open the bolt you have a little bit of springback that allows the bolt to start moving.

When the lugs try to leave the "valley" created by the setback it is an uphill run and the force required to get past it can be heavy.

I assume the bolt is not difficult to operate empty?

Has there been a history of hot loading?

Look at the bolt lugs and look for incipient cracks angling down and away from them on the bolt body.

My father liked mausers and loved to load stuff hot, so I have seen more than a few such cracks!

Not sure what you mean. Newbie to mausers here.

Factory fodder. Works fine in M70.

Extracts and ejects fine with snap-caps and unfired rounds. It's only fired rounds that are the problem.

The front surface of the bolt root has an angle on it. This mates to the angled surface on the rear of the bridge. These two surfaces make up the extraction mechanizm on a Mauser. If either surface is galled it can lead to difficult extraction. If the bolt handle has been welded/replaced, there is a good chance the cam on the root is too soft. Also, if the handle was replaced the cocking cam "V" at the rear of the bolt could be soft. This too can cause hard bolt lift. If cocking after dry firing isn't difficult then look to the former.

If none of these surfaces exhibit galling then setback is a possibility.

It is not what you shoot in it that matters... it is what has been fired in it before. The setback in the lugs is permanent and though you are shooting reasonably light loads the previous owner/user may have run some hot stuff through there.

The brass will always expand to match the chamber. With the lug setback the chamber is now longer when fired, but gets shorter as you attempt to raise the bolt.

It is not uncommon...

While possible, galling is far less likely than setback in a Mauser.

Ok, well, today is the first time it's been shot since leaving the factory (Zastava M98). The only thing ever run through it will have been a proof load.

What's the fix? I just shot it, the bolt was hard to open, and the extractor didn't have a bite on the round at all. It slid out of the chamber.

Nope, just had the action bedded and the barrel floated. That's it

Okay... I made some assumptions from the beginning and should have spelled more of them out... None of my assumptions included it being a new rifle. My mistake and something a little more detailed question would have prevented.

Starting from the top... Assumption it is not a mini-mauser (they are push-feed and would have different potentials)...

Taking the bolt apart and looking for the wear points on the extractor, bolt body, retaining clip will help figure out what is binding.

Places I would look include the extractor itself right at the front lug. The extractor may be catching on the bolt lug as it tries to ride under it. A tiny bit of slop (normal) may be allowing the bolt to come back a tiny bit causing it to catch.

The extractor may have a little tweak, or need one, to ride true along the bolt body.

Rough areas or machining marks on the lugs may also be causing an issue but only after firing because the case is preventing it from coming ahead slightly.

Essentially it looks like an extractor issue.

I had one in the shop that was rough when turning the bolt.
Turns out the recess where the extractor ring rides was rough as a cobb.
Polishes all the waves out and it was slick as a button.

Thanks, and my fault: I should have been more forthcoming about the rifle. Accurate bugger; just not terribly useful if it won't extract and eject. Off to a gunsmith?

By the way, it has a whopping 26 rounds through it, all today on the range.

Probably not... The extractor appears to be the issue and any number of little things could cause it to hang up. Taking them apart is not difficult and finding the tight spots is all you really need to do... and then polish them out.

That pretty much puts me over my head!!

Why would it do it on a fired round but not a snap cap?

There must be a YouTube video of a mauser bolt disassembly. There might even be one where the dude has a done it before!

Here you go!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdhNUr4C2UQ

Thanks, Sitka.

Just a follow-up. I'm not terribly mechanical, so I took the rifle to a gunsmith this morning. He looked at the bolt and didn't find any places where it is binding, then looked at the fired brass. He then ran his bore scope into the chamber. The rifling and leade look fine, but the chamber itself looks like it was reamed with hammer and chisel. In other words, the chamber hadn't been polished at all at the factory, and there was all sorts of brass caught in the tool marks. He's going to polish it as much as he can and, hopefully, that will cure it. If not, new barrel. Ugh! Gonna have to see what sort of warranty there is from K-Var and Zastava.

See, that's another instance where a bore scope made the diagnosis, possibly saving the day...

Hope the treatment cures the ailment.

Let us know how it works out.

DF

That is a shame... Whoever ran that reamer in there had to know it was not going well...

Yeah, I figure it was a Friday in Serbia. "Slivovitz for everyone!"

Actually, it isn't the end of the world, assuming the action is ok. The ultimate plan was for me to use that rifle for a few years hunting feral pigs, then (after saving a lot of pennies) send it off to someone to make Rigby or WR clone (something along the lines the WR in the picture). The current wood has a bit of figure in it, so hopefully it can be reshaped in the classic English style. But I was hoping to keep the barrel since it has a 1:866 twist and ought to handle those old round nose 175s pretty well, but there's not much that can be done about it if the chamber can't be cleaned up. I guess I'll find out in a few days.

Thanks for all your help. I appreciate it.

Thanks. We'll see, and I'll keep y'all posted. At least I still have 2 7x57s in reserve!!

Maybe they built that one on a Friday evening, or on a Monday morning before they were fully sobered up...

It's all about production, turning out products as fast as possible, bean counters pushing engineers and production...

Not good for us, probably not good for them in the long run.

DF

Ya got great taste in rifles, Rev...

DF

You know, I'm really not sure about the bean counters part. I was a CPA for almost 27 years, and not once did I ever tell a client that the best way to keep customer loyalty was to undermine quality by cutting costs. Generally, that sort of advice came from the CEO who wanted to maximize profits in order to maximize salaries...his own, in particular.

But I think you're on to something about turning out products as fast as possible. Certain steps in the process are bound to be skipped.

But like I said, we'll see how this story ends.

What's that old saying: Champagne taste and beer budget!

Companies run by engineer/production type CEO's, it seems to me, do better than by "number crunching" CEO's.

You gotta have accountants, comptrollers, money managers for a company to survive, obviously. To me, it's the emphasis on production, if there's a passion for the product or if the product is but a commodity to feather the bottem line.

Bill Ruger is an example. He built guns that interested him, often against "conventional wisdom". It was his conviction (passion) that a single shot rifle would sell. He had to lead and lead he did. The rest, as they say, is history.

Bill Ruger never "led from behind", a concept taking hold in Washington D.C....

DF

I think you hit the nail on the head. It's a passion for product. That makes all the difference in the world. I suppose that's why gunsmiths and gun-makers are still in business: I don't think any of them get rich doing what they're doing. Those I know are in it because they love what they're doing. I could be wrong about that, but I just don't seem many of them flying in company jets and sponsoring NASCAR.

Look what happened to Remington and Marlin...

DF

And those Slivovitz drinking Serbs at Zastava!

Just an update.

At my gunsmith's suggestion, I contacted both K-Var (the seller) and Zastava in Serbia. The importer (FIME Group) asked a few questions about any modifications I've made. The only one's were stock modifications: bed, float, Decelerator pad. They sent me an RMA number to return the rifle to them for warranty repairs. Jacalyn, their customer service rep, was very friendly and helpful, and so far I couldn't ask for more. She warned that it would probably be somewhere between 3 and 12 weeks before the rifle was repaired and returned. Again, I appreciate her being upfront with that information. So far, FIME Group has been very responsive. I will continue to keep you posted.

As an aside, when I went to the gunsmith to pick up the rifle, he took me to the back to show me a couple of rifles he'd just received. Both were Kimber Mountain Ascents, one in .308 and the other in .280AI. He thought I might like the AI since he knows I like 7mm cartridges. Get thee behind me, Satan!!

It looks like Zastava is going to make it right, but another alternative would have been to have a competent smith remove the barrel and set it back one full turn and recut the chamber with a good reamer. You would only shorten the barrel by about 1/10 of an inch.

Thanks. I had another gunsmith recommend the same thing. Let's see what comes back from Zastava. If it still has the problem that will be the next step. Thanks again for the tip.

Here's the final story on the Zastava with the sticky bolt.

I sent the rifle back to the distributor (FIME aka K-Var) in Las Vegas. They received it somewhere around June 10. Last week I got an email for Jacalyn in customer service saying that a new rifle was being shipped. I asked if she could tell me what was wrong with the original one, but all she said is that their repair shop deemed a new rifle was in order. So that's what I got.

What's more, I'd already done (and had done) some work on the original stock. They put the new barreled action in the original stock and made sure the action was bedded and the barrel still floated. It took three months to get the rifle back, but in all fairness to the company Jacalyn told me at the beginning that turnaround from the repair shop was anywhere from three to twelve weeks.

At this point I couldn't be happier. It isn't often a company sends an entirely new rifle instead of just trying to fix a defective one.

I've not yet had a chance to shoot it as it just arrived today, but there was a target included, signed and dated last week, showing that it functions. I'll remount the scope and we'll see how things go. Hopefully, from here on out all will be fine.

I do, though, wish Jacalyn was able to tell me what was wrong with the first one. That'll always be a mystery.

Maybe if you sent her a box of candy and some flowers????

That's not a bad idea!!

That just goes to show how much money is in gunsmithing ...it was cheaper for them to send a new one as opposed to a simple fix....bet their service dep is not even set up for those repairs...none the less good of them to send a new rifle...

That picture should come with a warning label!

Can make a fellow break out in a cold sweat

Mike

No kidding. This one as well:

Respectfully,
We had to build our first rifle on a Zastava 98 Action at the Colorado School or Trades. I opted to build a .275 Rigby/7x57... In short my receiver was an adventure in tolerance stack and general half assed machining. I had to chuck the receiver up and re-cut the lug seats, which is a trick with a boring bar while trying to avoid hitting the C ring. At any rate I finally got it square and lapped the lugs into 90% contact. That said everything on those rifles almost made them an individual. Tried to fit the cocking piece so that it would work with a 3 position Recknagel Safety and then harden the contact surfaces before it galled. Never could get it to work to my satisfaction. Polished too far and went in search for a replacement. A buddy gave me a Nazi proof marked unit which dropped in, untouched, and started working like Darcy Echols fitted it. Complete luck... All in all the only thing I would suggest is to buy a better action to build into a later rifle on... This was in 05' well before Remington entered into the picture. In the end the Recknagel 3 position Safety & Kepplinger Two Stage Match Trigger are worth more than the rest of the rifle...imho & fwiw.

You might consider a Granite Mountain Arms 98 or a Hartmann & Weiss if you are looking for the best...

Thanks, Matt:

The lease was a soaking, muddy mess this weekend so I never made it out to see how well the replacement shoots. I'll post a note when I do. We'll see. Until then I'll stick with my M70. It's slick, reliable, and accurate.

I would, though, like to get my mitts on one of those Westley Richards rifles. I just don't have an extra $30k laying around!

"Free" is better. Usually.

If they are reputable, they will screw on a new barrel, test it, and he now has a little "custom" over assembly line.

Yesterday I finally made it out to our lease. Between the rain and FPL replacing power poles - and using some of our roads to do so - the place has been an absolute mess. We haven't had rain in about a week, but you can probably imagine what almost 11 inches in September alone did to the property.

Anyway, yesterday I was finally able to shoot the Zastava Mauser. It shoots great. I put 14 rounds through it without a hitch, all shooting right at MOA with factory ammo (PRVI 139gr PSP). I'll settle for that since this rifle will probably never see anything over 200 yards.

K-Var of Las Vegas is the importer, and I really appreciate them standing behind the rifle. I didn't expect a replacement, especially one fitted into the stock I already had reworked (thanks Jim Kobe). I couldn't be happier.

Still holding out for one of those Westley Richards, though.

Mike