A while back I took in a Herters U9 in .222. Well I finally made it to the range firing multiple loads averaging around an inch. Back at the house, I did some cleaning of the barrel and gunsmithing of the lousy trigger.

While reassembling the trigger and action, I noticed some schmutz in a vent hole of the bolt. A quick google and I found the disassembly procedure and commenced to pull the bolt apart. What I found was shocking... A grimy mess of grease, jelled oil, dirt(?) and rust. I'm fairly certain some of this mess was from importation 50+ yrs ago. I was completely amazed that the rifle actually fired. If not for the strong fp spring, I'm certain it wouldn't have.

I likely spent 45 min to an hour with solvents and ultrasonics cleaning the assembly. Maybe a little polishing was spent in that hr. Everything back together and I can't wait to head to the range again.

My usually procedure is disassembly and cleaning of any new/used firearm upon arrival. This one slipped into the closet and in my excitement to get to the range was missed.

So the reminder for today is: perform bolt pm before heading to the range or field with any new or stored bolt gun. I'm glad I was just shooting at paper and not taking it into the field. Even worse if there had been freezing conditions and ending up with a sluggish or "frozen" FP.

CG

There was an eight pointer once that lived out the rut due to this. Broadside, double lung available, and all I got was a loud CLICK. Later in the day, when warm, the same cartridge went off flawlessly. Gunk in the bolt.