When you pull the bolt back the extractor collar around the bolt has to jump over the rim of the top round in the magazine.
Check the bolt collar edge and the edge of the groove in the bolt. If the fit is poor either edge could catch on the rim of the top round.
Also check to see if the bolt is hanging on the receiver bridge when pushed upward by rounds in the magazine.
If you need me to I can look at it with Skype. Let me know. I built one in 1972 and had no issues with it. Back then the original military rifle cost me $12.
Ive been having intermittent problems with my Siamese Mauser. 45-70. Seems that if I cycle the bolt anything less than very forcibly, the next round in the magazine seems to lock the bolt from coming back. Is this common or expected? This is my newbie stage of having a Siamese action, so I'm not sure. Anything I can check on my own? Any tips to where in the magazine I should be loading round ( all the way to the back, etc?). Any recommendations for a good Mauser smith in Western N.Y. or Western PA?,
N
