Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Bolt handle jump?

I have a 7x57 Ruger M77 old model (with the tang safety) that I've just put into a Bell and Carlson synthetic stock. I haven't glass bedded it yet.

When I dry fire, I see the bolt handle jump a small amount. Does anyone know what is causing this? Is this an indication of a bedding problem? Or perhaps just that the slot in the stock for the bolt handle needs to be opened up a little?

Groups aren't particularly good with this rifle (around 2 inches) and the one type of ammo I've tried with it using 140 gr PSP corelokts. If it's a bedding problem, I'd like to get it straighted out before I waste more money trying out different types of ammunition.

Thanks to anyone who answers.

Sounds like the striker ramp's off just a hair.. Doesn't take much to fix. Has the trigger been reworked yet? If not, that may very well account for about 50% of your group size.. Many Ruger triggers come out of the box at about 6#.. Working them down to 3# will do wonders for your accuracy..

Allot of rifles do this and it's caused by a very slight misalignment of the cocking piece nose and the cocking cam slot which is caused by the bolt handle rotating either a bit too far or not quite far enough when closed. When the cocking piece flies forward the nose is trying to go straight into the bottom of the slot and if it doesn't have a clear path it's going to push whatever is in its way out of its way as it finds the bottom...and that will make the bolt body rotate slightly and very quickly.

While a bit "spooky" looking I've never seen this cause a problem with either function or accuracy.

Ummm, yeah, like what I said above, in about a hundred less words...

Well, since your answer about a "striker ramp" was awfully confusing I thought a description using the correct terms might help the gentleman with his question.

Very seldom is an accuracy problem corrected by lightening the trigger pull...and curing bolt handle jump certainly doesn't involve the trigger.

He didn't say an accuracy problem would be "cured" by lightening the trigger pull, he said group size would be reduced. but you already knew that, right?

Really???? Go back and read his post. The last sentence reads: "Working them down to 3# will do wonders for your accuracy."

But I guess you already knew that right?

Sure the boys are right, just a slight allignment problem. If it jumps up, a slight amount of packing where the bolt handle touches when closed will stop it.
I think it's fairly normal for a factory rifle.

Packing? Please explain. Thanks in advance.

It did say HIS accuracy...... not the rifles accuracy...