Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Smoothing up an Zastava Mauser action

I recently acquired a very nice lefty 6.5 swede M70 from Kvar. I am pleased with it's initial accuracy with factory loads and am looking forward to handloading.

I've adjusted the trigger to an acceptable pull, and now would like to work on action. The bolt is very stiff. I'd like to get it to the point of being able to cycle the bolt without changing my position on the bench. Right now it is very tight, and I have to change positions to cycle the bolt.

Aside from use is there anything else I can do?

A lighter firing pin spring will make the bolt easier to operate. It will also make lock time a little slower, but not so much you'd notice it for normal hunting use.

I own and shoot 3 zastava mausers, one a whitworth, one a mark x and one a Remington 798, all have benefitted greatly from simply polishing the outside of the bolt with a dremel and a felt wheel with PRECIOUS METAL HIGH GLOSS polish, nothing more aggressive than that should be necessary, avoid the front and back of any lugs, but the sides (top and bottom) can be polished the same way. I will say that again to reiterate, DO NOT polish the locking surfaces of ANY lugs, this will affect your headspace to some extent, you are removing metal. you can polish the rails, both the underside to smooth cartridge feeding, and the top where the lugs ride, you can polish the shell follower in the magazine, this is a big one, if this is smooth and the bottom of your bolt are smooth, you will notice an immediate difference. people discount these guns as being rough and clunky, but they can be really slick and nice, all of mine are, especially that Whitworth!

Cheers

I have heard of 1911 folks putting toothpaste on their rails, assembling the slide, and leaving the pistol alone until the toothpaste dries. Then they rack the slide several times.

Perhaps this could also work on a bolt gun?

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm not super handy, but I can handle the polishing suggestion.

I just purchased a Charles Daly this summer and the biggest improvement I made for smoother operation was modifying the bolt sleeve lock.

Bolt sleeve lock modification

Of course not being a gunsmith and never having done this before, I didn't realize that I had modified it perfectly the first time. I then removed too much material. So...for something like $6.00 I purchased another bolt sleeve lock from Numerich that basically was a drop in that works great without doing anything to it.

Dan