montea6b Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 Tried putting the scope on today and found that my Dayton Traister safety hits the scope with the low rings I bought. I don't really want to go higher, so decided to try to fit the Chapman safety and shroud that I had laying around for another project. I started slowly this time after ruining a cocking piece the last time I did this. I took just a little metal off the cocking piece, trying frequent fittings, and when it visually looked that it should clear yet still wouldn't engage, (it actually didn't even look like it was trying to push the cocking piece back...) I decided that it must be the plunger part that engages the half moon slot at twelve o'clock on the bolt body. I then carfully smoothed and ever so slightly enlarged this slot with a small dremel stone. When that still didn't work, I decided to try them individually. Putting the shroud on by itself, I discovered that the plunger would engage into the slot in the bolt body just fine. Indeed there was a fair amount of side to side play in it. Enough so that it is quite obvious that the slot on the bolt body is not undersized and does not need more material removed. Removing the screw that holds the lever in place, I took the spring and plunger out of the hole that leads to the bolt body and reassembled. This confirmed that I had removed enough metal from the forward edge of the cocking piece as it worked perfectly, camming the striker assembly aft just like it should. I would actually be perfectly happy with this configuration, as I see no need for a safety to lock the bolt in position, but the internal spring also apparently serves a function returning the safety to full forward "fire" position. I realized this because the lever had more play in it, and as I searched for potential failure modes I discovered with the safety off, (in fire) that the lever could wiggle backwards under gravity if the rifle was tipped up to the point. It would come back far enough that the first part of it that makes contact would partially protrude into the path of the cocking piece. If the trigger was pulled with this partial obsuration, the cocking piece would fall forward onto the safety lever, and if the safety was moved forward from there, the striker assemble would fire. Not good. So, I guess I need the spring and plunger part of it to hold the safety lever all the way forward when disengaged. I just can't seem to figure out where the engaging resistance is. It's not even really resistance per se, it flat out won't budge. I don't want to just keep on grinding more metal. It seems that the only real possibility is that the plunger in the shroud does not line up with the slot in the bolt, but at least to my eyes it appears lined up. Any suggestions on how to check this with everything assembled? Anything else that might be binding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montea6b Posted October 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 Got it, thanks. On another note, I reassembled the entire bolt and with it out of the receiver, but with the sleeve rotated to firing position, I was able to push the cocking piece back and engage the safety. That tells me that the problem is one of alignment when the bolt is closed in the action. Yet the Mauser won't fire unless the bolt is locked up in battery. Unless it's just close enough I guess. I then tried taking just a little more out of the bolt notch on the right side where the plunger would hit if the bolt were under rotated by a bit and I can feel that is where I need to work as it starts to engage. (Had to knock things off for a kids Halloween party, so couldn't continue. Sometimes breaks like that are good as they give an opportunity for a question like this, and a fresh look when you start up again...) Now, however, I have another question and concern: Should I take a little more metal off the receiver under the bolt handle so it will close that extra hair? Any concerns here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carzngunz Posted October 30, 2005 Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 I will throw in my $.02 here. I would definitely make sure the bolt is in the fully closed position first. I had a problem with one of these. I believe that I had to shorten the spring loaded plunger a little but it was more than an hour ago and I can't remember what the original problem was. My memory doesn't always work the way I would like! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montea6b Posted October 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2005 Success! I got up early this morning and after a little more tinkering I had it working. I too am concerned about the bolt being fully closed, however, it's about as fully closed as you can get. I think I was a lot closer than I realized when I first posted. I just couldn't understand how such a simple mechanism could kick my butt and wanted to ensure that I hadn't missed something obvious and simple before I ground away too much. I took just a little more off the bolt notch, widening and deepening slightly, but I also looked at it like my recent feeding problem; basically the plunger has to feed into the bolt notch. Taking that attitude, I very lightly beveled and smoothed the "feed rail" of the bolt notch. I also disassembled the safety again and deburred and smoothed the end of the plunger. That was all it took. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsefly Posted October 31, 2005 Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 Funny how somethings can drive you ape sh_t,and if you just walk away from it,think about other stuff for a while,it somehow comes to you.Glad you figured it out Montea! Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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