Basic Rifle Maintenance - Part 1 By Vince Bottomley

[ADMIN]

We mentioned the possibility of an article covering basic rifle maintenance in the April issue of Target Shooter and enough of you responded to make it a reality, so here goes.

We’ll keep it simple and restrict it at this stage to the centrefire bolt-action rifle and we will start with the bolt itself.

The bolt is a key part of our rifle. Not only does it close the breech, sealing the pressure-chamber, it also extracts the fired case and provides ignition via the firing-pin striking the primer. It is this latter function that concerns us most when it comes to maintenance. Read More...

This is a thread for discussion of the article, Basic Rifle Maintenance - Part 1, By Vince Bottomley. Here you can ask questions or make comments about the article.

[Goofycat]

My Remington 40X action (22-250) has seen about 600 rounds run through it in 13 years and I have never cleaned the bolt, mainly because I never knew how, and besides, the action worked fine until now. I cleaned the barrel with a product called "Wipe-Out" according to instrutions. The material foamed into the chamber and I thought nothing of it. After replacing the bolt mechanism, I found it difficult to open the bolt; it appeared to be almost stuck in the rifle. I finally forced it open with my right hand, completely cleaned and dried the chamber with cotton rolls, oiled the bolt and put light grease on the lugs. It seemed to cure the problem. I still feel, however, that the bolt should operate more smoothly. Could the difficulty in opening be due to dirt, etc., in the bolt mechanism? I doubt that rust is present since the rifle has always been cased in an indoor closet. Also, how difficult is it to take the bolt apart for inspection when using the Sinclair tool? Also, while I am at it, should I count on replacing the spring with the one from Brownell's?

[andyd11793]

Originally Posted by ADMIN

This is a thread for discussion of the article, Basic Rifle Maintenance - Part 1, By Vince Bottomley. Here you can ask questions or make comments about the article.

Target Shooter Magazine September Issue is now available and has Vince Bottomley talk the his project Rifle he is building

www.targetshooter.co.uk

This forum is being added to Target Shooter webiste forum list.

AndyD

[justgoto]

If you prefer to leave the bolt in the rifle, close it on an empty chamber and pull the trigger to un-cock it.

What I do with my Eddystone US Model of 1917 is hold the trigger as I close the bolt. I don't know if it would hurt the pin by dry-firing it, but I don't want to take that chance.

[terjeness]

I was hoping to see a torque wrench, but alas....
I'd like to buy a good such wrench, and am looking at either the Weaver wrench or the Wheeler FAT. Does anybody have any experience with both? I'd like to know which one is better........?

[woolecox]

Originally Posted by terjeness

I was hoping to see a torque wrench, but alas....
I'd like to buy a good such wrench, and am looking at either the Weaver wrench or the Wheeler FAT. Does anybody have any experience with both? I'd like to know which one is better........?

I have the Wheeler FAT and am perfectly satisfied. No more over torqued bolts and screws! No experience with the Weaver, sorry.

[terjeness]

Thanks for well-meant advice. I bought the FAT one. Havent' used it yet...