My Ruger M77 (w/rear tang safety) bolt dosen't move smoothly.

[4ked Horn]

My Ruger M77 (w/rear tang safety) bolt dosen\'t move smoothly.

Help please.
I can't figure out why my bolt drags when sliding it to the rear or when pushing it forward except for one small part of the travel. The first centmeter of rearward movement, after fully lifting the bolt handle is free and smooth. At this very point the bolt body encounters a slight but sudden bump and lifts about .010". I believe the lift is at the the front end but it is hard to tell. The bolt movement begins to feel dragy or smeary for the rest of its pull. The opposite is true for the closing. Smeary, then at the last bit it is free and easy. When the bolt lifts it seems to cause a rubbing of the top of the bolt and the inside of the reciever below the rear scope mount BUT the bolt is not bound up and will wiggle if the handle is shaken. The spring that holds the extractor is not oversprung and is not rubbing. This is the first thing I looked for as the problem.

If you know why this is happening (it has always been like this I think. At least as long as I can remember) or have some ideas please let me know. I can't seem to figure it out.

 

[winmagman]

Re: My Ruger M77 (w/rear tang safety) bolt dosen\'t move smoothly.

4ked
I've got a Savage that does the same thing. Turns out the mag. spring is really stiff and holds the follower up against the bottom of the bolt creating a "heavy" feeling as the bolt is opened and closed.
Chris

 

[4ked Horn]

Re: My Ruger M77 (w/rear tang safety) bolt dosen\'t move smoothly.

Thanks for responding. I forgot to include that in my first post. My bolt behaves the same even when I open the mag floorplate and the follower plate is nowhere near the bolt.

 

[MachV]

Re: My Ruger M77 (w/rear tang safety) bolt dosen\'t move smoothly.

Have you tryed loosening the screws?The old Rugers are notorios for being fussy about both torque and sequence.
Take the action out of the stock and check to make sure nothing is interfering with the action laying flat in the stock.When you put it back together start all three screws and tighten the front one first,while holding it muzzle up. Then tighten the rear one.Only tighten the center screw enough to hold it in place.Adjusting the center screw often will help with groups too.Pillar bedding them realy helps but is a real pain to get it right.

 

[4ked Horn]

Re: My Ruger M77 (w/rear tang safety) bolt dosen\'t move smoothly.

I just tried loosening the rear two screws and that didn't fix anything but it was right after this I discovered what the problem was.

It was the extractor clip after all.

I had ruled out the clip that goes around the bolt because it gets smeary before the clip goes into the rear bridge(?) of the receiver. Well... It turns out that the part of the receiver that also forms the mag lips comes in contact with this same clip just barely and rubs from this point back. I have looked for this problem on and off for months and tonight I was determined to find it and deal with it. I'm glad this hunt is over.

Next question. What would someone charge me for a new clip and an install or a new clip and some correct install instructions?. I don't want to over stretch the spring clip again but it would be nice if I could save on shipping the gun as well.

 

[4ked Horn]

Re: My Ruger M77 (w/rear tang safety) bolt dosen\'t move smoothly.

[ QUOTE ]
Next question. What would someone charge me for a new clip and an install or a new clip and some correct install instructions?. I don't want to over stretch the spring clip again but it would be nice if I could save on shipping the gun as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm just posting this part again hoping for a response since this post began and ended in a very short time. I'm hoping a gunsmith sees this part.



Bump.