12FV .223 Bolt head disassembly difficulty...how hard can I hit this thing!

Read the gunsmith thread here, watched a few videos trying to disassemble my 12 FV .223 bolt. All went well until I get to the head. it is separated from the rest of the bolt and now to remove extractor and ejector. I have the 1/16" punch in the hole to drive the pin out of the side of the other side that has the divet. That pin is not budging! I got a bigger hammer:o and hit it a little harder. Still no movement out the other side. My punch is starting to bend, straightened it out tried more, no luck. This punch it likely toast, but before I whale on it like John Henry I thought I better inquire.

All the videos look like it just falls apart, maybe this is the first time thing, like the bolt handle screw? I had fair warning you needed to get tough with it.

Any ideas much appreciated!

Russellc

I just went ahead and smacked it harder, and it moved. Now removed it. Now for the extractor.....the video showed him take an old case and do something, (all you could see was his hands) and all the parts just fell out. Let's see if I can figure this one out....

Russellc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by russellc

I just went ahead and smacked it harder, and it moved. Now removed it. Now for the extractor.....the video showed him take an old case and do something, (all you could see was his hands) and all the parts just fell out. Let's see if I can figure this one out....

Russellc

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I put the bolt in a zip lock bag and then use a small screwdriver to push the extractor out of the dovetail slot it sits in. The bag catches the detent ball and spring which, if you are not careful, will fly off into eternity, never to be found in your lifetime:o

OK, so the extractor just pushes out to the outside? Wasnt sure, and yes I do all this stuff inside plastic. Learned that putting AR lowers together!
As it turns out, I didnt need to move the extractor. I was trying out a throat to lands measuring technique discussed in another thread. Im not sure the ejector needed removed but it seemed it might push hard enough to defeat the feel required. The firing pin assembly had to go, I thought if retracted, it wouldnt interfere, but the test was impossible with it in place.

Thanks for the info,

Russellc

At least you know now how to do it now. I took the extractor and ejector out of my bolt recently when I was rebarreling for the first time. Fortunately, mine went a bit easier than yours, and I found a somewhat decent video on Youtube. I had to fiddle with the extractor for a while to get it back in. Yeah, it does go in from the outside once oriented properly. I did not use a bag and had the ball bearing fly out twice, but found it. I should know better after doing AR-15 lowers too.

Sometimes you can come across a pin that's a b!tch.

Nothing like old military rifles to teach you how much force is too much lol.

:black_eyed: