Sticky Bolt

[mister2]

Hi everyone. Been around since 2004 through site changes and everything. Finally have something to post.

I bought a used 10fp in 2004 and never shot it until yesterday. I was shooting Tulammo 308 and everything was as it should be, the scope (Leupy VX-II) zeroed within 5 shots. However, after the first shot, the bolt was extremely hard to turn. Once turned, it pulled back with no problems. The spent shells did not show any deep gouging, just the usual scratches when a round chambers.

Now I'm thinking: last shooter left some gunk in the chamber and my second and later shots were sticking to hot gunk. Just like the old Mosins, right? I'm planning to swab the chamber well with powder solvent and then brush it thoroughly with a .45acp barrel brush.

Is this good enough? Am I way off in my assessment?

Thanks!

MR2

[drybean]

my first thoughts,get rid of the tula ammo
bet your probs. will go away

drybean

[bootsmcguire]

my first thoughts,get rid of the tula ammo
bet your probs. will go away

drybean

I 2nd this thought. A good cleaning with solvent and a nylon brush should not hurt anything either, but that cheap russian ammo has tendancies to do strange things sometimes.

[82boy]

With Laquer coated rounds, most bore cleaners will not cut it, because they are not designed to do so. You best bet is to scrub the chamber out with Laquer thiner, with a brush, coated with oooo steel wool.

As other mentioned, shoot good ammo , and you problem should go away.

[thomae]

BTW, for those who don't know, lacquer thinner is simply denatured alcohol.

[Gmac5]

Thomae, i politely disagree with you .recheck your chemistry
No brag,just fact

[mister2]

Thanks to the many responders -

First of all, I am glad no one mentioned "headspace" and I made certain I checked the shells to make sure there were no separation, flattened primers, bulged cases, etc. I also checked boltface to make sure no primer flow, etc. As it's been 8 years since I bought the rifle, I doubt I could go back to the original purchase to find resolution if headspace was the case. I have some .308WIN gauges which i would have had to root out in case there were any hints of bad headspace. Glad there's no need for that...for the moment.

What I'm shooting is Tula's polymer-coated ammo, so, a. I will try brass cased ammo, like surplus Port or commercial PMC, and b. I'll try to find some lacquer thinner to brush out the chamber.

Secondly, I was really just trying to find how the rifle would shoot and was very pleased to get better groups than anything I've shot before, so I know I have a good rifle and good ammo is simply a no-brainer from this point onward.

Finally, I have a really good illustration of why Savage owners love their firearms. They're exactly what one needs and no more. No expensive frills, no fancy doodads, just good accuracy. What more could I want? (No, don't answer that )

[thomae]

I could be wrong...it's happened before.
Not trying to start an argument...but that's what I learned years ago...
Perhaps that is the primary solvent and other stuff is added to it?
I checked the Home Depot web site and they appear to agree with my earlier statement.
http://www.homedepot.com/buy/klean-s...l#.UJK_AMXA878

Says "Solvent type Denatured Alcohol" (This is the type I always used...)

However, checking Wikipedia : Says that Shellac is a lacquer with an alcohol solvent. Hmmm...perhaps that is what I was thinking about.

Says that although Alcohol can be a solvent in lacquer thinner, sometimes the following solvents are also used: alkyl esters like butyl or amyl acetate, ketones like acetone or methyl ethyl ketone, aromatic hydrocarbons like toluene, and ethers such as gylcolcellosolves.

So...there it is.
I learn something every other day.

Thanks for calling me out. Can we both be right?

[Mach2]

Denatured alcohol is 100% alcohol. It is used to clean metal parts that will rust if water is used. Some alcohol has 70% alc and 30% H2O. You wouldn't want to mix an alcohol with shellac that has any H2O content.

[Elkbane]

thomae,
Click on the MSDS sheet for the link you provided. That product contains Methanol, Toluene, Acetone, MEK, Ethanol, and Hexane (Naptha). The methanol (alcohol) component is <30%. Most of it is "something else".
Elkbane

[thomae]

You guys are all correct. I humbly and respectfully admit defeat.






Now, .

[ellobo]

I have alcohol and Lacquer thinner, both bought at a hardware store. A quick sniff test will tell you the difference immediately. Do NOT use either as a cocktail mixer except in certain conditions ( think you know what I mean, involves liberals).

El Lobo