Gunsmithing HELP... Bolt won't close down all the way

[stello1001]

Hello all,

I recently took apart my new to me win70 to give it some style (new paint job) and have already put it back together. At first, I placed the barreled action in the stock and realized I was missing the trigger. Took it back out, put trigger in, etc. Now I've got the whole thing put together but I can't get the bolt to rotate down and close properly. I haven't put any live rounds in yet but it dry fires just fine.

I turned it's 90 degree throw more into like a 40 lol. Maybe this is a good thing. No but seriously, am I missing anything?

It's probably something simple that I can't think of at the moment. If someone can help, I would appreciate it.
Thanks,

Serg

 

[Pre-64]

If you raise your bolt will it cock? You may also make sure you didn’t put your action screws in to tight or the wrong order, the one in front of the trigger will go up into the action and not let it close

 

[Pre-64]

You can take your bolt out and either look in the action or just back out your front action screw and see if that lets you close the bolt completely

 

[stello1001]

If you raise your bolt will it cock? You may also make sure you didn’t put your action screws in to tight or the wrong order, the one in front of the trigger will go up into the action and not let it close

Yeah it will cock just fine.

I though about the action screws but I'm sure I put them in right. It doesn't hurt to double triple check though. Let me do that now.

 

[stello1001]

Action screw not high enough into the action. Any other thoughts?

 

[Pre-64]

How did you get the bolt de decocked without closing the bolt?

 

[Pre-64]

If the safety slipped off while you had it out of the action you will have to reset the firing pin to cocked.

 

[Pre-64]

If the safety slipped off while you had it out of the action you will have to reset the firing pin to cocked.

Your safety should be in the middle position

 

[stello1001]

How the heck do I get the safety into the middle position. It'll decock because I can dry fire it or I can decock it manually but I would have to take the bolt out.

I'm trying to move the safety but it seems to not want to move at all.

 

[stello1001]

I'm starting to think I did something wrong upon assembly of the trigger onto the action.

 

[Pre-64]

If you lift the bolt it will cock ? You shouldn’t be able to take the bolt out without the firing pin in the cocked position.

 

[stello1001]

If you lift the bolt it will cock ? You shouldn’t be able to take the bolt out without the firing pin in the cocked position.

Yes, it'll cock...

 

[Pre-64]

Then I believe you are correct about your trigger assembly, the action screw and bolt are the two most common that I see.

 

[Pre-64]

One more thing it could be is your magazine box is pushed up a little high, Ive seen that happen also.

 

[stello1001]

I'll report back in a bit. Let me look into the trigger assembly. Thanks for working with me...

 

[Pre-64]

I'll report back in a bit. Let me look into the trigger assembly. Thanks for working with me...

Wish I could be of more assistance, good luck and yes please let me know what you find

 

[stello1001]

Took the trigger off but that did nothing. It still won't go down all the way. I'm guessing it has something to do with that other part still in the action. I've never messed with or removed that part though.

 

[Pre-64]

I think it is your bolt, not to beat a dead horse, but in all the pictures your firing pin is not cocked, I’ll post a picture

 

[Pre-64]

 

[Pre-64]

 

[Pre-64]

Does the bottom of your bolt look like that?

 

[Pre-64]

If the bolt won’t completely close you shouldn’t of been able to dry fire it, that’s why I’m confused on how it isn’t cocked.

 

[stello1001]

Does the bottom of your bolt look like that?

No no no, I know you insist on that. The firing pin is not cocked in all my pictures because I just happened to take the pics when I "fired" it. I could have taken the pictures with it in the cocked position but it would have been the same thing.


I'm actually laughing my ass off because I just figured it out though. One of the base screws was too far inside the action. I backed it out and problem solved. Which brings me to another problem though. I had that screw torqued to spec, now it won't be if I want my rifle to function properly.

Damn it!!!

 

[Pre-64]

Excellent, I bet you have them in backwards, as in the rear screw in place of the front action screw. I have a bunch of model 70’s and I do it quite often. The shorter one should go in the front.

 

[Pre-64]

You had me mighty curious as to what it could of been, the action screws and bolt off safety are the 2 most common things I’ve seen.

 

[stello1001]

Excellent, I bet you have them in backwards, as in the rear screw in place of the front action screw. I have a bunch of model 70’s and I do it quite often. The shorter one should go in the front.

I just took all four out and they are all the same size. This sucks because I can't get any torque on the rear one (from the front two) and this can't be good. At 10 inch pounds it won't let my bolt close all the way. This is a brand new 20 moa weaver rail and the screws are the ones that came with it.

 

[Pre-64]

Sorry, I misread you post, I thought your action screw you removed, your base screws are to long, that’s a new one for me. Well at least we know now. Looks like a call to weaver Monday might fix you up.

 

[stello1001]

I guess I'll have to go that route. Man this is frustrating, I just want to have it done already.

Oh well, guess I'll see what they say on Monday...

 

[stello1001]

Quick update:

I found some other screws. These are the ones that came in the crappy cheap bases that came with the rifle. I guess they aren't so crappy after all. The screws on there were literally shorter by a hair lol. They worked though, I'm able to torque to spec and run the bolt all the way in its full range of motion as it should...

 

[chevy_man]

That's not uncommon. I have altered many base screws with the flap disk in the grinder or the knife sharp depending on how far they need to go.