Chew Up Bolt

[Russ]

I picked up a used 68 Classic yesterday. I cleaned it up, and fired about 500 PB's through it, and fired about another 500 dry fire shots. I took it apart tonight, only to find the edge of the bolt, where the sear catches, REALLY chewed up. The sear has a flat spot worn on it. I don't know if the trigger rod has ever been messed with, but it does appear to have been polished.

Here's a scan of the bolt...

[a_malfunction]

Was it chewed up before you got it? You'll probably have to get a new bolt and a new sear.

[Russ]

...and the sear, I'll get a new sear tommorrow, but I'm not sure if the bolt can be saved. Hard to see the burr that's raised (on the bolt), but it's nasty.

[Russ]

The bolt looked fine before I shot the gun. That is it had no burrs. It actually looks a lot worse in hand than the scan shows. I guess that the edge of the sear was only catching the radiused corner of the bolt, and digging into it. Could the sear not be rotating up enough, improperly engaging the sear notch on the bolt? The trigger pull was very stiff, with no creep.

[Russ]

One more of the bolt...

[Russ]

and the sear edge, one more time

[Gunga]

Maybe the previous owner of your Mag put an aftermarket on/off valve in it? I was thinking that maybe the on/off pin is too short, thus causing the sear to barely catch the edge of your bolt?

Or...maybe they tried to do a trigger job by screwing out the trigger rod, which would also cause the sear to barely catch the edge of your bolt.

Just my $0.02 theories.

[Russ]

The trigger rod measures 1.977" The trigger rod has ahout a 1/16" of clearance behind the trigger when the gun is gassed up. The on/off pin measures .751" All that seems OK.

The sear is definitely not rotating up enough to properly engage the bolt. I don't know if the gun was made up of mixed-matched parts from different guns. The body appears to have once been black, then stripped and polished. All parts are stock, though.

[scribe]

the sear looks pretty rounded instead of a nice sharp edge. to my knowledge isn't the sear made out of material stronger than the bolt so that only the bolt wears down? AGD made it like that so that you would only have to replace the bolt when it wears down. your bolt definitely looks worn down. that definitely sucks if you just bought the gun and the bolt was like that.

[Gunga]

Well, there goes my two theories out the window. :)

Here's a third. Maybe the previous owner did one of Ravi's trigger jobs by grinding down the sear?

If that's the case, since you're getting a new sear today, that won't be a problem anymore. :)

[MagNumPI]

Isn't Ravi a Cocker guy? kinda like getting a foot doctor to check out your eyes...

[Manuel_FZR]

[Manuel_FZR]

Hey MagNumPI ... nice sig

[Chris]

When you gas up the gun, is there a space between the trigger rod and the back of the trigger? If not, you need to screw the trigger rod back in. There needs to be some space between the two.

-Chris

[Drizit]

I'd say the bolt will probably be ok, but a new one is only $35.
as to the on/off pin being short, if your trigger feels very reactive then it probably is a bit on the short side. particularly if you find you can sweet spot the thing you may want to try a longer pin if you can find one.

and Scribe, yes the sear is a harder metal then the bolt, that is because it's easy to replace a bolt, but a bit more hassle to replace the sear. that said you will need a new sear after a while anyway.

good luck with this one.