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Savage 93 Bolt Disassembly

187K views 119 replies 67 participants last post by  mikehchase 
#1 ·
If any of you are wanting to know how to disassemble the bolt to work on it or just polish it out to smooth up the action, heres the steps.

With the bolt removed and in the fired position with the striker down you put the front half of the bolt in a padded vise. Pull on the back half of the bolt and the spring will compress and the two halves will seperate enough you can see the the small screw in bushing that holds them together. The bushing has two flat sides on it, you need a 5/16" openend wrench to unscrew it. It has a normal right hand thread and screws into the front half.

Once the two halves are unscrewed and pulled apart it will expose the spring. There is a small E-clip that holds the spring compressed.

You can use a small spring compresser or a 9/32" boxend wrench. The wrench is just big enough to go over the E-clip but not the spring. Put the wrench on the top of the spring and push down to compress it. Then you can use the wrench and the bolt handle and hold the spring compressed with one hand.

Remove the E-clip with a small screwdriver. Then release the spring slowly. You can now slide the striker and rod out the back of the bolt.
Putting the spring back in is simple using the wrench. It's not much longer then the rod so you can compress the spring with the wrench and hold it in the same manner while you push the E-clip back on with the other. Slide the front half over the rod and screw it in to the bushing as far as you can. Place the front half back in the vise so you can pull them apart and get the wrench back on it to tighten it up.
I polished the one in the picture out and I couldnt beleive the difference it made. It dropped the trigger pull a couple ounces and made a world of difference in the operation of the bolt.
 
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#2 ·
Nice, :t

I have been polishing bolts on most of the rifles I use, externally as well
as internally. Makes for a real smooth operating bolt action when shooting from shoulder in hunting situations as well as a little faster lock time.

S/SP
 
#11 ·
I'm a little new to this so I have three questions:

1. Once the bolt is removed how do you lower the striker to the fired position?
2. How you you polish the bolt? Wht grit of emory cloth? And do you polish wet or dry?
3. I'm reading something about the need for re-bluing after polishing. Tell me more.

Thanks
 
#16 ·
A craftsman wrench is what I use. And yes the MKI and MKII bolts are the same as the 93. You have to let the striker down and pull the two halves apart. The two halves will pull open about a half inch, but your compressing the spring as you pull them apart, so its easier to have a third hand to put the wrench in as you hold it open, or a padded vise to hold the front half of the bolt to free up your second hand.

As far as the polishing goes, I have another one to do tihs week. I'll try to get some pictures and post here with the details. Sorry I havent responed to your question, I usally dont keep track of the sticky's that close. But I'll get back with ya.
 
#18 ·
Some important areas to get are on the front half of the bolt, all the sharp edges on the bottom of the bolt. I use a fine sharpening stone and just run across all these edges lightly to smooth them up. For that main bolt body I use a Muslin polishing wheel and polishing compounds. If you dont have a polishing wheel you can do it by hand. Start with a 400 or 600 wet/dry sandpaper, then 800grit wet/dry paper and then 1000grit wet/dry sandpaper. Once you have the whole front half of the bolt rubbed out to the 1000grit, go to a fine steelwool and then to a metal polish like Flitz. By then you should have a mirrior finish on it by then with no sharp edges, clean it good to get all the metal polish, snading grit and steelwool out of it, then wipe it down and out with a good gun oil like CLP. The firing pin is next, these are stamped out and have some rough edges which can slow the firing pin down and cause some mis-fires. Just use your sharpening stone to smooth the edges of the firing pin, you can totally polish out the firing pin but all you really need to do is smooth up the edges.

The back half of the bolt, with the handle. If your gun is blued you can leave the bluing on the outside of this half. This is where a Dremel tool comes in handy, you can take the small felt wheels in their polishing sets, the ones that go on the shaft with the little tip that looks like a wood screw. On the end of this bolt half where the two halves meet. Polish the inside with the little felt wheels, it will make opening and closing the bolt smoother. On the rear of this half, running those little felt wheels inside there to polish it out will help smooth up the striker movement.

The striker is the most important part to polish out. If your gun is blued and you dont want to polish off the bluing of the striker, you can just polish the front end of it, which will help trigger pull. If you want to polish the whole thing you will need to remove the cocking piece, that big headed pin sticking out the side of the striker. There is a small roll pin that holds it in there, knock out the pin and the cocking piece will pull out. Dont worry which side the cocking piece is on, it will go in from either side when you put it back together. Polishing out the striker is easy if you have a drill or drill press. Chuck the spring rod into the drill, and use the drill to spin the striker and use the wet/dry sandpaper, just hold the paper against the striker while the drill spins it. Go up to your 1000grit paper, then your fine steelwool and then a soft cloth with some metal polish on it. Pay attention to the front edge of the striker, where the rod goes into it. That edge is slightly rounded, that where the sear catches the striker. Try not to change the angle of this edge, but you need to smooth it up, most are as rough as a file here. Getting that front edge nice and smooth and polished will help smooth up trigger pull. If your gun is blued and you dont want to remove the bluing form the striker, this front edge is all you need to polish, once the bolt is reassembeled it wont show.

When you put it all back together you should lube it all, a good white lithium grease, action lube or even a little graphite lube. Apply a thin coat of the lube inside the bolt handle half and on the spring rod, and wipe everything down with a good gun oil like CLP. When putting it back together remember on the extractors, the silver one on the left the black one on the right, and the spring clip that holds them has little notches, the notches face the rear of the bolt.

I hope I didnt forget anything, Im working nights right now and I have'nt had my coffee yet this morning !

Jerry
 
#21 ·
TO Shootnut:

I calll myself polishin my bolt on my 93/17, it had alot of machining marks on the bottom side , i'm talkin really ruff, took my diamond stone and hand stoned it , then 600 grit to 1000 grit, got it like a mirror all over. IT is still hard to open and close, when i say hard i mean its not like my ruger vt, but i think it could be much better, any suggestions on smoothin up the inside of the gun where the bolt slides, i think thats where the trouble lies.
 
#22 ·
hammerthe2506, Try pulling the trigger and holding it back while you work the bolt to see if it's pressure from the sear making it feel tight. There has been a couple here use a brass or bronze shotgun cleaning brush in a short section of a cleaning rod, chucked in a drill to spin it inside the action. Ive never had to go that far, I have a half round slip stone I use. Ive had a couple I used the slip stone on, you can put your little finger in there and feel the edges around the inside of the rear ring, Ive had a couple that was burred pretty bad in that area. But a small half round stone will knock the edges right off. And while your looking in the rear ring make sure the screws for the rear scope base are'nt protruding into the action.
 
#24 ·
Shootnut-
Awesome. I was scratching my head trying to figure out how to get the 2 halves apart... Thank you verymuch for the info. Made this whole process way painless. Stripped everyhting down, polished it all up action is SERIOUSLY smooth, plus I took a couple ounces off of my trigger pull. It's the way this gun should've been form the start.
 
#26 ·
This is just the type of information I love to find :t

Has anyone considered hard chroming the bolt parts? The purpose of hard chroming gun parts is usually to put a super tough finish on parts, not necessarily for aesthetics. But with parts polished like you are describing, you'd end up with the super durability of hard chrome, and the beauty of the polish too. Wouldn't have to worry about rusting either.
 
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