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Bolt hold open

2K views 17 replies 7 participants last post by  FuddyFive 
#1 ·
My Mark III bolt will hold open if I pull back the bolt without a magazine in it and lower it slowly. Is this normal? I have a tandemkross magazine safety removal spacer and LCI in it. Thanks
 
#5 ·
I have several MkIII's and when they are clean, the bolt will not stay back without a mag,, unless you manually operating the bolt hold open lever ( left side top, directly on top of mag release) .

I don't believe the speed in which you release the bolt should be a factor in how it works.

I can be wrong, but it sounds like either it is new and tight, or full of powder residue and causing the BHO to hang up.

It is designed that the empty magazine spring pressure works on the bolt hold open. When the spring pressure is not present ( due to a round holding down the mag follower, or the mag missing altogether) then the bolt hold open should drop, allowing the bolt to close.

This is how all mine function. Maybe there is an update that I am not aware of?

Rich
 
#7 · (Edited)
I have several MkIII's and when they are clean, the bolt will not stay back without a mag,, unless you manually operating the bolt hold open lever ( left side top, directly on top of mag release) .

I don't believe the speed in which you release the bolt should be a factor in how it works.

I can be wrong, but it sounds like either it is new and tight, or full of powder residue and causing the BHO to hang up.

It is designed that the empty magazine spring pressure works on the bolt hold open. When the spring pressure is not present ( due to a round holding down the mag follower, or the mag missing altogether) then the bolt hold open should drop, allowing the bolt to close.

This is how all mine function. Maybe there is an update that I am not aware of?

Rich
Rich,

That's the NORMAL procedure with an unadulterated pistol. The magazine follower button is what activates, and pushes up on the bolt stop assembly, to hold the bolt back. Without the magazine in place on the Ruger Mark III, and when the bolt is held back, the only thing necessary is to release, or sling shot the bolt forward is to just pull it back slightly and let it go. :bthumb:
 
#9 ·
I think I've found what is causing it to stick. There is some marring on the inside of the receiver right past where the mainspring seats in the receiver. Marring is also present on the end of the recoil spring. This to me indicates that the recoil spring is some how dragging against the top of the receiver. If I slowly lower the bolt with pressure downwards it does not hang, confirming this. Now the question is how to fix and why this is happening. Any ideas are welcome, thanks!
 
#12 ·
I think I've found what is causing it to stick. There is some marring on the inside of the receiver right past where the mainspring seats in the receiver. Marring is also present on the end of the recoil spring.... Any ideas are welcome, thanks!
Do you have optics mounted and a rail/mount screw tip protruding? Pics of the "marring" would be very helpful.
 
#10 ·
My recently purchased stainless MKII target pistol appeared to have been fired minimally before I bought it. I immediately bought a Volquartsen accuracy kit and installed it. New trigger, hammer, sear, and bolt stop lever. Right after I did the install, I noticed symptoms that I think the OP is describing. Specifically, if I removed the magazine, drew the bolt back and then eased it forward I would get significant dragging of the bolt. On the contrary, if I pulled the bolt back and just let it fly forward, slingshot fashion, the bolt would go into battery as normal. On mine, after firing several magazines through it, this dragging effect went away. I don't know if it was just parts wearing in or what, but that was my experience.
 
#14 ·
It does look like the spring drags. It also looks like the end of the spring (the end of the last coil) is up "on top" of the guide. Can you rotate the spring (just grab and twist) so the end of the spring is "under" the guide? On the bottom side? Need a pic from a different angle to be able to see the end of the spring better.
 
#16 · (Edited)
One (simple) thing comes to mind. You can install the upper "rotated" slightly on the lower. That can cause drag. On loose fitting upper/lowers you can actually grab the barrel and grip and rotate the upper and feel how much they can rotate. Those need "fixed". On tighter fitted guns you don't notice it unless you have the upper rotated enough to get some drag.
 
#17 ·
To me, that marring looks more like impact scrapes rather than sliding scrapes. This is probably occurring when the bolt stop pin is being driven into the receiver.

It's not clear to me where the bolt is when the hangup is occurring. Does it hang up mostly open (like with the BHO lever), halfway closed, almost closed? Does it completely stop the bolt, or does it just have a "glitch" and then continue past?
 
#18 ·
I checked the upper and lower fitment and it can't rotate and has a good fit. I do believe the marks on the inside of the receiver were most likely from the first few times disassembling and reassembling.

After having run some rounds through the gun it no longer sticks so perhaps some things just needed to be broken in. Before, the bolt would catch slightly and the lightest of pressure would make it go into battery. I can still feel slight dragging but it has gotten better and no longer hangs up.

I think the hammer may have been dragging on the bolt slightly. Before I put some rounds through the gun I noticed the hammer had some rough spots and burrs on the edges where the bolt rides atop. I have had guns before that just needed to be shot (at least its a fun remedy) to smooth things out. I have a savage 64 that was a jam-o-matic until I ran a couple hundred rounds through it, now it runs like a top. Either way the issue seems to be fixing itself, thanks for all the help.
 
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