T1X bolt disassembly/reassembly

[beelu]

I looked for but didn't find a helpful hints post on T1X bolt disassembly. the45man did note (thread "My Tikka T1X .22LR setup and observations/problems") that the cocking indicator was fragile, but I am looking for more detail than the manual provides on disassembly/reassembly. There seems to be tension on the spring after the bolt is decocked- when "pin B" is "carefully removed", is stuff gonna go flying? Should I hold pressure on the shroud while pushing out the pin? Any advice on "compress the cocking piece spring by pushing the bolt shroud" during reassembly? For example, place the bolt face on a delrin block or piece of wood and press the shroud forward with your hand? Something else? I waited so long to get the rifle, last thing I want to do is break or loose a critical piece and have to wait for replacement parts.

Thanks

[Paul_T]

When you push the pin out of the shroud there is quite a bit of spring tension. I use a 3/32 pin punch.

You need to put a bit of forward pressure on the shroud to push out the pin - hold the shroud once the pin is going out or it will definitely want to launch.

To reassemble once the shroud is back on and pin in place I put the cocking cam against a block of wood while pulling down on the bolt assembly (I use the edge of my reloading bench).
Once the cocking cam is almost touching the cocking indicator you can turn the bolt handle counter-clockwise to lock it back in place.

[beelu]

Originally Posted by Paul_T

When you push the pin out of the shroud there is quite a bit of spring tension. I use a 3/32 pin punch.

You need to put a bit of forward pressure on the shroud to push out the pin - hold the shroud once the pin is going out or it will definitely want to launch.

To reassemble once the shroud is back on and pin in place I put the cocking cam against a block of wood while pulling down on the bolt assembly (I use the edge of my reloading bench).
Once the cocking cam is almost touching the cocking indicator you can turn the bolt handle counter-clockwise to lock it back in place.

Thanks- good info.

[beelu]

Originally Posted by Paul_T

When you push the pin out of the shroud there is quite a bit of spring tension. I use a 3/32 pin punch.

You need to put a bit of forward pressure on the shroud to push out the pin - hold the shroud once the pin is going out or it will definitely want to launch.

To reassemble once the shroud is back on and pin in place I put the cocking cam against a block of wood while pulling down on the bolt assembly (I use the edge of my reloading bench).
Once the cocking cam is almost touching the cocking indicator you can turn the bolt handle counter-clockwise to lock it back in place.

I finally got up the courage to take the bolt apart. As Paul T noted, forward pressure on the shroud is needed to remove the pin; hand pressure alone on a 3/32 punch is all you need to push out the pin once pressure is applied. Many of you probably know this trick, but if you don't, reassembly is much easier if you compress the spring and insert the 3/32 punch in the pin hole instead of trying to keep pressure on the assembly and insert the pin at the same time.

Details: The first step is to decock the bolt to relieve some of the spring tension- simply grasp the bolt body with one hand and rotate the bolt handle down with the other. To remove the pin, I pushed the face of the bolt against a small piece of 3/8 plywood, being careful to have the extractor hanging over the edge of the wood. As Paul T noted, the assembly is under tension (pretty decent tension) and care is needed to prevent launching pieces and parts. (Note: I did not remove the forward pin but that assembly should not be under tension.) I cleaned the pieces, put a couple of SMALL drops of oil on the outside of the bolt where it rotates in the bolt handle and put a small bit of grease on the face of the pointed cocking piece that engages the bolt body. To reassemble, I lined up the parts and pressed the shroud against the plywood until I could slip punch in the pin hole. I put a folded rag against the bolt face when I did this but in retrospect it may be been better to push the bolt face against the plywood to lessen the chance harming the extractor, again making certain that the extractor hangs over the edge of the plywood. It would probably have been easier to see if the pin hole as well. Next time. With the punch in place, put a bit more pressure on the assembly to loosen the grip on the punch, and use the pin to push the punch out of the hole. Make sure that you center the pin side-to-side in the bolt.

Returning the bolt to the cocked position was a bit easier if I wrapped a piece of cloth around the bolt body for a better grip, held on tight then simply rotated the bolt handle up.

Hope this helps. I was reluctant to try taking the bolt apart- but the captured punch method of reinserting the pin made it really easy. Almost as easy as taking apart my rimfire CZ bolts…

[fwood]

Thanks very much for the information and details. I haven't taken my bolt apart yet for cleaning but it's high on my list.

[DuduinoMandido]

Thanks for this information, very helpful.

EDIT: As a follow-up I disassembled and reassembled the bolt and it was indeed pretty easy. I pushed the pin in and out using an Allen (hex) wrench. The surfaces on the bolt assembly were very clean and looked quite smooth; I had considered polishing it but decided it was really not necessary. I lubricated everything and reassembled. Easy.