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Bad Bolt

1K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  bajasam 
#1 ·
I have been playing with a full camo 10/22 I bought a few years ago and hadn't fully broken in yet. It's been a very picky eater. I have been getting a lot of stovepipes in the gun. I've been shooting up some older federal champion 40 grain that's hit and miss out of other semi autos. Some will function ok with it but this gun needs hotter stuff. i pulled the bolt out today and I got my sandpaper and iron bar I use to smooth stuff out to work on it. i noticed there were extreme chatter marks in the recoil spring area of the bolt and on the ejection port guide rail side as well. Must have been made by some trainee with a dull bit on a Friday at 5pm.

Well, I smoothed the surfaces out a lot with sand paper backed by the square bar stock but it's so uneven, there are still little divits in the mettle below the polished flat surface. I decided to measure the headspace too... dang, close to 0.65 inch. So I pulled the extractor polished the flats on that and carefully smoothed down the bolt face to about 0.50 inch. I believe 0.43 is minimum to prevent slamfire. While the extractor seems to be ok, I'm still getting lots of stovepipes but I think the extrator is getting a little better bite at the rim now with the reduced headspace and ignition is perfect. I'm using an aftermarket bolt handle I picked up from ebay to try and smooth this action but my bolt isn't really kicking any of the cases all that far. My old faithful really slings them clear of the action. I suppose I can try some different action springs to see if it helps with reliability. It is cycling much much smoother by hand now.
 
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#2 ·
if you want fewer stovepipes there are lots of ways to get fewer stovepipes. you can smooth out the receiver, use a good dry lube in the receiver, shoot higher velocity ammo, radius the bolt, polish the guide rod or replace guide rod. All of these make fewer stovepipes by giving the spent round a smoother faster trip to the ejector with less chance of falling off the bolt face.
If you want zero stovepipes fix your extractor. the extractor needs to hold the cartridge tight to the bolt face. it is when the cartridge falls off that you get stovepipes.
 
#4 ·
I will order a new extractor and see what happens. The milling on this bolt was horrible! It is cycling a lot smoother right now but reliability with the extended bolt handle that is a few oz heavier than stock is not helping function. I may need to lighten the spring too. rc
 
#5 ·
A VQ or Kidd extractor and a Kidd guide rod w/springs will go a long way in eliminating these problems. Other than that scotchbrite the inside of your receiver and blast it and the bolt with some Hornady One Shot dry lube and your action should run like a Swiss watch.
 
#7 ·
I dug out my 10/22 parts box. I ended up having several extractors from many moons ago when I worked on 10/22s a lot. I put them under a magnifying glass and found the one with the best claw. I'm sure these were factory take offs. I installed the "new" one in my bolt with a different spring and the gun definitely had fewer stovepipes with my butler creek and factory magazines but it's still jamming every 10 to 15 shots instead of every two or three. Who has used both Kid and Volqartzen extractors to see which is stronger? I'm not sure which I should order. I'd like one of hardened tool steel. I think these stamped factory ones are rather soft. rc
 
#8 ·
I've used several of both. I've never had a problem with either one. If I were only ordering the extractor I'd probably just go with a VQ. I don't actually have any reason other than that was the first one I ever used in my first 10/22. They are pretty much identical and are both much better than the OEM one. If changing out to another OEM extractor made that much of a difference I'm willing to bet the aftermarket one will take care of the rest of the issues.
 
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