Removing bolt from rifle

M

Mandevu

Inactive
I'm the proud new owner of a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight. When storing the rifle, for safety purposes, it is recommended the bolt be removed and kept in a separate location. I notice that when I remove the bolt from the rifle the firing pin is primed (the tell tale plug at the back of the bolt protrudes, indicating it is ready to fire). There is no way to remove the bolt unprimed.
I am concerned storing the bolt in this state for long periods of time may be weaken the spring or be detrimental in some way. Would appreciate advice on this.:)
 
Mod 70

Sir:
Don't give it a thought - run a patch with some good RIG through the bbl (after cleaning fouling out) - make sure rifle is unloaded and close the bolt holding hammer back to release the striker spring and forget it.
Be sure to clean it before next hunting season!.
Harry B. - I've never seen a Mod. 70 spring weaken!
 
Mr Bonar,
Thanks for your advice - really love this Winchester which is a present from my son! Don't know how old it is but it is very accurate! Have experience with the FN and Enfield 303 when I was younger in the military, but get blown away with all the new tech out there today.
Regards,
Mandevu
 
You can de-cock the blot by rotating the rear of the bolt vs the front.
You should see a ramp and tooth near the butt end of the bolt.
rotate the bolt until the tooth is at the bottom of the ramp.

BE WARRY!!!
Winchester didn't seem to think too highly of "very safe" gun owners on the redesign of the 70.
Once you get that tooth down on that ramp, its truely a booger to get it back up the ramp and over its notch.
It has to be up and over that notch in order to be reinserted into the reciever.

Like Harry said. It's just plain easier to hold down the trigger while you close the bolt, in its reciever.
That will de-cock it without slamming it home.
 
Recocking the bolt is easy if you have a vise. Just clamp the lower part of the cocking piece in the vise and pull the bolt body forward turning it to the cocked position.

Unless there is some good reason to store the bolt out of the gun (bad or careless folks around, maybe in the family) I would just close the bolt with the trigger pulled to relieve spring tension and store the gun that way. I have seen a couple of guns where the owner stored the bolt or firing mechanism separate from the gun - and then forgot where he had put them!

Jim
 
Jim ... I hate to admit it, but I was such a rifle owner ... had a .303 SMLE for just about 2 years without the bolt for it ... eventually it turned up. For the most part I do the close the bolt with the trigger pulled trick, but I still store the bolts out of the rifles when I can't keep the rifles locked up in the safe, but now I keep the bolts all together in the small safe so I don't lose track of them :o:o:o

Saands
 
Springs won't weaken with tension on them for long periods of time. That's just an old wives tale.
 
Except it is NOT a myth, and most old time gunsmiths know that very well. I might agree that GOOD springs don't weaken (much) over time with tension on them, but there are a lot of not so good springs out there. It is not a bad idea to relieve tension on springs for long term storage. Yes, I know about WWII pistol magazines that were loaded for 50 years and worked fine, but those were very good springs. You just can't make the flat statement that springs (coil or leaf) don't take a set or call it a myth.

Jim
 
Except it is NOT a myth, and most old time gunsmiths know that very well. I might agree that GOOD springs don't weaken (much) over time with tension on them, but there are a lot of not so good springs out there. It is not a bad idea to relieve tension on springs for long term storage. Yes, I know about WWII pistol magazines that were loaded for 50 years and worked fine, but those were very good springs. You just can't make the flat statement that springs (coil or leaf) don't take a set or call it a myth.

Jim
Click to expand...

this is an accurate statement. Springs can and do suffer from set. In most cases the people who create guns took such things into account, and designed the gun components around it. Most guns are designed to not deform the spring to the point that they will quickly wear out (many are in the high to infinite life cycle range where 10,000 to 1,000,000+ cycles are expected before failure), and even when they do start weakening the gun will still operate for some time until they fail completely.
 
My Mustang Plus II suddenly stopped holding open at the last round.I replaced the magazine springs with new ones, which were about a full third longer, suddenly the gun locked back at the last round. I'd stored the gun for a month with full mags, one in the gun and one as extra mag. I don't know any way to explain it other than spring set. Now I'm gun shy (:)) about leaving a magazine full.
 
Y'all think what ya will but a spring will not set or get weak from being compressed unless it's compressed over it's safe zone. A spring will weaken(eventually) from repeated use but not from sitting compressed.
 
springs

Sirs:
Frazier, an old time gunsmith (muzzle loaders) told me how to make springs:

Shape your spring with LENGHTWISE strokes. Make it a little more open (muzzle-loader mainspring) and take a torch and bring to a "cherry Red" (yea, I know he didn't have a pyrometer to quench on a rising heat at decalescence temp. where the object still recieves heat but the pyrometer stays still) and quench in room temperature water.
Then (if we can find one today) take a Quaker State oil can and cut it and beat a recess in it that will let you cover the spring with (of course) Quaker State oil and lite it. You might heat the oil from the bottom with the torch but only to help it burn off - all of it. Let it cool covered with asbestos (horror of horrors) or sand till cool.
Remove it, oil it, and compress it fully together in your vise. It will never take any more "set" than that initial set!
I agree with ole' Jim! and Hawg Haggen and the other gent.
Harry B.

I make all my muzzle loader mainsprings as ole' Frazier did.
How many old, old muzzle-loaders do you find weak mainsprings on??
 
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I'm in the camp with the guys who say springs made today won't weaken when stored in the compressed mode.
I consider it an old wives tale too.
I remember all of the old guys back in the 1940's peddling that notion when I didn't know any better; and I believed them then, but not now.
The biggest problem is remembering where you put the bolt. When my grand daughters came up to visit, before they really knew gun safety, which they know now, I would take all of the bolts out and put them in one place so I could remember where they were. They are now older and know gun saftey so they can be trusted, and they are both good shots too, so I leave bolts in rifles today.

Martyn
 
You all who say springs can't weaken, here's a question; Why do competition experts say to replace the magazine springs every so often? Here's another one, assuming anyone believes what I said about my Mustang Plus II, why did the springs end up an inch and a quarter shorter and the slide lock suddenly fail to lock the slide back after the last round? Why did it suddenly start working again after I replaced the springs? This is a very interesting thread. I always figure I'll stop learning the day I die.
 
I wasn't aware that ALL competition shooters recommended that. Maybe yours was one of Jims not so good ones.:D This is a myth that has been making the rounds and disputed for years. I personally own a Winchester model 12 and a few doubles that I know were loaded over 30 years ago and never fired. There's no weakness in any of those springs. This is one of those subjects you either believe or you don't. I'm not going to argue about it. Believe what you want.
 
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