Your Bolt & Corrosive Ammo ?

T

Tropical Z

New member
I know that the primary concern when using corrosive ammo is to clean the barrel promptly after shooting using a 5 parts water to 1 part ammonia mixture and to also wipe down the breach face with this mixture.What about the inside of the bolt and the firing pin? Aren't these subject to being corroded at the same time? The reason i ask is i don't want to destroy my guns using surplus ammo,but a complete bolt disassembly is beyond my means as this would undoubtedly also destroy the gun as i would screw it up or lose parts.Whats the answer?:confused:
 
I think it is unlikely that any of the primer salts could get back into the bolt interior.

What rifle are you using that has a bolt so difficult to take down? Most of the corrosive primed ammo on the market is old 8x57 and the Mauser bolt is simple to take down for cleaning.

The other common corrosive ammo is .303 British, and the SMLE bolt head can be easily removed for cleaning also.

Jim
 
What about the No.4 MkI enfileds? Are their bolts easy to take apart, I just got one, but the 10-day waiting period isn't up yet.
 
Very few of the old military bolts are difficult to disassemble, especially to a point for field cleaning. Many need no tools at all, like the Mauser 98s.

If you have a bolt that you can't or don't wish to disassemble, you can drop it in a mixture of ammonia and hot water, swish it around, rinse in clean hot water, and pop it in the oven at 200 degrees or so for about half an hour.

After removing and when the metal is still warm to the touch, put a little of your favorite gun lube into the nicks and crannies, with the idea of lubing the spring and walls of the bolt body. Rub down the outside of the bolt with an oily rag, and your're good to go.

Noban
 
Thanx for the replies.The rifles in ? are Yugo m48,Mosin Nagant m-44,and Turk mauser.I'm sure its easy to disassemble any of these bolts once you know how to do it,but until then they might as well be nuclear reactors!;)
 
ML,

the bolt on the Enfield is very easy to disassemble...just take it out of the rifle and twist the bolt head off, it's threaded on.
 
Gun store guy told me that instead of using hot water and ammonia I could use Black Powder barrel cleaning stuff -- don't know the exact name as I'm not at home near my cleaning supplies.

Anyone know if this is true, though?
 
I use Windex. It's basically the same recipe...mostly water with a bit of ammonia, and some ingredients for smell. Very convenient to apply, as well.
 
I too have wondered about a blackpowder cleaner such as Remingtons blackpowder all-natural bore cleaner,but even its bottle doesn't specifically say it neutralizes corrosiveness? Guess i'll e-mail them to find out.
 
Mauser Bolts

I've got a new (fifty year old) unissued M-48 Yugo. The bolt is just like any other Mauser 98-K. It's far easier to deal with than a lever action or semi-auto, but may seem tricky at first. The key is keeping the powerful main spring under control without bending the hammer. The German mausers often have a little hole on the side for just this purpose. For detailed instructions, check out the Mitchell's Mauser's website

http://www.mitchellsales.com/

They have a whole Yugo owners manual as a free download. Once you figure it out, it's very simple.

As far as cleaning, I think the only danger is if one of those old primers breaks and gets mercuric crud over the hammer. Even then, I don't think it's anything to lose sleep over. For cleaning, extremely hot water (followed by drying and oiling to avoid rust) or some amonia-based cleaner will work fine.
 
A. Mauser bolt disassembly procedure. (1903 Springfield is very similar)

1. Check to make sure chamber and magazine are empty.

2. Close bolt the same as if preparing to fire.

3. Move the safety to the upright (middle) position.

4. Remove bolt from the receiver.

5. Press the bolt sleeve lock and hold it in while unscrewing the bolt sleeve (the part with the safety) from the bolt body.

6. This is enough for general bolt cleaning and lubrication.

(The Mauser and Springfield sleeve locks differ, but serve the same purpose.)

B. SMLE Rifle No. 1, No. 4, and No. 5 procedure: With bolt out of the rifle, unscrew the bolt head. Clean bolt head and around firing pin. I do not recommend going any further without special tools.

Jim
 
Does any one know if the ammo sold by the CMP is corrosive? I got a bunch of it but I keep hearing rumors that's it's corrosive. Any truth to that?
 
If the enfield bolt is very similiar to the mauser bolt, then I can take it apart, I have a Yugoslavian M48 mauser, got it unnissued, Still haven't shot it, way hot, starting to really cool down though.
 
Hi, Molon Labe,

The Lee-Enfield bolt is not similar to a Mauser bolt. Taking it down requires a special tool to remove the firing pin and sometimes they are in very tightly, leading to broken tools or damaged firing pins. The Lee-Enfield bolt, unlike the Mauser and Model 1903 bolts, was never intended to be taken down by the soldier in the field.

Jim
 
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