Stiff bolt 1903A3

@andrew1220 From John Beard:

"WWII-era mainsprings were manufactured individually on a spring-winding machine and have formed ends. They have either 29 or 35 coils, nominal.

Pre-WWII mainsprings were cut from a large spool of coiled wire and have 33 coils, nominal. They do not have formed ends."

I also read that NM guns had 21 coils but not sure if that's correct.
 
@andrew1220 From John Beard:

"WWII-era mainsprings were manufactured individually on a spring-winding machine and have formed ends. They have either 29 or 35 coils, nominal.

Pre-WWII mainsprings were cut from a large spool of coiled wire and have 33 coils, nominal. They do not have formed ends."

I also read that NM guns had 21 coils but not sure if that's correct.
29 coils on the national match , what i dont know is if the wire dia. or if the coil spacing is different.
The real key to the great triggers and smooth action on the NM rifles is high polished Nickel steel bolts, lapped to reciever and polished triggers.
 
I'm just counted the child on my sporterized 1903 and I came up with 36. I have no idea if it was replaced with a commercial spring (?).20200617_132026.jpg
 
This is the area I would concentrate on. The cooking piece has to slide up the slope of the bolt body under pressure of the spring. If somebody has messed with the angles, or if there's any roughness there, it'll be hard to open/cock.20200617_132356.jpg
 
Every get this squared away?
No not yet. Been shooting more pistol lately now that matches are starting back up.

The bolt wasn’t horrible after cutting the spring. But I’ll probably buy a new bolt assembly at some point just to see what it’s like.
 
Got a complete Remington bolt assembly for $68 shipped from a well known seller on the CMP forums. Honestly didn’t notice a huge difference in the smoothness but at least this one isn’t damaged. I also installed the older firing pin spring that I cut down.
Just need to try it out at the range this week.
EBFD45EE-39A8-4667-B838-066E7E83B257.jpeg0461A36B-E01C-42BF-ACF9-C7A499938582.jpegA2FA23C4-230D-49B3-9F22-E8E0F59F23A6.jpeg8B9A02F3-5049-4BBD-809B-C6C3199657B4.jpeg
 
@andrew1220 put some grease on those bearing surfaces where the firing pin rides. Looks totally dry in that last picture.
Good catch. I should have mentioned these photos were before I cleaned and lubed/greased the bolt. It's definitely noticeable with the smoothness, just not night and day difference. All in all, I think it was worth the $68 since it's not damaged like the old one 😂
 
Glad you found a solid replacement.

Able to check headspace?
Oops I didn’t even check headspace 😮
Went to the range this afternoon and fired 10 rounds of new PPU Garand ammo and 15 rounds of my reduced trail boss loads. Shot fine but noticed on a few of the trail boss cases, had some sort of marring or scratch on the case head.
Now I’m thinking I may have not cleaned the bolt face good enough? Maybe got some grit caught between the case and the boltface??

Look at the rounded scratch across the “77” on the bottom left case
EF56F27D-5619-4526-B59D-DE5DE2FD28B5.jpeg
Look between the “P” and the “3”
41AC6CF6-4A28-4FC4-B911-469B6820E847.jpegAB666770-2CF4-4440-8445-B86A50C57BAF.jpegFB8C759E-9A6B-4964-A925-3AE3A9712C0B.jpegF67F9897-CEEE-431D-BD39-CC103A69FB64.jpeg
 
@andrew1220 I think that scratch may be from the bottom of the extractor hole (at 9 oclock and 10 oclock in your 2 pics above). Looks like a sharp edge there.
 
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