[dmyers66]

has anyone noticed a hole wearing on there bolt assembly towards the aft end?if so has anyone ordered this from the factory or am i required to send the rifle in?does anyone know where i can get a bolt if, so i dont have to send my rifle to the manufacturer?

 

[cajungeo]

There is no hole worn thru your bolt. check out http://www.perfectunion.com/forums/showthr...ht=hole+in+bolt

 

[dmyers66]

cajungeo,thx for telling me there is no hole but i think i know what a hole looks like and what wear marks are.yes,the fact of the matter is the bolt does not hit the stop at any point but when it is in the aft position but i know what i see and it is definetly a hole-i'd be more than willing to load a pic on here if i knew how so everyone can see what exactly i'm talking about.

 

[cajungeo]

I guess I don't understand what could wear a hole thru .200" of hard metal to get to the firing pin. Looking at mine, I see the front of the firing pin coming thru the bolt face, the Rear I see the firing pin stop, and on the bottom if I remove the extractor, I could see the pin thru a hole in the bottom, but the firing pin could then be slid out the rear of the bolt. IF you can cycle your bolt back by hand, I don't see how there is anything rubing on the bolt enough to wear thru the thick metal.

If you can post a picture it would help. Take a picture, use a photo program to convert to JPEG, and resize to less than 75 Kbyts. save to file, click browes at the bottom of your post, open file then click submit. I would like to see it as this is a new one on me.

 

[dmyers66]

here you go-hope you can make it out.i dont know if this photo is going to work.

 

[trdslinger]

dmeyers66,
I have the same hole in my bolt. My brothers mini now has the same hole in his bolt. I am going to fire this rifle until it don't fire no more. I don't like spending money for shipping to Ruger for nothing. Maybe they are just gonna say it's normal??? What's the worst that can happen? Anyways, if you hear anything, or if it really is a problem, I'd appreciate a follow up post!

 

[dmyers66]

just got off the phone with ruger and of course they said i would have to send the rifle to them for the bolt and they say the turn around time is usually 30 days but i had a bad experience with browning once,they had my rifle for over 7 months.the worse thing that i see happening is the possibility of the firing pin being sheared off at some point but if the wear is watched then i suppose a person could just change the pin.i wonder if i should try and file off some of the stop.

 

[cajungeo]

Now I see! I had to pull my scope off to get my bolt out. That is the thinest part of the bolt. My Ejector bolt stop almost touches the bolt, I mean by a couple thou. If it were mini I'd send it to Ruger and make them fix it, but if you don't want to mess around with that, you could try to dress the ejector bolt stop down with a file, or sand paper. Just take a little off at a time. If you screw it up Gun parts has them in stock for $5. My personal opinion the little wear hole probably won't hurt anything if you can stop it from getting worse.
http://www.e-gunparts.com/model.asp?idDept=218

 

[dmyers66]

yeh,that sounds like a good ideal and of course the other way is to not let the bolt go back into the locked position.i'll try and file down the stop,let you guys know what the results are.it will probably be about two weeks before i can get to the range.thx for the help folks.

 

[rob]

I have been lurking on this board for about 2 years and post occasionally. I had 195 series ranch and had the same thing happen to the bolt in same manner in the same place. This hole appeared after 5000 rounds. About ten thousand the firing pin broke. I sent it to Ruger and I asked for a firing pin and a new bolt. They installed a new firing, new ejector, and new bolt. The ejector was badly worn too. I believe the ejector helped break the firing pin and along with the South African ammo I was using. I even admitted that I used foreign ammo in the letter I sent along with the rifle and they replaced the items for free. I put about a 1000 rounds after getting it back and wear mark starting showing again. If someone asked me which mini buy I would only suggest the standard mini. I think this is a permanent problem and all ranch rifles will go through this same problem. I think Ruger knows about this and they are not going to change it. I think this is part of the Ranch's design. The ejector touching the bolt keeps the back of the bolt stable for safety and accuracy reasons. The back of the bolt will have excessive movement when fired if the bolt were not touching it.

Thanks, Rob

 

[dmyers66]

hey rob mine is also a 195 series , just a how long did it take ruger to complete and get the gun back to you?

 

[rob]

It was 30 days just like they tell you on the phone.

Thanks, Rob

 

[Satan2655]

I just looked at the bolt on my Mini-14 Ranch (195 series) and it shows just a little wear there. No hole. I don't anticipate one either, having fired approx 10,000 rounds and seeing what I see...

I also looked at the bolt on my Mini-THIRTY (196 series) and no wear there either. I wonder if it is actually a bolt quality control issue, or if it is actually attributable to wear. Possibly both...

Still, I doubt this would lead to an unsafe condition...