[Tailout]

Hello, new to the form. I'd like to pick the collective brain . Anybody know why the hammer is beating the heck out of the back of this bolt??

see

 

[RIBob]

No Expert but looks a bit worse than some other pix of the same thing/area. Some surface/finish wear is normal in these areas, but yours might be excessive. Hard to say from the pix, but almost looks like the "peened" area was originally a bit "proud" of the rest of the flat surface on rear of bolt. Using a straight edge, can you possibly determine if this is still so?

Again, no Expert, but suspect the rear of the bolt was not properly "squared-off" and a bit of it (where "peening" has occurred) stood "proud" (IOW raised) above where it ought to have been.

Has your Mini ever suffered from "light" hammer strikes on the firing pin, and possibly inconsistent ignition of the primers?

Is it possible that a "Heavy-Duty" Hammer spring was installed?

What does the part of the hammer that strikes the surface of the bolt look like? Is there a dent or deformation of the hammer that corresponds to the "peened" area on the bolt?

How many rounds through the Mini?

Model number of the Mini, please-- first 3 digits of Serial Number.

 

[Saudade]

Here's my post from last year for more info on this. Please don't bump it. I haven't done anything to it since but I've not shot it either yet.

Mini 14 Bolt Peen

While cleaning and lubing I noted some peening on the bolt where it strikes the hammer. You can (hopefully) see where some material has rolled over a bit. Should I just stone it back a bit and perhaps polish the area, or is this cause to send it into Ruger. It's a 582 series I bought in 2013...

www.perfectunion.com

 

[RIBob]

Here's my post from last year for more info on this. Please don't bump it. I haven't done anything to it since but I've not shot it either yet.

Mini 14 Bolt Peen

While cleaning and lubing I noted some peening on the bolt where it strikes the hammer. You can (hopefully) see where some material has rolled over a bit. Should I just stone it back a bit and perhaps polish the area, or is this cause to send it into Ruger. It's a 582 series I bought in 2013...

www.perfectunion.com

That link above looks helpful.

 

[Tailout]

Thanks for replying, RIBob My rifle is a 584 model I bought it new about six weeks ago. In the short amount of time I've put a thousand rounds down range. I don't think the back of the bolt was proud when new, no light hammer strikes the rifle has preformed flawless I've only used factory brass rounds. While cleaning the field stripped rifle I noticed the back of the bolt peened/mushroomed . I was ordering some spare parts, springs, and the little parts that I read about that could fail. After seeing the bolt I ordered a new one. I checked the headspace, took a stone to all the raised areas, and polished. At first I thought that the bolt was getting pinned by the face of the hammer. I surfed the web and found that this is a common problem with these Ruger rifles, 14 and 30. The bottom of the bolt is rounded at the rear on the port side which corresponds to a cured edge on the hammer. The bolt is getting pinned on the recoil stroke when it's cocking the hammer back. Interference fit, or lack of it. Some reference this as break in. This is a really fun rifle to shoot but Ruger could do better. The tolerances in the action are a barn door. The back of the bolt should be harden, or the design perhaps twerked. I put a Vortex Crossfire Il scope on her, zeroed in with a laser @ 25 yards. She's spot [email protected] 100yards, 2 inch groups. Fun gun to shoot, this is the Harley Davidson of Auto loaders. Ker chunk