A5 bolt stuck to the rear

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ilikeoldguns

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Hoping for some help here.

I have a new-to-me 12ga Magnum A5. Looks like it's had less than 50 rounds through it, but it's already been to the gunsmith who test-fired it after fixing the issue.

When I got it, it had a bent barrel; not much and no idea how, but the gunsmith fixed it and test-fired it, presumably this involved a strip and assemble.

I have not had it apart myself to clean since I got it until now. I didn't know about the special screws until I cracked the strip and assemble shotguns book. With the right tools in hand, I followed the instructions to the letter. I got it almost all the way back together except now when I install the barrel; the bolt fangs up on the barrel extension and won't go forward. From what I can tell it is hanging up on the left left side of the bolt face.

Everything *looks* fine to me; bolt is centered in the receiver, barrel extension seems okay, ect.

Going online, I see lost of people have issues with the bolt stick forward, but none seem to have my issue of it sticking to the rear.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for your time.
 
FLHTCUI said:
Without a clear picture or two its going to be a crap shoot.
Have you searched the internet for some solutions that might not be covered in the book you mention?
Rob
Click to expand...

But oh; heck yeah. Spent about two hours, almost got duped into spending money on ask.com or some similar sight for a gunsmith to tell me what he thinks. All I found were lots of people whose bolt hold open devices weren't retaining the bolt and whose bolts locked forward. I'll see what I can do for pics; I am going to strip it again, as Grouse suggests

The firearms version of "Turn it off, and then back on again."

@Kamlooky---I actually referenced his reassembly video; no help.
 
It didn't really need a cleaning now did it? You just wanted to play gunsmith... it's hard to diagnose your problem without having it in hand... examine it carefully and try and determine what is blocking movement...
 
kamlooky said:
This lad does a good job of showing how to disassemble the A-5.
Hope this helps.

https://youtu.be/nECbrcCxp2k

[youtube]nECbrcCxp2k[/youtube]
Click to expand...
Thanks for that video. It's mandatory watching for anyone considering an A-5 and should be enough to convince anyone to buy a more modern shotgun.

And here I thought the Beretta 391 was a bit fiddly to take apart and reassemble. Piece of cake compared to the Browning. I knew there was a reason I never liked the A5. ;)
 
Check your pivot pins for the shell stop, mag cut off and carrier latch. They can be driven up too far and enter the bolt track causing the bolt to not go fully forward. The only other thing I can think of is the left extractor is not aligning properly with the ejector on the barrel extension. Check and make sure all interior pins are set right and not "proud" of where they should be set.

Darryl
 
guntech said:
It didn't really need a cleaning now did it? You just wanted to play gunsmith... it's hard to diagnose your problem without having it in hand... examine it carefully and try and determine what is blocking movement...
Click to expand...

Actually; I'd say it really did need a cleaning, since however many rounds it had ever fired (low, but enough for someone to have once bent the barrel, somehow), it had never been cleaned. In common with every other used gun I've ever bought. My rule is pretty simple; new-to-me gun? Clean it. If the patch comes out black or covered in some form of packing grease; it needed it. If it comes out oil-coloured, then now I know the gun better. These came out black from the receiver and the tube and about half-black from the barrel.

And with a shotgun; good to know if there is a magazine plug in it, especially with the dubious "Home made" variety which seems so common.

Here are some pictures; sorry for the quality, but you can make out that the bolt face is directly in contact with the barrel extension.

20170627_162822_zpsnez5jg7b.jpg
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20170627_162754_1_zpsnrfdaexp.jpg
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Now here is the update; took it down again; twice. Definitely getting to know this item better. I'm stunned with how ingenious the whole thing is;100% lives up to the browning reputation. I found that if I pushed the barrel extension back further into the receiver and then released the bolt under control, that they would mate-up, but only with some difficulty. The by the book method (bolt to the rear, barrel in the forward position) still yields the same results.

With the barrel not released to the forward position and the bolt locked in place, I found I could #### the gun, but the bolt would again hang up on the forward stroke. However, having mated the two assemblies as described above, gentle pressure was sufficient to close the bolt. Application of a small amount of oil on bearing surfaces was insufficient to improve the situation.

By the way, the "Book" in question is the Gun Digest Book of Firearms Assembly/Disassembly, Part V: Shotguns. I find it okay, but you can't trust the illustrations. I already know from past experience that the book has a bad habit of indicating a punch pin with a punch on one side of a gun, when it means for it to be drifted out from the other side. No such problems here. When the above is inadequate, I have the PDF of the Browning Auto 5 Magnum manual, which is alright for the rest of the info I need, but neither cover this kind of trouble shooting.
 
The part at 2:48 I'm willing to bet could be your issue.
This spring is bent wrong or is worn.
I wish I could bring up that 3D skeletonal video that shows the A-5 in
ghost operation.
 
The best thing about disassembling an A-5 is it convinces you to never do it again. From now on, just use spray cleaner in the receiver and flush it out. There's just no way dirt or gunk can stop that action from working.
 
Have you tried stretching the forward recoil spring a bit?
They get lazy from being crunched up.
I have one A-5 here that if the bolt is closed in hush mode it will tend to
hang up slightly.
These are made to bang, clang, click and clack.

With the bolt closed and the magazine end cap off, there should be a pretty good
gap or space between the fore stock and receiver.

And...............is your receiver tube where the friction rings reside polished and lubed?
 
kamlooky said:
The part at 2:48 I'm willing to bet could be your issue.
This spring is bent wrong or is worn.
I wish I could bring up that 3D skeletonal video that shows the A-5 in
ghost operation.
Click to expand...

I'll look again, but it looked fine before. You're thinking it's somehow causing the cartridge lifter to interfere with the bolt?
 
Grouse Man said:
The best thing about disassembling an A-5 is it convinces you to never do it again. From now on, just use spray cleaner in the receiver and flush it out. There's just no way dirt or gunk can stop that action from working.
Click to expand...

I don't plan to do it often; not like it needs to run black powder shells or something like that. But I like knowing how to do it. I thought my SVT-40 was an ungodly pain until I got used to it, but I shouldn't ought to need to break this down often.

...by flush it out...do you mean the very hot water method?
 
kamlooky said:
Have you tried stretching the forward recoil spring a bit?
They get lazy from being crunched up.
I have one A-5 here that if the bolt is closed in hush mode it will tend to
hang up slightly.
These are made to bang, clang, click and clack.

With the bolt closed and the magazine end cap off, there should be a pretty good
gap or space between the fore stock and receiver.

And...............is your receiver tube where the friction rings reside polished and lubed?
Click to expand...

I haven't done that yet, no. And I actually just came across that little nugget about how they tend to set over time. I know looking at the brass rings that they need to get changed out. They are either used rings from another gun or the previous owner filed them down because there is no sign of this kind of wear elsewhere on the gun.

This is hanging up on hitting the bolt release.

There is a gap when i do that, not sure how big atm.

It looks very polished, but I wiped it dry when i stripped it and left it dry. The presence of a "friction" system tipped me that lubing it up would be counter productive and the manual agrees.
 
could the bolt retaining pin be the cause? It doesn't look like it can be drifted too far to the left and seems to be farther back than where I can see the hangup occurring, but I am going to try tapping it a little to the right (towards tapping it out) to see if that changes anything.
 
May be you should ask the guy who sold you the gun to find out how hard he swing the gun against a tree (bent receiver or barrel extension,) did you fired the gun before you start the disassemble ( clean up)
 
ilikeoldguns said:
I don't plan to do it often; not like it needs to run black powder shells or something like that. But I like knowing how to do it. I thought my SVT-40 was an ungodly pain until I got used to it, but I shouldn't ought to need to break this down often.

...by flush it out...do you mean the very hot water method?
Click to expand...

That's always a possibility, but I'm thinking Claybuster was suggesting use an ereosol spray solvent and flush the crap out of it.
Like spray it down once every season ... and then let it dry and use some G-96 lube on it.
Then again maybe he has a better idea ....
How full is the cuss jar and are you holding your tongue in the left or right corner of your mouth while bearing down on this project?
Rob
 
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