I have taken my Garand and recently my M305B bolts apart by hand, putting them together is even more fun, bust fingernails and blood blisters. I have also used the stock tool kit with less flying pieces. Good thing to learn if you are in the field. I found a Brownells bolt tool on ebay, so I went for it. What a complete blast. I was taking the bolts apart and putting them back together in seconds. If you can get one of those tools, get it. One modification that I did was to polish the pin that moves the extractor out, it had a sharp edge that I didn’t like. Defintely recommend any kind of bolt tool.
Brownells bolt tool
- Thread starter Snitzler
- Start date
If you have a couple of M14's or M1A's or Garands, then it's a wise buy to snag one of the Brownell or M14Doctor units. M14 Doctor's unit is quite robust AND you can chuck it up in your bench vise to have (almost) 3 hands on that assembly process!
Ask me how I know putting a bolt together is a frustrating experience... BTDT!
Cheers,
Barney
Ask me how I know putting a bolt together is a frustrating experience... BTDT!
Cheers,
Barney
With the issues I had with mine, I realized that most of the problem is in putting the extractor back into place. It's easy as pie if one uses a vise to hold the bolt and a dremeled casing (with the base cut out to sufficiently avoid contact with the extractor claw). You simply push the extractor spring in, set the little (knob??) spring in place and push the extractor into place. 10 seconds, max.
The roller is a little trickier...but can manage in less than a minute with a precision screwdriver
The roller is a little trickier...but can manage in less than a minute with a precision screwdriver
