M1A Bolt Disassembly with Brownell's Tool

TexasGunner

TexasGunner

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After reading numerous posts and looking at various videos of the ways to disassemble the M1A bolt, I decided to just make life easy and buy the Brownell's bolt disassembly tool. Now for the problem; I STILL CAN'T GET THE DAMN THING APART!

Here is what I'm doing:

I insert the bolt into the tool. Then, I cam the lever forward against the little nob, that depresses the extractor. Now, while continuting to cam forward, I attempt to push the tool against a flat surface (table top) such that the pin on the tool would push up against the little extractor hole on the bottom of the bolt. But, at this stage I get extreme resistance, and no matter how hard I press, nothing happens.

Been struggling with this for two hours now. Can someone familiar with this tool give me some suggestions here. Are these the only two steps, or am I supposed to be doing something in addition the camming forward and pushing flat against a table top.

Please help before I turf this P.O.S. out the window!
 
Assuming the tab is lined up to push the extractor out, try tapping it with a hammer or something similiar. The spring and detent are probably into the extractor pretty good and may take a good smack the first couple times you take it apart. This was the case with both my M1A bolts.

Just remember when you do get it apart, release the bolt very slowly and carefully. If you let it flip out of the tool you might be searching for your spring and detent after they bounce off the wall and hide in the carpet :)

I have the same tool from Brownells and mine seems to work fine. Good luck.
 
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I used the tool in the stock. Just took out the bolt and applied pressure with the tool to the bolt face and pried up and out the extractor. Good way to put it back together if you dont have a 30-06 case is to chamber a 308 case and find a drillbit to slide down and hold the ejector, remove the bolt and press in the extractor inplace of the drillbit
 
Booyah! Gave it a tap with he hammer like you suggested instedad of pressing against the table and . . . POP! Spring went flying across the room, but I have wood floors so found it without any trouble.

Thanks Klondiker!
 
I have a vise in the my garage. I place two pieces of soft wood and a large rag (with the bolt) into the vise and carefully secure the bolt (so that the vise is only clamping on the bolt and not the firing pin.

I then take a 30-06 (308 would work too) where I ground down the case head so that it sits in the bolt without the extractor claw touching it (makes re-assembly easy and a snap!). Using the rag, I wrap the cloth in front of the bolt and then tap out the extractor. The rag is covering the 30-06 casing, and with the casing against the bolt face, the ejector is depressed and (in my bolts) appear to release some pressure off the extractor. I tap the underside of the bolt gently and the extractor pops out. I let go of the 30-06 casing and the detent spring (and sometimes) the ejector fly out, but that's ok because they will be caught in the rag. Open the rag, collect the springs and service the bolt.

To reassemble, I use the 30-06 casing, wrapping again the the rag, and push the ejector spring into place. I hold in place with my palm and last two fingers. I use a very fine screwdriver (Jeweler's type) to gently flatten and guide the detent spring into the groove on the extractor claw. This is why I use the grounded casing. There is no resistance on the extractor claw and it slides easily into place. Once the detent spring is behind the claw, I tap the top gently with a little hammer, and the job is complete.

The problem I found is that the detent spring is a little bugger to get in, and if using an un-ground case, it is very difficult to get the spring to properly seat under the extractor. Then when hammering starts, the spring could get damaged.
 
In my Garand, using the combo tool the take apart and reassemble the extractor with the bolt in the rifle is very easy. But i tried with my M14 and the extractor is hard to pop out and the ejector spring is so stiff that make the reassembly extremely hard. I finally took a C-clamp and a empty case to compress the ejector in the bolt, with the bolt out of the rifle ofc.
Jocelyn
 
TexasGunner said:
Booyah! Gave it a tap with he hammer like you suggested instedad of pressing against the table and . . . POP! Spring went flying across the room, but I have wood floors so found it without any trouble.

Thanks Klondiker!
Click to expand...

I had to use a hammer on the Brownell's tool to tap out the extractor the first time as well. Like Klondiker said, the bolt seems to disassemble much easier now after having been disassembled a few times.
 
Just re-assembled my bolt for the first time using the Brownell's bolt tool. I can see why others here have recommended cutting a few coils off the detent spring. Without cutting a few coils off, it is almost impossible to re-assemble the bolt, even with this tool.
 
A real simple bolt tool to make at home?
Buy a metal C clamp of the small variety. One that a .45 acp brass will fit over the threaded portion. You have to bust off the clamps pad on the end of it's bolt, then the 45 case slips over. You can epoxy it on if you want. I would also trim a portion of the base so it doesn't engage the extractor.

Insert bolt, tighten clamp so ejector is depressed, and use a small punch and hammer to knock out the extractor.

This is made easier by placing a towel in the vice and clamp the C-clamp body in the vice. Works almost just as well as any bolt tool I've used.

It's my opinion that chinese extractor detent springs are 2 coils too long , and the ejector springs are 3 to 4 coils to long, when compared to their USGI equivalents.

Trimming these aids in assembly/disassembly and alters ejection path to be more suitable to having a scope mount.
Be exact when cutting the coils. Stone the cut end to deburr.
 
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[youtube]RWXJpojFrcc[/youtube]
Seems simple enough. Check out this vid.

I find leveraging your body weight usefull when using this tool
 
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now imagine. you have the tool its hard i used a 30-06 case to shove everything back into place. what they dont tell you is that even with the tool you still need a third hand.
 
Great video, thanks for posting. I wish I had been able to find that the first time I took my bolt apart. However, I still find that my extractor is so tough to push out that it works much better to give the button on the bottom of the bolt tool a tap with a hammer, instead of pushing it down on the table.
 
M14.CA said:
My friend Tony's video shows how to disassemble the bolt, start at 5 min. 20 seconds.
[youtube]IeqBDfBk2Ds[/youtube]
Click to expand...

Great trick. I'm going to take the bolt apart sometime this weekend and this looks like a cinch. I have the combo tool and it just isn't working. The extractor is in too tight.

And reassembly?
 
If you have no need to take the bolt apart, my best suggestion is to just leave it alone. Getting that thing back together is a PITA w/o the tool.
 
I have taken my bolt apart twice now using m14doctor's bolt tool and I quickly realized that there's no real point taking it down unless you absolutely have to. I wish you luck!

why-would-you-do-this.gif
 
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