Stiff Action 10/22

[J_MIL_20]

pulling back the bolt on my 10/22 is really stiff and gritty, i took it apart and gave it a good cleaning which it was in dire need of, but still no change in the action. Any ideas?

 

[safety first]

I worked my bolt and receiver parts with 1000 grit auto sandpaper. It's polished to a shine and runs like a well oiled sewing machine. The surfaces weren't super rough, but they totally needed to smoothed out.

Oh sure, guys will chime in about shooting it to get that way

but I had just gotten mine and wanted to save time.

 

[trevj]

Check that the screws for the scope mount are not dragging, if you have a scope mount on it. Sometimes they can cause grief.

Guys have polished up bolts with toothpaste. Sit and watch a movie, and work the action back and forth. Clean, repeat as required.

You can learn a lot about where it's dragging by marking up the bolt with magic marker or a sharpie pen, and running it back and forth. Look at the worn off spots of marker to see where the stuff is rubbing. It can give you an idea, anyway.

I'm loathe to suggest metal polish, but if it were mine, I'd probably grab some Solvol Autosol and have a short go with it, then clean it out and check it. One of those things that is gonna require use of some judgment on your part.

Cheers
Trev

 

[Jahred.F]

did you put the strut back in the correct orientation? the notch in the retainer must face "up" if i remember correctly.

was it always like this, or just after your most recent teardown?

 

[Wham-O]

Your charging handle/rod & spring is also a place where you can get a lot of drag from.
Either replace the stock stuff IMO or you can slick up the rod by polishing it for starters too.
This should also help smooth your action out.

 

[J_MIL_20]

started a while back, pre-strip down. Thanks guys ill try some of that. I don't, have a scope mount, but I do have tech sights, whichcould be causing the same thing