Stuck Bolt....Really Stuck....won't open.

N

NB Rifles

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Location
, NB.
Rifle is a early Weatherby Vangard .300 Win Mag
Cast bullet load, 173 with a gas check recommended charge of 4759 ( I believe) loads are about 25 years old. Fired 8 with no problem. On the 9th smoke out the bolt ports.
Bolt won't lift a bit, hit it a few times with a plastic mallet never budged.
Appears no damage to the rifle. Double charge, I hate to think so but I suppose anything is possible, don't know
that might have exploded the action ( that would be 60 grains) I was using a lead sled so
didn't feel the recoil. All previous bullets went into the target so one wasn't stick in the barrel.
Any suggestions on maybe using a heat gun on the receiver in the bolt lug area or maybe
put the action in the freezer for a while? Don't be to hard on me am a old man, loll's
I know of no smith here in the east that I can take the gun to.
Thanks
B.
 
Then send the barreled action to a smith, have the barrel removed, this will allow the bolt to be removed, have the action inspected and go from there...
 
You may want to try getting someone to help you hold the rifle. Use a piece of 2x4 approx. 10 in long and a dead blow hammer. Place one end of the 2x4 on the bottom of the bolt handle while your friend holds the rifle firmly. Stike the other end of the 2x4 with the dead blow. The bolt should move a small amount. It may take 4 or 5 blows to open the bolt. If the bolt doesn't move I suggest you ship the rifle to a smith. While you are waiting for it to come back round up all your 25 year old components and think about the problems they have caused. Think about how little a pound of new fresh powder and a bag of new strong cases cost compared to repairs. I think you will figure the rest out. Good Luck.
 
Decide if it is easier to send it away to have the barrel pulled. Or starting a thread tomorrow asking who can silver solder a bolt handle back on.
 
Yeah, please don't hit a gun w anything; ever; please, unless you are sure you or anyone you love or might sell it to will never try to use it again. Thanks
 
Hitting is not always the best solution, or any solution for that matter. Find a piece of pipe that will fit over the bolt knob, cut it about a foot long and try to open the action that way, if it still won't open send it off to Guntech to have a looky-see. You may well have set the lugs and the action will be toast, or you may just have brass extruded into every orifice holding it closed. The foot long pipe will usually shear the brass and allow you to open it if the lugs and recesses aren't set.
 
Bring it to a smith. If you cant... then time to DIY

Find your self a table vice, make sure it's FIRMLY bolted to a good table/bench. If you have one, use a heat gun on the action, JUST the action here the lugs are located. After you get it warmed up (Not hot) take your plastic mallet and begin tapping the bolt knob. Use the weight of the hammer, don't put any force into it. Give the bolt some taps as well from the front and back, again I said taps, don't beat it. You want as meanly small vibrations as possible to loosen it up, not beg smack. Keep it up for as long as you can, then gradually start giving it a little force each time. Just don't beat on it. If you can, while you warm the action, try to keep the bolt cool.

Best of luck,

Wes
 
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I have seen enough handles torn off bolts by application of force.
Tapping a rod down through the bore, while simultaneously tapping the bolt handle sometimes works. Tapping, not pounding
Guntech's suggestion is a sound one.
 
Freeze the gun & try again. Freezing works since brass contracts more per degree cooled than steel does. (The coefficient of thermal expansion, the change in size per degree changed, for brass is about 30% higher than for steel.) That makes the case looser in the chamber.
 
I don't remember what the Howa extractor is like but if you have blown it off and if it's preventing the bolt from opening then you will fubar it by beating it open. Have a GS unscrew the barrel and see what's wrong. Sako style extractors can be blown off the bolt and the only way is to unscrew the barrel.
 
I had a cartridge stuck in my .257 Roberts after I shot a deer. Fortunately the deer dropped after first shot. No overload, just a cartridge not sized down enough. This rifle is really fussy on this. I did the brute force thing and separated the silver soldered handle from the bolt. Then I tried tapping the cleaning rod and prying on the bolt with a screwdriver and got it open. had to send it away to get the bolt handle re-soldered. Next time I would try tapping with a rod while lifting the bolt handle first.
 
c-fbmi said:
Hitting is not always the best solution, or any solution for that matter. Find a piece of pipe that will fit over the bolt knob, cut it about a foot long and try to open the action that way, if it still won't open send it off to Guntech to have a looky-see. You may well have set the lugs and the action will be toast, or you may just have brass extruded into every orifice holding it closed. The foot long pipe will usually shear the brass and allow you to open it if the lugs and recesses aren't set.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by the lugs being "set"?

TIA,
Ginnz.
 
ginnz said:
What do you mean by the lugs being "set"?

TIA,
Ginnz.
Click to expand...

the bolt will be forced back hard enough to cause the metal in the action to compress where it supports the lugs, the lugs now have to move forward somehow in order to clear the compressed raceways in the action, typically by removing the barrel to relieve the pressure, if a actin is subject to this kind of pressure it is typically turned into two things, a paper weight and a learning experience............
 
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