Thread: Help - stuck bolt

Hey guys. My Mossberg ATR bolt won’t slide back. Bolt lifts, needs a bit of a thump to open all the way, but it gets stuck there.

I had a round in the chamber so I fired that to make the rifle safe.

Any suggestions - or is it a gunsmith job?

Knock it down with a bit of wood. Give a few taps. It will come down. Then have a think about what you did wrong.

Squirt a few drops of oil down the muzzle leave upright for an hour then tap with a piece of wood or plastic headed hammer. Or tap a cleaning rod down the barrel. Good luck.

What Muzza said.

Yep; don’t beat the bolt handle and taking it to a gunsmith is sensible.

As it seems the bolt will lift, and if you want to have a go yourself, things I’d try are (1) remove the trigger and bolt stop, just in case something is binding there; and (2) put a squirt of WD-40, CRC, Kroil etc down the barrel and then drop a steel cleaning rod repeatedly from about 1 foot in height (cut an old brush down to just the stub of you are worried about protecting the thread on the rod).

I’ve got every stuck case I’ve had (which is not many!) out this way without issue. Ditto a broken pull through once.

If they use a bolt design similar to savage or the omark with a floating bolt head it could be possible the cross pin has bent or snappedwhich would be more difficult to rectify.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

If they use a bolt design similar to savage or the omark with a floating bolt head it could be possible the cross pin has bent or snappedwhich would be more difficult to rectify.

Can u explain more on this as my Savage has been doing this the last few rounds on factory ammo

Originally Posted by Padox

Can u explain more on this as my Savage has been doing this the last few rounds on factory ammo

I don't own a savage but friends do and they are excellent rifles. The floating bolt head design is supposed to ensure better locking by permitting the locking head to "wobble" slightly and therefore align itself properly in the recesses. There is an added bonus that headspace is easy to ajust with different size bolt heads same as in the Lee enfield.
The bolt head is attached to the bolt body with a cross bolt pin with a hole in the middle to allow the firing pin to pass through which holds the parts together..
In theory this cross pin can bend or snap rendering the gun unusable.
The omark version had some early failures resulting in destroyed guns (the so called small pin version) so named because the far side of the pin going into the bolt body was only about 3mm in diameter and could snap under the load of closing or opening the bolt.
The answer was to double the size of that part to 6mm.
The photos are of an omark bolt complete and with the bolt head removed showing the firing pin and cross pin.
Hopefugly that's helpful

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

I don't own a savage but friends do and they are excellent rifles. The floating bolt head design is supposed to ensure better locking by permitting the locking head to "wobble" slightly and therefore align itself properly in the recesses. There is an added bonus that headspace is easy to ajust with different size bolt heads same as in the Lee enfield.
The bolt head is attached to the bolt body with a cross bolt pin with a hole in the middle to allow the firing pin to pass through which holds the parts together..
In theory this cross pin can bend or snap rendering the gun unusable.
The omark version had some early failures resulting in destroyed guns (the so called small pin version) so named because the far side of the pin going into the bolt body was only about 3mm in diameter and could snap under the load of closing or opening the bolt.
The answer was to double the size of that part to 6mm.
The photos are of an omark bolt complete and with the bolt head removed showing the firing pin and cross pin.
Hopefugly that's helpful

Surprising how many you still see with the small pins. Mate had one recently that had not been upgraded.

Originally Posted by omark

Surprising how many you still see with the small pins. Mate had one recently that had not been upgraded.

You're right, I've seen the odd one on Tardme, where the seller has pictured the bolt.
Otherwise, any that have small pins must have been stored for ever because at the height of Omark popularity the small pins were banned on NRANZ ranges. Still are now as far as I know.

Mine had the big cross pin when I got it but I proceeded (in my ignorance of youth) to crack the pin on one side by repeated dry firing. There's a shoulder on the firing pin that smacks into the bolt head pin if dry firing.

Probably getting spares now is a bit of a chore.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

...
The omark version had some early failures resulting in destroyed guns,,

Far worse than that, it destroyed a few faces as the thing would fire with the lugs not being engaged

Originally Posted by Padox

Can u explain more on this as my Savage has been doing this the last few rounds on factory ammo

@Padox, I feel that in the interests of personal safety you should cease using the rifle immediately and to help you out, I will come down to Tarras with the 2506AI and shoot the Fallow bucks for you to keep you from harm

Don't know that there will be any this year as I'm normally scouting over the next month but the next 10 days will be isolated due to my daughters surgery to take the tumor out

Originally Posted by Padox

Don't know that there will be any this year as I'm normally scouting over the next month but the next 10 days will be isolated due to my daughters surgery to take the tumor out

Gee thats not something I would like to be facing, at least treatment for young people has made spectacular gains in the last three decades. Good wishes to you

give up and put in the pay it forward thread............

i have no seriously helpful input so i thought i would suggest something ridiculous.