My CZ 452 .22 has developed a stiff bolt, and the friction seems to be increasing the more I shoot it. It's really smooth sliding, but to actually cock it takes a lot of downward pressure.
What might be the problem?
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My CZ 452 .22 has developed a stiff bolt, and the friction seems to be increasing the more I shoot it. It's really smooth sliding, but to actually cock it takes a lot of downward pressure.
What might be the problem?
Have you had the bolt apart for a squiz?
Nothing binding or gumming it up with some light lubrication
Reloads or factory?
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I havent pulled the bolt apart yet. About to give it a try
People reload .22??
Sorry...didnt see .22 assumed centre fire....as you wereQuote:
Originally Posted by Brad S
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CZ452 cocks on opening, so taking a lot of downwards pressure doesn't sound like a cocking problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad S
Give the shoulder of the chamber and inside of the action a good clean, might be a build-up of detritus somewhere in there that the bolt is working against..
...also when cleaning the chamber with a bronze brush, remember to go forward into the throat area as a strong carbon ring can form which can cause difficult bolt closure.Quote:
Originally Posted by StrikerNZ
Okay, so I pulled the bolt to bits, and took an embarrassingly long time to figure out how to put it back together. That all looked fine, a bit of lube hasn't made any difference there
I'll see if I can find any stuff to clean out in the action
Muzzle down.big squirt of CRC down barrel to loosen up any crud in chamber area if you have cleaning rod etc give it gentle clean through barrel too. Pretty hard to clean chamber and not barrel.
Had a good poke around and found a few bits of carbon to remove. Seems a little bit happier now. Still not smooth, but no longer as irritating
Clean out the recesses on either side of the chamber where the extractors grasp the rim as well.
A earbud and a bit of solvent. Also clear the bolt face and extractors.
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Yes there was a bit of stuff in those recesses.
I've put 500 rounds through it since I bought it. And who knows how many rounds @viper put through it before I bought it off him without cleaning it.
Seems alright ish now. I'll take it with me next time I visit the local gun shop and see what they reckon
Hi Brad, sorry I am now based in Australia and have only just seen the post. The CZ would have been lucky to have had more than 500 rounds through it. It has always had a tight chamber. Wax / fouling build up could be the problem. Give it a good clean and retry putting some rounds through it.
Have you tried different ammo? I like CCI Subsonic and so does my rifle, but had a bad batch once. Experienced the problems you described plus a few misfires and poor accuracy. Happy to see that box go.
I have never seen a CZ452 so this might not be applicable, but i've had the same issue on a rifle i had and it was the front action screw over torqued & the when working the bolt it rode over the screw and was hard to operate smoothly.
Might be way off the mark having never seen one but just an idea :)
Is it hard to close the bolt when not chambering a round, or is it hard to close regardless.
It's harder to close when chambering a round
I reckon you’ll find that you’ll have a small slither of lead that’s come off a live round when chambering, it’s fallen in to the action somewhere and had galled. Making it super average to cycle. I’d get some boretech rimfire blend and get that into there to soak. Tight chambers often slice off bits of lead causing issues
Been dry firing it?
Don't suppose it has a small burr on the lip of the chamber although that might Makena small sliver of lead as mentioned previously itbon its own wouldn't make the bolt stiff to turn down.
What does your cases look like after being in there, fired and unfired?
Haven't been dry firing it.Quote:
Originally Posted by csmiffy
I'll have a look later
We noticed after a couple of hundred rounds that wax build up made the bolt stiffer to operate. A good barrel clean and it was perfect. Tight chamber and fine tolerance so fouling will be noticeable after some use. As mentioned a good clean and it functions perfectly.
If I give the bore a good soak in hoppes no.9 it should do the trick shouldn't it?
Cant harm it. Might take a few rounds to settle down after tho
And what about when there is no round?, is it difficult at all or smooth.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad S
Still a little tight, but probably how it's supposed to beQuote:
Originally Posted by longshot
I wouldn't put up with a tight bolt/action on a .22LR.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad S
Warning: I've never seen what I'm about to recommend to you done to stiff bolts/actions by anyone else. I came upon this method myself and have successfully used it on six .22LR rifles - 3x JW-15s, 2x CZ 452s and 1x Anschutz 1450.
Some on this forum might say not to do this method...but it works for me and my .22s... so up to you if you follow my advice.
1 - clean all the factory grease/lube off the outside of the bolt and inside of the action with brake cleaner and a rag.
2 - cover the outside of the bolt with the top portion of this tube paste (a black coarse abrasive). Make sure you put it on the base of the bolt handle as well. That surface engages with the receiver when you close the bolt to lock it in place.
https://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/p/d...46/656180.html
3 - Sit down in front of the TV and work the bolt (open and close) about 100 times (probably best when no one else is watching TV :thumbsup:).
4 - Clean the paste off the action and bolt and then put the fine white abrasive on the other side of the tube over the bolt and action.
5 - Work the bolt again for another 100x.
6 - Clean it all off again (esp any that has made it into the chamber).
Result = smooth as silk bolt operation.
Yeah, that is a way. What it is doing is lapping the contact points, or marginally removing material. Some cheaper actions don't have good heat treatment, especially older ones and have a thin hard skin on the lug engagement areas and the like. There are actions that do benefit from this treatment, but my personal method is a lot more careful and I do one small area at a time and work the bolt a few times and then wipe off and check. What I usually find is that by starting on the rougher and worst looking areas and working progressively through the less rough parts you very quickly get to a point where the improvement is noticeable and you haven't removed much metal at all. It's very hard to put it back haha.
On the CZ, I'm not sure if this would help with what is being described - I would be suspecting that the cause is either some crap or a chunk loafing somewhere that is fouling something OR there is some fouling in the chamber or throat that is making it hard to shove the next round in. I'm wondering if a decent brushing with a good bronze brush, a good carbon solvent and a quality brush with a bore guide will sort it?
Then unless it is a combination of two seperate problems (one being a foreign body or burr in the workings of the bolt/reciever), then it looks like an issue in the chamber, probably a build up of carbon or other shooting muck.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad S
Have you tried chambering then ejecting a live round and comparing it to a fresh one to observe if there is compression of the projectile or scraping of the cartridge?
Another option is to just try chambering some other types of .22 and see if they fit. Some target .22 rifles struggle to chamber or extract some types of .22 ammo.
Thanks for your input team. I'll sit down with the .22 this weekend and have another read through all this and see if I can sort it
You might be checking for a fault at the wrong end of the bolt.
Look at the locking lugs too (handle end of bolt).
This link will show some pics at #4 post.
Might be your problem?
https://www.rimfirecentral.com/threa...-wear.1228097/
So I've shot another couple hundred rounds through it since I last posted about this. Sometimes the throat(?) Is taking small shaves of lead off some of the bullets. This of course leaves some stuff around the edge, as shown in this photo.
Attachment 259928
Anyway, it seems the bolt face has been accumulating stuff around the edges too, which is probably the main reason for the stiffness. It seems to be working okay now, I'll just need to check it and clean the bolt face more often I think
Oh, it's the rear opening of the rifle chamber... I thought it was a photo from your astronomy telescope of a stellar black hole at the core of the Milky Way galaxy...Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad S
