I've got the roll pin removed, ejector is jammed in there tight. The 45 case in the vice trick is genius! That will be perfect for reinstalling when I get things freed up.
-
Having trouble using the site?
Contact support
What caused this primer failure?
- Thread starter m1ajunkie
- Start date
I've got the roll pin removed, ejector is jammed in there tight. The 45 case in the vice trick is genius! That will be perfect for reinstalling when I get things freed up.
With the roll pin now out, smacking the bolt, face down, on a hard surface should get the ejector to move.
Surface should have little or no give or resilience to dampen the shock. And hitting “square” is key.
A few good whacks should move it. But better a few solid ones than lots of light strikes that will just peen bolt face. The G-loads you put in it are immense when you do this.
Cheers, Sirhr
Ps heck of a divot for just two failed primers! Makes me wonder about the metallurgy of that particular bolt!
Surface should have little or no give or resilience to dampen the shock. And hitting “square” is key.
A few good whacks should move it. But better a few solid ones than lots of light strikes that will just peen bolt face. The G-loads you put in it are immense when you do this.
Cheers, Sirhr
Ps heck of a divot for just two failed primers! Makes me wonder about the metallurgy of that particular bolt!
Metallurgy has nothing to do with it for something like this; the steel of the bolt is made to be strong and hard, not to resist gas cutting. Strength and hardness of steel have pretty much nothing to do with how easily it can be gas cut. Try cutting some AR500 plate with a torch or plasma; it cuts as easy as mild steel or anything in between.
Quite a few GI Garand, Carbine, and M14 bolts got chewed up by those leaky primers too.
You might try putting the bolt in your padded vice, dropping some Kroil down the front (that small gap between ejector and bolt body) and smacking that ejector with a brass punch. Whatever smutz is jamming that thing closed might shift or dissolve.
Wear safety glasses if it goes flying. You may have to replace it and the spring if you lose them.
Is that an LMT? I have one like it (chrome bolt, blued extractor, gold color titanium-coated ejector). The ejector has a slight body bevel, I think -- a grain of something small or fine could lock it up like that.
Failing that you might just have to drill, tap, and pull it out.
Here's bad gas leakage damage (I don't know the background to these photos, but looks like what happened to one of my National Match AR bolts using Winchester Small Rifle primers after the change to non-nickel plated. My rifle still fired but the bolt face got beat up):
Wear safety glasses if it goes flying. You may have to replace it and the spring if you lose them.
Is that an LMT? I have one like it (chrome bolt, blued extractor, gold color titanium-coated ejector). The ejector has a slight body bevel, I think -- a grain of something small or fine could lock it up like that.
Failing that you might just have to drill, tap, and pull it out.
Here's bad gas leakage damage (I don't know the background to these photos, but looks like what happened to one of my National Match AR bolts using Winchester Small Rifle primers after the change to non-nickel plated. My rifle still fired but the bolt face got beat up):
Last edited:
100%! As soon as I can find a dual ejector bolt in stock I'm purchasing to install in this rifle.
@sinister this is an old school KAC. From the same era that LMT was using an almost identical bolt, this bolt is identical to the bolt I originally had in my LMT MWS.
I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago. I no longer have access to the lot numbers, but I contacted winchester and gave them all the lot information and sent them photos of what happened. The had me send back 10,000 primers and offered to replace them with a new lot. I told them I was not interested in any more winchester primers. They allowed me to suit my receipt from midwayusa where they were purchased. They refunded every penny and I immediately turned around and replaced them with CCI primers.
I was not happy with what happened to my rifle, but they did make it right and even told me to take my rifle to a gunsmith on their dime. I never did as it was did not cause a safety issue as far as I was concerned. But they offered and I appreciate that.
Good luck to you.
I was not happy with what happened to my rifle, but they did make it right and even told me to take my rifle to a gunsmith on their dime. I never did as it was did not cause a safety issue as far as I was concerned. But they offered and I appreciate that.
Good luck to you.
That's probably about when I got my bad batch of WLR, had a couple pin-hole at the shoulder and etch the bolt on a .270 I had at the time. It's a bummer, but I've never had anything similar happen with CCI or Federal primers.
I think the flame cutting welded the extractor to the bolt body somehow
That bolt is trashed. Call Winchester and see if they will replace the bolt
That bolt is trashed. Call Winchester and see if they will replace the bolt
Yeah this thing is majorly stuck. I got more aggressive and hammered the bolt face into a wooden block multiple times...... still no luck getting the ejector to move.
The bolt is headed back to get worked on so we'll see how it plays out. Win is sending me packaging so I can return the primers I have left for inspection.
I'll be sure to update as I learn more!
I'd say time to order a replacement bolt. If your swapping bolts I'd check with a no go gauge just to make sure headspace is within spec. Don't want to tear up another bolt or worse...
I'm gonna check my primer cache...I don't use many win primers, but I've bought up pretty much anything I can find since the plague started. Hopefully I don't end up regretting it
I'm gonna check my primer cache...I don't use many win primers, but I've bought up pretty much anything I can find since the plague started. Hopefully I don't end up regretting it
As soon as I can find a new spare bolt in stock I'll be pulling the trigger. I've notifications set everywhere haha.
Then I'll run the new bolt as the primary bolt and keep this etched bolt as a spare once the ejector is fixed.
Get a can of compressed air, turn it upside down and spray the ejector. It's like liquid nitrogen. I did this with a piece of brass that was "permanently" stuck in a small base resizer. Worked like a charm.
This is the predominate reason for the failure. I've seen it with Federal also. The paid to replace a bolt on a Barnard because the cups where too hard.
I think you probably broke the ejector retaining pin and probably spring. There’s a little retaining pin on the side of the bolt face. After you drive the pin out (see below), hopefully the ejector can be coaxed out and then you can simply replace the spring and retaining pin (put a little clp on when replacing). I’m guessing your ejector was bone dry but possibly the hot primers overpowered the small parts.
Attachments
At this point I would ask the manufacturer to replace the bolt. If they won’t stand behind their product it doesn’t say much for the quality they produce. Otherwise, like several others, I’d take it to a professional armorer. I spent four years as an Army armorer and have never seen that malfunction.
For the record, no expectation of anything free from me. This is just one of those things that happens. I've got a spare bolt so I can drop that in and keep going. Talking to KAC last week they are going to let me send the bolt in for repair so that's all I can ask for. The thing I'm more curious about is to see what kind of response I get from Winchester once I get the problem primers back to them.
Didn’t mean to conflate or imply. Certainly send that bill to Winchester though!
I would definitely like to hear what they say. For a bolt that retails for a decent hunting rifle, I’m surprised it failed. You sound like you take care of your gear and know what you’re doing. If I were them, I’d replace it but it’s easy to spend other people’s money.
Keep us posted…
You can pull it out or push it out.
If it was teotwawki, I would put the bolt between two hardwood blocks, put it into my drill press, drill a small hole into the ejector (think scope base screw), thread the hole, run a screw into the threaded hole, and pull it out.
If the world has not ended, I would find a machinist who could do that correctly. This is a bit small so you want someone who has the right skills and tools.
Another possibility - force high-pressure air into the roll-pin cross-hole. Put air into one side and block the other side with wax or something. If this works, that ejector is going to come out of the ejector hole at high velocity - make a plan to catch it or you may never see it again.
After all you have done, I don't see an alternative.
If it was teotwawki, I would put the bolt between two hardwood blocks, put it into my drill press, drill a small hole into the ejector (think scope base screw), thread the hole, run a screw into the threaded hole, and pull it out.
If the world has not ended, I would find a machinist who could do that correctly. This is a bit small so you want someone who has the right skills and tools.
Another possibility - force high-pressure air into the roll-pin cross-hole. Put air into one side and block the other side with wax or something. If this works, that ejector is going to come out of the ejector hole at high velocity - make a plan to catch it or you may never see it again.
After all you have done, I don't see an alternative.
I think drilling a small hole and tapping is a great idea, I second that one!
I just subbed the OP on youtube, love the "pretty good and huntin deer" song! Support your hide brother and sub him on the tube!
I just subbed the OP on youtube, love the "pretty good and huntin deer" song! Support your hide brother and sub him on the tube!
Many of you asked that I provide an update as to how things were handled so I wanted to follow through on that….
Bolt- KAC replaced the bolt at no charge. Epic company and I am extremely impressed with how they handled this given the failure had nothing to do with them.
Winchester- when I made initial contact, they said they were going to send me packaging so I could ship the remaining primers back to them. This was 2 months ago…. Nothing has shown up yet. I’ve also followed up twice and was told “the request is with shipping” the first time, and most recently no response. At this point I am not expecting them to follow through with anything.
Bolt- KAC replaced the bolt at no charge. Epic company and I am extremely impressed with how they handled this given the failure had nothing to do with them.
Winchester- when I made initial contact, they said they were going to send me packaging so I could ship the remaining primers back to them. This was 2 months ago…. Nothing has shown up yet. I’ve also followed up twice and was told “the request is with shipping” the first time, and most recently no response. At this point I am not expecting them to follow through with anything.
Similar threads
