I have a Mannlicher-Schoenauer Model 1956 .30-06 with a sticky bolt that I need help with. After each round is fired the bolt lift is harder then it should be and the bold handle has to be bumped with the palm to open. Once the bolt comes back about 1/8-1/4” it operates as smoothly as any rifle I have ever fired. Factory ammo feeds smoothly into the chamber and unfired ammo extracts without issue. My local gunsmith has looked it over and:


The headspace checks out.

Fired cases measure within SAAMI spec.

All ammo has been factory with Hornaday being the worst, Remington and Winchester are much better but still not right. No fires cases show excessive pressure signs.

The bore was examined with a bore scope and everything looked ordinary.

The chamber and neck were polished and this helped but didn’t fix the problem.

Fired cased feed smoothly back into the chamber except for the last 1/8-1/4”. I colored a case with a black sharpie and there are some visible friction rubs on the case neck. Fired case necks are not rough to the touch nor is anything visibly wrong.

We turned down the necks on a couple of fired cases and these feed and eject smoothly like unfired factory ammo.


Before I purchased the rifle it has been stored in a collection unused for almost 40 years. Has anyone heard of this? Would it hurt anything or potentially cause any problems to re-run a .30-06 chamber reamer? Does anyone know a gunsmith experienced in working on these rifles? Any ideas or recommendations would be greatly appreciated?

Might be your chamber still is rough or has rings in it. Chamber bulge forward of the base will do what you describe. Check the bolt face/extractor to make sure the extractor is not gouging the case head on turning. Yes, you could run a reamer into it; don't touch the shoulder.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Check the bolt face/extractor to make sure the extractor is not gouging the case head on turning.

I checked the fired cases and didn't see any gouging or much of anything.

Does the action feel sticky or hesitant when dry firing? How does it compare with other bolt actions in the same area?

quote:

Originally posted by Naphtali:
Does the action feel sticky or hesitant when dry firing? How does it compare with other bolt actions in the same area?

Feels fine / super smooth dry firing. Much smoother then most bolt actions.

Reload the cases you have turned the necks on and fire these. From your description it sounds as if the chambering has not allowed enough for neck expansion on firing. Your polishing has already helped so I would keep going in the neck area to relieve this. You cannot really go too far here, not that you want to , but the neck of the case is the most pliable and can be kept that way with annealing if reloading. Factory ammo is quite happy firing in a chamber where the neck has been 'over relieved' as this area has nothing to do with headspacing.

Agreed. I had a 8mm Mauser that did the same thing. It also exhibited scuffing on the case necks. I made a rubber polishing bob and ran it into the neck area and that cured it.

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:
Reload the cases you have turned the necks on and fire these. From your description it sounds as if the chambering has not allowed enough for neck expansion on firing. Your polishing has already helped so I would keep going in the neck area to relieve this. You cannot really go too far here, not that you want to , but the neck of the case is the most pliable and can be kept that way with annealing if reloading. Factory ammo is quite happy firing in a chamber where the neck has been 'over relieved' as this area has nothing to do with headspacing.

I think eagle27 hit this one on the nose.

If you have a case with a lot of brown patina fire it in the rifle with a full power load.

Examine the extracted case for disruptions of the patina color. See nothing? Put it back in the rifle with the original orientation of the case when fired. Extract again and look for scuffing or rings. You might have to repeat several times to see a pattern on the patina.

Still nothing?
Then carefully resize it looking at the pattern left on the patina by the sizing die. Do this with the expander removed.

See very little or nothing? Resize it multiple times looking for rings and patterns indicating an undercut. It may be something as simple as a faint ring anywhere on the case.

Check for high pressure lug set back. If the lugs have set back in the receiver when the gun is fired, the bolt lugs will be driven back into a low spot and the case expanding forward. Then when you attempt to open the bolt it has to climb out of the low spot and push against the case shoulder to open.

When this condition exists you will still get good HS indications with the HS guage due it registering on the high spot before it drops down in the pocket.

To check for this condition, strip the bolt, place a rod in the barrel that protrudes about a quarter inch when resting against the bolt face. Place your finger against the end of the rod and barrel and rotate the bolt open and closed. Your hand/finger is more sensitive than you realize. It will feel the rod rise and fall as it goes over the hump and falls down into the pocket.

If you dont feel any forward and back movement you are ok. If you do feel movement then the receiver lugs have been deformed due to firing a high pressure round that the receiver was not designed to handle.

No sign of lug setback. It is definitely the neck. I took a case that was very hard to extract and cut 3/4 of the neck off and it literally now falls out of the chamber. Time to polish the heck out of it or re-ream the neck.

My next question is are there any special tricks to polishing the neck that anyone has found to be extra handy?

It sounds as though it does not need too much more polishing in the neck area of the chamber, and for these sorts of 'long reach' jobs I have used a length of suitable sized dowel or rod slotted in the end to take a wrap of wet and dry paper or firm fitting cloth impregnated with valve grinding paste which you can get in various grades for cutting and polishing.

An electric drill on the end and away you go. By restricting the sanding paper or cloth to the length of the neck you keep away from the shoulder area, touching up the leade with polishing W&D paper or paste if you go in too far when polishing the neck will usually do more good than harm anyway so don't worry about this.

How about a chamber cast? You can measure to find out if the chamber is within specs.

Will a .308" bullet pass easily into the mouth of an fired, unsized case? If not, what is the wall thickness of the case neck? Neck turning or reaming may be called for.