A 788 in .223 came into the shop today with the ejector jammed tight at the bottom of the mortise. The owner had tried to free it by removing the retaining pin and jamming something into the ejector marring it. We tried inertia on a lead block, oil and heat and grinding out the damaged metal with a diamond bit/Dremel. Nothing is moving. I'm thinking now we need to use a proper carbide drill or maybe have it wire EDM'd. Any recommendations? The extractor was also ironed flat into it's mortise in the boltface. Looks like maybe some hot loads.

It's probably suffered an overload and the spring is crushed and the tail is bent over. What I normally do is remove the retaining pin and hold them vertical in the mill and use the butt end of a drill bit the same diameter as the hole in the collet to find the center of the hole. Then I spot it with a center drill and drill a .050 hole in the center. The plunger is soft steel so they are easy to drill. You want to be careful when the drill breaks through into the retaining pin cut and go slowly so that the drill starts straight into the lower portion of the plunger. A lot of the time the turning force of the drill will start the plunger spinning and at that point you can simply lift the drill and it will pull the plunger out. If not continue drilling until the drill starts to impact the spring. The noise will generally tell you. At that point start re-drilling larger, one size at a time. They normally come free long before you get to drilling the hole ID. But if not, that's what you have to do. I have only had a couple that I had to completely re-drill. But those ones were simply rusted in place so badly that the parts were virtually chemically welded together by the rusting.

And you know that that bolt is worth it's weight in gold. No pressure. I mean, stress., as in, blood pressure.

No joke. I priced a complete bolt on E-Bay for $340!! Hell you can pick up a whole gun for not much more than that.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
And you know that that bolt is worth it's weight in gold. No pressure. I mean, stress., as in, blood pressure.

Now now now. I've told you guys 20 MILLION TIMES, don't exaggerate!

A complete 788 bolt is worth exactly what a 788 is worth in good condition. A left hand bolt is worth 2, 788s in good condition and the rare one with the small or large bolt shroud thread (I forget which is the rare one) is worth 2-1/2 complete 788s. LOL

They're only worth their weight in gold when you tell someone who desperately needs one that you want it's weight in gold for it. Then you hold it up in front of his nose and watch him stand there and do the pee-dance. That's more entertaining than boobs with squeaky toys in em ! ! ! ! ! !

Once you get the old ejector drilled do not worry about replacement parts. A M700 ejector and spring can be shortened to use in the 788.

JW

I was talking about it's weight in Canadian Gold which is only worth a fraction of the price of of real gold.
We know it by it's common name, Maple Syrup. You know, that red leaf on the flag.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I was talking about it's weight in Canadian Gold which is only worth a fraction of the price of of real gold.
We know it by it's common name, Maple Syrup. You know, that red leaf on the flag.

I bet you were the US connection that they never connected to in the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Caper in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. The scurvy dogs made off with $18.7 million dollars worth of maple syrup in 2011-2012. A lot of it was recovered but a lot of it simply vanished. Probably across the border to some unscrupulous-sap-sucker who was never caught! I'm not superstitious, but I'm beginning to get a littlestitious that you might have been just that dastardly-sap-sucker ! ! ! !

I bet you double check every one of my wild, crazy-assed stories just WAITING for the chance to call Bullshit & Bhenanigans don't you Tom?

Well, not one word of bullshit ! We takes maple syrup, crude oil, Alberta beef and beer mighty serious round these parts.

We're gonna give the drill a go next week. Will report on results.

OK, we tackled it today. The drill wouldn't scratch it so we switched to a carbide tap remover. Got down slowly and just before it came to the step down for the tail the cutter caught and spun the plunger. Yay! Came right out. Removed the flattened extractor and fitting a Mag 700 extractor by drilling a rivet hole. Dang we were out of rivets! Got to order those. Modifying a 700 plunger. Should have it back in action soon. Man that was a big save. Those things are made of unobtanium. Bolts cost more than complete guns(if at all available). Thanks for all of the help.

Bob

I use those Noresman, Black Gold drills and they eat those ejectors like a fat kid on a bag of Smarties ! Just like it did for you, the drill usually starts the plunger to spinning and then they just pop right out.