I need help. I have an old Mauser sporter. Working the bolt with the original 3 position safety in 'fire' position, it glides smooth as silk. However, in middle position (safety straight up), the bolt shroud has about 1/4 inch of play in it. If the shroud wobbles to the side, the bolt guide binds. When I twist the shroud over, the bolt chambers fine. The shroud, by the way, has no play in it when the safety is in 'fire' position, only in middle position. Your diagnosis please, Mauser experts? Thanks, Bob

bobc--

I consider myself a Mauser (design) expert, but I can't figure out exactly what you're asking.

I'm going to GUESS that the shroud lock is not engaging for some reason.....probably because the bolt root was changed when the handle was altered.

Do you have to unlock the shroud to take the bolt apart? If not, that's the problem.

Let me know and I'll keep trying to visualize what you have.

Jack, this is an unaltered JP Sauer M-98, so it's never had bolt bent or any other modifications. What I'm asking is if there should be any 'play' in the bolt shroud when the safety is in the up position. When the shroud rotates over slightly, the bolt binds at about 1/2 inch to finish, ie, the bolt handle won't rotate down to final chamber. It's clear that the square piece under the cocking piece is not entering the channel in the tang straight. The bolt shroud is tight, ie, no play, when safety is off. The wobble only occurs when the safety is in the up position. Is there any trick to bolt reassembly which would eliminate this binding? Thanks, bob

Oh, Jack, another thing in reply to your reply, the shroud does have the spring loaded lock which has to be pressed in for bolt disassembly. Like I said, this is unaltered original. Bob

bobc,

I have a 98 Mauser that does the same thing. In my case the cause was a worn bolt sleeve lock stud(the part of the bolt sleeve lock that fits in the detent at the bolt root).This caused the bolt sleeve to have too much play in it when in the middle position which then caused the cocking piece to get out of alignment and jam in the guideway. My solution was to get a new bolt sleeve lock. Now it is also possible that your bolt root detent may be too wide and this would cause the same problem. You might have to get a "smithy" to weld some extra metal to your bolt sleeve lock stud and shape it to fit.

bobc---

With the safety in the vertical position the shroud lock should be engaged in the safety notch in the back of the bolt and prevent any *rotation* of the shroud until the bolt is fully against the back of the bridge which unlocks it and allows the bolt to close.

I'm still not sure of what you're asking....

When the bolt is rotated to the unlocked position the shroud is locked to the bolt to prevent the shroud from rotating...that means the cocking piece HAS to fit the sear slot. There's no other way for it to be and no way it can be wrong.

I have no idea what you are calling �play�.

There is no �rotation� of the shroud when the bolt is not in �battery�. The shroud lock prevents it. The only rotation of the bolt while out of battery is the slight tolerance between the locking lug races, bolt guide, and the bolt. That is certainly not enough to mis-align the cocking piece with the sear slot.

There can be no side to side wobble of the shroud because it locks against the root of the bolt. The shroud can�t move in any direction no matter where the safety lever is positioned.

The safety lever has nothing to do with the shroud until it�s rotated to the right in the �safe and locked� position. In that position the shroud is locked to the bolt by the safety axle engaging in the same notch in the bolt the shroud lock uses.

Cock your rifle and place the safety in the vertical position. Now open the bolt and withdraw it back until the bolt stop keeps it from going further. Now grab the shroud and turn it to the left.

Did it move? If so the bolt lock is bad.

Strip all the parts out of the shroud except the shroud lock and try it again. If the shroud lock don�t lock find out why and fix it.

Jack, I worked the action last night to see if I can make a better description. I'll give it another shot.

Bolt closed, safety in middle (upright) position. Bolt shroud is tight, no movement. When I open the bolt and withdraw it fully, the bolt shroud can be rotated counterclockwise enough that the bolt guide on the cocking piece rotates slightly to the right, causing it to bind on the right side of the channel in the tang. I see a few scratches where the bolt guide has hit the right side of the channel as it binds. If I rotate the bolt shroud clockwise, the bolt guide will be square to the channel in the tang, thus no binding.

This does not happen when I cycle the bolt in the 'fire' position, no binding, no rotation of the bolt shroud, smooth as silk functioning. Geez this is sure easier to see than it is to describe. Thanks for your help. I hope this will help you see this better, Bob

Bob the middle position is the take down postiion. To be engauged when you want to disasemble the bolt.

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Doug Humbarger
NRA Life member

Bobc�

OK, I got it now.

What you are calling a �bolt guide� is the cocking piece. The bolt guide (rib) is the raised rail in line with the bolt handle. That�s where a lot of the confusion came from.

The fact that the shroud will rotate *at all* with the bolt open means the shroud lock is bad.

The shroud lock plunger is in the left side of the shroud. Take the innards out of the bolt. Push in on the shroud lock until the cross pin is lined up with the take down notch and pry the pin towards the center and through the take down notch. (I use the corner of a machinist scale). Once the pin is clear of the notch the spring will push (very fast!) the lock out of the shroud.

When I find one that doesn�t work right I install more locks until I find one that does. They�re hard as Chinese arithmetic and very hard to alter.

The other possibility is that the notch in the bolt is bad. If it�s been buffed badly and the corners of the lock notch were rounded off��you need a bolt. That�s a double case hardened portion of the bolt and welding is likely to bubble and burn and warp it totally out of shape.

Change the shroud lock spring with a new one. I just found an action in my drawer that would jump out of lock and changed the spring fixed it. I hope you�re as lucky.