Still Shooting
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"Frozen" Bolt Action Rifle
I had inherited a nice little carbine built on a Swedish Mauser action in the 1950's. It was my Granddad's rifle, built for him in the 1950's by a friend who was an engineer/machinist at Knowles Atomic Research Lab, and a very good "hobby" gunsmith. I took it hunting in the Adirondacks shortly after it came to me, and decided to use it one morning. On that particular day, the morning temperature was in the low teens, with a cold wind.
Just to be sure of everything, I set up a tin can on the camp dump, loaded a round and shouldered the rifle, pulled the trigger, and......Nothing!
I extracted the round, fed another, tried again, and again Nothing!
As I lowered the rifle, I saw the bolt body slowly sliding forward (ever so slowly). Turns out my Granddad had lubricated it with gun grease - he was one of those guys whose motto was "If a little bit's good, a whole lot's better!" I discovered this after taking the gun back into the cabin (unloaded) and disassembling the bolt/firing pin. I cleaned it thoroughly, replaced it, and the gun performed great from there on out. Glad I decided to take a couple of shots before heading out to hunt!
I had inherited a nice little carbine built on a Swedish Mauser action in the 1950's. It was my Granddad's rifle, built for him in the 1950's by a friend who was an engineer/machinist at Knowles Atomic Research Lab, and a very good "hobby" gunsmith. I took it hunting in the Adirondacks shortly after it came to me, and decided to use it one morning. On that particular day, the morning temperature was in the low teens, with a cold wind.
Just to be sure of everything, I set up a tin can on the camp dump, loaded a round and shouldered the rifle, pulled the trigger, and......Nothing!
I extracted the round, fed another, tried again, and again Nothing! As I lowered the rifle, I saw the bolt body slowly sliding forward (ever so slowly). Turns out my Granddad had lubricated it with gun grease - he was one of those guys whose motto was "If a little bit's good, a whole lot's better!" I discovered this after taking the gun back into the cabin (unloaded) and disassembling the bolt/firing pin. I cleaned it thoroughly, replaced it, and the gun performed great from there on out. Glad I decided to take a couple of shots before heading out to hunt!
