Cleaning an 1895 bolt?

[JeffDilla]

As a follow up to another thread I started (http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=724907)
I have decided to clean the bolt of my 1895 to attempt to fix the light striking issue. After doing some research online, it's apparently a fairly common issue for gunk to build up in the bolt and tighten up the firing pin, causing light primer strikes.

Has anyone else had this issue or have experience cleaning their bolts? I'm just going to soak it in some solvent and then blow it out with compressed air, relube the bolt, put it back in and see if this corrects the issue.

Any other advice or suggestions would be helpful and appreciated. If this doesn't fix the issue, I'll bring it to the smith.

Thanks.

 

[rcmodel]

Is this an original Winchester 1895?

Or a later Winchester or Browning made in Japan??

If it is an original old Winchester with a flat mainspring, there are three screws on the bottom tang.

The larger rear one holds the mainspring to the tang.

The front one holds the sear spring to the tang.

The center one is the mainspring strain screw, and is used to 'spring' the spring to provide more tension to the hammer.

If it is backed out your hammer will not have full mainspring tension on it.

If it is a later one made in Japan, it has a coil mainspring & rebounding hammer, and none of that applies.

BTW: Stripping an 1895 to the point you can take the bolt out is not child's play!!
If you have no gunsmith experience, tread lightly, or not at all!!

rc

 

[JeffDilla]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. It's a Marlin 1895. I took the bolt out and cleaned it.

I actually just got back from dropping it off at the local gunsmith after talking to him on the phone. He said he could take it all down, check things out, and get it straightened out pretty cheaply.

 

[MCMXI]

Your gunsmith has the rifle now but it's not that hard to work on a Marlin 1895 bolt. The extractor has to be removed and two roll pins driven out to remove the two halves of the firing pin. The hardest thing is to get the extractor back on. I installed one-piece firing pins in my Marlins but some will tell you that Marlin's two-piece firing pin is safer.

 

[JeffDilla]

Your gunsmith has the rifle now but it's not that hard to work on a Marlin 1895 bolt.

After doing some searching online and looking at bolt disassembly instructions I thought I could probably do it but I figured where this gun is new to me I'd be better off having the smith take a look at it and check everything out; the mainspring, head spacing and all, relatively cheaply. Plus, knowing me, it would end up with him as a box of parts if I tried taking it down anyway.

For $25-$30, it's good peace of mind and I'd like to be shooting this gun again as soon as possible, it's a hoot and surprisingly more accurate than I imagined!