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One of the rollers in the bolt on my gun binds, but the other moves freely. What says the forum?

"Binds"

A very undefinitive term. Does it bind in the bolt? Does it bind in the cam piece? Where does it bind?

John

In the bolt head itself. One moves freely but the other binds. It appears to be going into battery when the gun is dry-fired.

What I would do, but not necessarily what will fix your problem or what you should do.... you decide:

Clean thoroughly with a brass bore brush after dipping in kerosene or bore cleaner to see if there's anything accumulated where it shouldn't be.

Obviously a different bolt head should solve the problem, but barring that, remove the rollers and swap them from side to side. When you have them out, dress (with a file) any areas that appear battered. If that doesn't fix things, replace the bolt head and rollers. If anything is chipped, worn, or deformed (either bolt head or roller), it's time to replace the bolt head and rollers. If one is particularly tight after swapping but there is no damage, you might just replace the rollers, but it would be better to replace the bolt head to avoid anything bad from happening.

Rollers can be removed by placing the bolt head securely in a vise, and putting a tapered drift pin behind the roller. Hit the drift with a hammer and the roller will pop out. Covering it with a rag before you pop it out will make it easier to find when it pops. Resetting them in the bolt head is just a matter of squeezing them in the vise to pop them back in.

Ok, I popped out the roller and found that it was getting caught on the corner of the "raceway". I took my honing stone to it and it's good to go now!

I didn't see any obvious damage, so perhaps it was just an issue of manufacturing tolerances being out of spec? (It's an M53).

Could have been out of spec from the factory. No way to tell.

Gotta love it when you ask a specific question, get a specific answer, and it all works out.

And how!

Well Done. Enjoy.

Stay Safe Everyone.

Later 42rocker