Mauser 98 bolt handle and cocking ramp contact area

[AdamFromMN]

Hello,

The bolt on my Mauser is a little tough to open, and I'm wondering if the contact area between the bolt handle root and the cocking ramp on the receiver is too narrow. I took some marker and drew over the area on the bolt handle and worked the action a few times. The bare spots on the ends of the bolt handle root are ~1/8" and the center portion is closer to 1/16".

Is that level of contact considered good? Would increasing the contact area (through light and careful polishing) make the bolt lift easier and smoother?

 

[Stuart Satterlee]

Adam,
Is this problem a dry cycle problem or after the rifle has fired a round?

 

[AdamFromMN]

I notice it most when I dry cycle it. I changed the bolt shroud a while ago as the one that came with it had an impression that went perpendicular across a portion of the threads, and that seemed to help smooth things up a bit. But, while cocking the bolt, there is still quite a bit of force necessary to open the bolt from the 3 o'clock position to the 12 o'clock. I should mention that this is a VZ-24 mauser with a straight bolt, so perhaps its just the nature of an ex-military rifle.

 

[Stuart Satterlee]

Check the firing pin flange at the front of the firing pin. Right where it goes down to the small diameter. The part the main spring pushes against.
Sometimes the shoulders hang up and need a little more file fitting.
If it's hanging up you'll see the crash marks where it's getting interference from the inside of the bolt.

 

[AdamFromMN]

I checked and I'm not seeing any marks indicating interference between the firing pin and the bolt. However, I did notice the the trigger and seat are rubbing up against each other enough to wear the finish off of one side of the trigger, but not the other. I soaked them in some penetrating oil, and I'm hoping I can disassemble the trigger/ sear group to get a better look at things.

Edit: grammar

 

[Stuart Satterlee]

Is the trigger in your rifle an after market trigger? The large majority of aftermarket 98 triggers are two piece trigger and sear within a housing. Upon firing the sear of the trigger until will travel up into the V-shape on the bottom of the cocking piece when this occurs
The sear resets to the top of the trigger again, then when you raise the bolt handle to recock the action the front angle of bottom of the cocking piece pushes down on the sear until the sear bottoms out on the trigger engagement, this where all the working tolerances of the system are consumed and then get the tight feel on the bolt handle that you must force thru
To get the action cocked. There is a fix. If you can source a commercial FN cocking piece, this part is flat on the bottom with no V-shape on the bottom, no v shape means the sear has no chance to travel up to re-engage the trigger upon firing. The other fix is to keep the military cocking piece and judiciously remove material from the top of the sear so when the cocking piece runs the top of the sear, the sear does not bottom out on top of the trigger and it cycles thru smoothly with no cocking piece, sear, trigger tolerance issues.

 

[AdamFromMN]

No, the trigger is the two-stage military style. Is it safe to use a flat-bottomed cocking piece with the two-stage trigger? I thought I had previously read that using a flat-bottomed cocking piece necessitated the use of a commercial trigger and sear set-up. My first go-around with the penetrating oil didn't work to loosen up the trigger- and sear pins, so I'm going to try again this weekend. Thanks for your help so far, Mr. Satterlee.