Tough action

[TEN DOT]

I bought a 1903 Anschutz about 3 months ago. I have fired over 1500 round since I bought it and the action seems to be stiff in the last quarter of and inch from where the action meets the barrel. I have tried cleaning it and oiling it but it is still stiff. Is there something that I can do to help this problem.

[gtrisdale]

Do you have this problem when you try and close the bolt without a round in the chamber? If not, it is likely to be one of 2 problems.
1) A dirty chamber. Clean you chamber and barrel with a good bore cleaner, bronze brushes and patches.
2) Have you changed ammo? Sometimes, lower grade ammo will have a larger than normal diameter bullet.

[TEN DOT]

I have the same problem when I try to close it. So that must not be it. Any other ideas.

[Guest]

If you know another shooter locally that has the same action, swap the bolts and see if the problem stays with your bolt in the other rifle. or is fixed when used in the other rifle.

also/or

I would also see if your action screws are one or two threads too long and is hitting the underside of the bolt. Back off some on the action screw and see if the bolt still hangs ups on closing.

[TEN DOT]

Where are the action screws and how do I get to them?

[WRC]

The action screws hold the action into the stock. Turn the gun upside down and you'll see one at the trigger guard, another in a clearance hole in the rail a few inches forward of the trigger guard. You can use the metric allen wrench supplied with the rifle.

Thanks for the tip about the screws! I had forgotten about that. Just bought a 1903 for the club, and it also has a really stiff bolt. We greased it well & figured it needs break-in time. I'll check the screws too.

[TEN DOT]

Well I tried loosening the bolts but that did not seem to help eighther is there anything else that can be done?

[Guest]

As already suggested, clean the barrel.

Your 1903, like other target rifles has a very tight and short chamber. This means that the the distance from the breech end of the barrel to the start of the rifling is shorter than the overall length of the cartridge - the bullet is jammed into the rifling when loaded. The final seating of the bullet is done by the bolt as it closes; so if the chamber is heavily gummed up with detritus from previous shots, it can be hard to close the bolt.

Using a cleaning rod and the appropriate jag, push one or two lint-free cotton patches through the bore. These should be soaked with a powder/lead solvent (Hoppes No 9 is a common, but there are other good brands). Leave the solvent to soak into the fouling, then brush the bore with a phosphor-bronze or nylong bristle brush on the cleaning rod. Then dry the bore with a succession of clean dry patches. these will show blue/grey stain at first, continue until the patches emerge clean.

regards

Tim S
Taunton UK

[Gkn24]

Have you tried cleaning the extractors and making sure they move freely?

[Mesars]

I had the same problem, Cleaning the action and especially the indents where the extractors go in the barrel, a dental type pick or tooth pick is good for getting the crud out of those recesses. As mentioned before the actions are tight so it doens't take much to muck up the works