bolt not locking up

[peru@adelphia.net]

When I close the bolt without slamming it the bolt will not close all the way, it closes part of the way and hammer drops but only dimples the primer.
Is this a sign of a weak recoil spring?
The recoil tube is straight, the chamber is very clean, I even took the bolt apart and cleaned it completely. Still does the same!
Where can I get a new recoil spring ?
Help would be appreciated. I love this gun and it kills me that it has a problem. Thanks,Rusticbob

[pigpen]

In order for the bolt to lock it has to be slamed. Riding the cocking handle will cause a FTF.

[hunter_la5]

like he said, let it slam home. if you ride it home with your hand it will never lock up. you dont need to baby these things, they are military rifles

[97th Signalman]

When I close the bolt without slamming it the bolt will not close all the way, it closes part of the way and hammer drops but only dimples the primer.
Is this a sign of a weak recoil spring?
The recoil tube is straight, the chamber is very clean, I even took the bolt apart and cleaned it completely. Still does the same!
Where can I get a new recoil spring ?
Help would be appreciated. I love this gun and it kills me that it has a problem. Thanks,Rusticbob

Like pig pen said...just let the bolt go and slam itself. If you don't it wont lock up properly. That's how it's supposed to work.

[jfowl31]

You didn't mention you were riding the bolt home in your pm Peru... As has already been stated, you got to let it fly.

The whole lock-up of these rifles is based on having the full force of the bolt flying from the rear to lock it in place.

Wouldn't it be nice if they had forward assist? Correct me if I'm wrong here guys, but the PSG-1 has forward assist right?

If she functions perfectly when letting it fly, you're good to go... make sure you read the stickies here, and check your bolt gap, bolt length, all the basic stuff.

Good luck with it!

[peru@adelphia.net]

I appreciate the input on the failure for the bolt to lock all the time. I understand that this is a really "tough" rifle. I particularly like the simple breakdown.
I only ride the carrier when I am checking the chamber to see if there is a round in the chamber, I pull it half way back to see the brass, then let it slam shut.I can understand how this would be a problem. My bigger problem is that this gun occasionally picks up a cartridge from the mag and doesn't lock up all the way. This could be in the middle of a mag and seems to happen with Indian 70's surplus.Has anyone else had a bad experience with Indian surplus?
I will try some newer South African which seems to be cleaner. Thanks for the help!

[97th Signalman]

I appreciate the input on the failure for the bolt to lock all the time. I understand that this is a really "tough" rifle. I particularly like the simple breakdown.
I only ride the carrier when I am checking the chamber to see if there is a round in the chamber, I pull it half way back to see the brass, then let it slam shut.I can understand how this would be a problem. My bigger problem is that this gun occasionally picks up a cartridge from the mag and doesn't lock up all the way. This could be in the middle of a mag and seems to happen with Indian 70's surplus.Has anyone else had a bad experience with Indian surplus?
I will try some newer South African which seems to be cleaner. Thanks for the help!

If you have trouble with SA then it is time to begin checking you mag fit as to height in the well relative to the bolt etc. There is a sticky on Indian surplus. That stuff is mortally dangerous and totally unreliable. Read the sticky. That is why there is this graphic available:

:dsia:

[drine]

Where's the dang smiley when I need it. The Indian ammo can be dangerous. Check to see if the bullets are seated straight. This also happened to me but on some Lake City stuff from CTD. 11 rounds out of 80 were good, the rest junk! Roll them across the table and look for a wobble.
There are a bunch of things that can be holding you off. I had a similar issue recently because I squeezed my receiver some trying to get the rails aligned with the trunnion. It took a lot of dry cycling to get it back closing every time.
I've also seen the pin holding the roller retainer pushed in too far. You may have a cooked guide rod if you dropped it or banged it while disassembled. The spring could be weak, etc.
Does it do it during dry cycle at all? or just live fire? Give an answer and more good folks will be along to give you input. Drine

[JayGeeWentWorth]

As drine mentioned, if you have a scope mount on the top of your receiver and you tighten it up too much this can cause the bolt to sieze. This recently happened to me and I just loosened up the mount a little and everything functioned fine again :thumbup:

[peru@adelphia.net]

I just came back from the range where I fired off 5 full mags of SA from the battle packs. No failures to fire, feed every round, still shooting to the left but I'll work on that.
My problem seems to have been the cheap Indian surplus i was trying to feed it. this Indian shoots fine in my M1A, but its probably too dirty for the CETME.
Too bad I have about 4 ammo boxes full of it!
I haven't heard any problems with the Indian, what do you guys mean by its "dangerous". Thanks

[Anthropy]

Nothing really wrong with Indian ammo other than several folks having their guns blow up on them while using the stuff.

So, be very careful with it as there were multiple lots that came into the US that were extremely out of spec to the point of not just factory seconds, but more like factory 8ths.

That being said, I had a couple of cases of Indian i bought back in '97 (don't even remember the head stamp) that I had no issues with but I looked it over. That was before the increased reported incidents of destroyed weapons.

Then again my lack of problems might have been from my guardian angel who watches out for me... a lot.

BTW, do a google search for Indian ammo and you will find many comments regarding the stuff.

[M1 Tanker]

I haven't heard any problems with the Indian, what do you guys mean by its "dangerous". Thanks

DANGEROUS IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT!!!

This stuff has been classified as dangerous for 4 years now. Here is the sticky.

http://www.militaryfirearm.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=617

[97th Signalman]

I haven't heard any problems with the Indian, what do you guys mean by its "dangerous". Thanks

One of the more dangerous circumstances occurs with so called squib loads where the primer ingnites and the powder ingnites partially or not at all. The result is the that bullet lodges part way down the barrel and if you are firing rapidly you may well pull the trigger and send the next bullet down the barrel into the previous bullet that is lodged in the barrel from the squib load. The result would be a barrel explosion with catastrophic results. There have been more than a few instances of this reported in this community.

I myself had a squib load with Indian round with my CETME but I got lucky...The bullet just barely entered the barrel and it prevented the next round from going fully into battery so I could not have fired it even if I had tried. That's close enough for me. That was my last indian round. I did have some difficulty removing the bullet that was stuck in the barrel.

That's probably the chief dangerous aspect. Then there are the improperly seated bullets, the residue from the tar that the Indians used to seal the bullets, crushed and wrinkled cartridge casings, badly degraded powder and some rounds with no powder at all.

Read the referenced sticky for more convincing details. I think that I wouldn't recommend shooting Indian at all in semi-autos or full-autos. You probably could get away with it in a bolt action or single shot as long as you were aware of when you experienced incomplete ignition. For my own part I don't use it at all in anything. Fortunately I only bought about 40 rounds in sealed cellophane ten-round packs so I just gave back what I had left to the guy I got it from. I just asked him to dispose of it. I just hope that he didn't resell it.

This junk was shoveld up off the floor in third world warehouses from piles of rejects and outdated ammo that the Indian Army had already discarded. This is one case where one man's trash in NOT another man's treasure.