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I recently acquired a P14 after stripping it and giving it a good clean I re assembled it and fitted a Parker hale aperture rear sight.
I then took it to the range and fired it.
Yesterday I tried to remove the bolt to check out some C clips I made for bolt take down. I can not get the bolt out of the rifle.
I have tried every thing.
I have had P14 rifles before and never had this kind of chew on.
I think I know what the problem is but I ran out of time to night. I need to have another go at it tomorrow. Originally the P14 was fitted with a long range volley sight. After Weedon repair/refit the volley sights were removed. The stud under the bolt release spring mechanism on the left of the receiver does not look like any of my previous P14 rifles. I think the tension on the leaf spring is to great and its preventing me removing the bolt.
I will strip it to morrow and if I am correct I will make a new one.
First job to morrow strip the P14 some how and examine the offending item.
Second job to morrow fit the new electronic speed control board to my lathe. Its finally arrived and check that the re wiring of the Chinese electrics actually makes sense and it spins.
Third job make a new bit for the P14.
Lots of other jobs waiting to be caught up on.
One particularly interesting one for the Wamadet press. hmm whats next.

For anyone that reads this in the future, another potential pitfall is removing the extractor from the P14 bolt and then fitting it back into the receiver, the extractor retaining clip has a tendency to expand slightly and can jam in the rear of the receiver upon removal of the bolt.

Ovenpaa wrote:For anyone that reads this in the future, another potential pitfall is removing the extractor from the P14 bolt and then fitting it back into the receiver, the extractor retaining clip has a tendency to expand slightly and can jam in the rear of the receiver upon removal of the bolt.

Actually that may be the problem Ovenpaa I have previously had the bolt in bits. I will have a closer look later. If it is that what is the cure.

If you removed the 'C' shaped retaining clip care must be taken to return it in the same orientation as before as reversing it can lead to issues. Also beware the underside as it can have razor sharp edges.

They are a PITA to strip out once the bolt is jamming, the important thing is do not force anything during the process.

I am off work to day so I had a look at the P14 it was as I suspected the bolt release leaf spring on the left of the receiver was not disengaging enough to allow the bolt to be removed I'm guessing its because I have fitted a Parker hale rear sight and the clearance is now different putting extra tension on the spring. Now that I know what the problem is I am confident I can fix it.
The gun is dismantled so I will leave it for now. I have other jobs that are higher up on my list of priorities.
hmm whats next oh yeah sort the lathe out.

An interesting afternoon that ended up running into early evening. So I did not get a chance to look at the P14. I spent my time re wiring a Chinese lathe. The original wiring diagram bore no resemblance to what was actually on the lathe. Once the re wire was complete the next job was installing and rewiring a replacement speed control board. I plunged the house into darkness twice. She was not amused. But it works now so to morrow is about gun related jobbies on the lathe. Hooray.

About time as well! I am off to shoot this morning, first time on an MoD range in ages so no machine work for me however I have a linear encoder (DRO) to fit on the Knee of the Bridgeport when I get back. I will run this one with a summing unit so it can be coupled with the Quill Z axis readout so zero is maintained regardless of if the Knee or Quill are moved.

What would we do without machines to play with :)

Enjoy your day hope the weather holds for you.

Depressed the lathe lasted 30 minutes then a loud bang and I was plunged into darkness. Enough is enough even her indoors agrees its time to get a proper one. I am pronouncing this one dead. I am not wasting any more time on it.
In the mean time the P14 bolt is resting in a industrial sonic bath with the bolt release catch and all the other gubbings including screws small bits etc. They are all at temperature doing what ever bits and pieces do in a sonic bath.

I suppose I could post pictures it would give me some thing to do instead of staring at about £200 of inserts and tool holders I invested in for projects that aint going to happen.


aaarggh aaarggh aaarggh aaarggh aaarggh aaarggh aaarggh aaarggh aaarggh aaarggh aaarggh

I think we should change your name to Calamity Dave.