Sako That darn bolt guide stop spring...

[Steven69]

...on my L579 broke while I was disassembling the bolt guide. Are there any tricks for getting the bolt guide apart (and then together again) without breaking that spring? Thanks in advance!

 

[gunner620]

Steven, I have one. I sent you a private message.

 

[kevinlg]

Note........

Be absolutely SURE the spring/clip is oriented correctly, when the guide-bar is re-assembled.

 

[marlin92]

Here is a little diagram hope it helps

 

[Steven69]

Thanks for the replies. The diagram is really helpful. I'll be in touch about the spring options.

 

[paulsonconstruction]

Just a helpful hint to anyone reading this thread. The number one reason for bolt guide parts breaking is disassembling it. Unless a part is already broken there is absolutely no need to ever take it apart. The whole bolt & guide can be cleaned with solvents & compressed air or the aerosol spray gun cleaners just as effectively as taking it apart. These parts can be extremely difficult to locate, so why take the risk? The old saying "If it ain't broke don't fix it" applies here. Just food for thought.

 

[marlin92]

Amen to what paulson said

 

[ricksengines]

A fool and his broken bolt spring are soon parted.

I can't tell members too many times to soak their bolt in penetrating oil or kroil to cleanup and free up the internal bolt parts. Nothing gets broken or lost and there are no impossible to find parts to locate and purchase.

rick

 

[Steven69]

The only reason I disassembled it is to have the metalwork black nitrided, which requires complete disassembly. I did apply penetrating oil in advance, but it was apparently insufficient. Looking at the way the whole thing goes together makes me wonder why they didn't just use a roll pin through the guide bar behind the retaining spring instead.

 

[kevinlg]

The diagram that marlin92 posted shows the parts perfectly.

The orientation of the clip CURVATURE is CRITICAL!!

And...yes....proper tools and knowledge aforethought are needed for this particular dis-assembly operation.

Some months ago, this problem was discussed at length over on the accuratereloading board. (Note: Here it is: https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9411043/m/2981058842?r=8251050942#8251050942 ). Heck.....at the time....I even hinted back to a thread on THIS board.

Hope this helps.

 

[P04R]

Looking at the way the whole thing goes together makes me wonder why they didn't just use a roll pin through the guide bar behind the retaining spring instead.

That's how it's done on the L46. On newer designs they went with the spring. Maybe the spring is easier to assemble or can handle more recoil than the ~1 mm pin.

 

[Steven69]

I've been reading up on making flat springs and it seems 1095 may be borderline because of slightly too much carbon. So I'm going to look for some stock in the 1050 -1070 range. It looks like the locking tab (square end of the spring) bends up (away from the spring recess in the bolt guide by maybe 10 degrees or so. As small as the spring is, I figure I only need about a teaspoon of oil each for the quench and draw stages. The accurateloading.com thread mentions using a shim instead of the spring. It may be that an imprecise spring winds up being more of a shim. I guess I'll find out

 

[kevinlg]

Long ago I mentioned the possibility of using an old Rem 700 magazine spring as raw stock. Pick a proper curvature area, and cut it out. Further cutting/trimming should yield a nice clip/spring.

Hope this helps.