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The safety won't operate because the grooves on the Safety latch don't line-up with the grooves on the cocking piece. I must pull back on the cocking piece slightly while operating the safety latch to line-up the groove, to move to safe position.
What's wrong....why don't these parts line-up?
Could be parts tolerance accumulation if put together parts, or worn sear or striker rod. It's to far (the rod) front maybe
I compared parts with the original bolt and they seemed ok....
The original bolt works fine, the new correct bolt causes trouble.
Headspace checks out ok.
The sear not being part of the bolt I didn't concider.
Try a different sear, cocking piece and bolt. Try them one at a time. Everything factors in to the correct fitting.
I believe the problem is the Firing Pin assembly (Cocking piece).
Thanks for the help.....
cocking rod, sear, trigger bolt and or safety assembly can do this, worn or modified parts.
replace those parts until the problem is cured.
FYI: grinding the cocking rod grooves and or safety doesnt cure the issue. only makes the rifle unsafe to use
The problem was the firing pin/cocking piece.
Thanks for coming back and giving us the final result. Many just disappear after...
What brought all this on was that I had a real nice 1903A3 Smith Corona that had the wrong bolt. I'm sure you've heard this story before so I'll just say everything has worked out and I now have an all parts correct Smith Corona.
I really like shooting the 1903A3 just as much as my M1 Garand.....