Type 99 Bolt Assembly

[jmoore]

Ummm, ????

Please excuse- there may be a slight delay whilst I try to recreate the scenario! I've a T99 handy (not the sniper that I've been hunting with all day...!) There's also a T38 as well.

"Hold, please."

[jmoore]

Ok, It's just like yours, now, I think! Had to remove the firing pin spring to do it. Somehow the firing pin is rotated into the bolt release slot and won't drop free. Then somehow the safety is installed to the position shown. Don't know how to undo it yet, but it's a new thing, so it'll be entertaining to cipher out the mechanics.

"Hold, please." (Again)

[jmoore]

ETA: the below only applies if there's NO firing pin spring installed. See post #14 for the "spring in" version- I couldn't get get the thing to assemble in the "proper" incorrect way at first w/ the spring involved!


OK, the trick is to get a small diameter tool and push the firing pin extention (the protruding tail at the rear of the pin- in this case it's just forward of the shiny safety shroud lug in line w/ the bolt stop) forward far enough to allow the safety to rotate Clockwise. It will then be free to remove to the rear. Then pull the firing pin back a bit and rotate it Counter-Clockwise. It will then come out.

If there's a firing pin spring in the assembly, it MAY force the firing pin too far forward, thus requiring you to remove the bolt stop assembly and press to the rear a bit, but I'm just guessing at this point. I still don't know HOW I got it the way it was bound up! Weird...but cool.

Didn't think it possible, but having spent two hours solving the riddle of a mis-assembled Mauser 98 bolt some time back (that's not "possible", either, BTW), I wasn't going to discount the possibilty.

[jmoore]

Oh, let the bolt stop go to it's rest position, it either won't influence the procedure, or it'll have to be removed, depending on your level of MUBARness.

If the spring is in it, the bolt stop Must be removed! Dang, I went and did it, myself--this takes extra effort as the "correct" incorrect assembly procedure requires holding the bolt stop closed against the spring tension WHILST the firing pin tail rests against it AND the safety is then installed. Wow.
Easy breezy to rectify when the bolt stop's out. Just press the firing pin to the rear until the safety is freed to rotate Clockwise. A helping hand to assist might be good, but I had no dramas.
This defugality is Very tough to generate by accident, as the bolt stop will generally move and allow the firing pin to go forward, preventing the locked up situation.

Thanks, Tkaxman! Best puzzle I've had in a while!

And thanks, Patrick! That was way more trouble than I would have taken.

[Patrick Chadwick]

I am beginning to get a bad feeling about this. It looks as if the safety is "ON", but that should not be possible if the rifle has been fired (bolt no longer cocked).

Push in the safety cap (it may be very stiff, but it should go in to about 1/8" from the system housing) and rotatte it ANTI-CLOCKWISE about 1/4 turn, i.e until the protrusion at the top is pointing to the left. Thsi turns the safety to "OFF" and will bring down the safety lug (which you can see at 9 o'clock) to 6 o'clock, so that it fits into the slot in the tang and you can draw it out.

If that does not work, I am puzzled.
Jmoore - any ideas?

Patrick

P.S: forget all that, somehow I failed to see the previous posts while puzzling with my rifle.

Jmoore, you are hereby awarded the Rubik Medal for Dedication to 3-Dimensional Puzzling Beyond the Call of Duty!

[riceone]

I have been playing with Japanese rifle for 50 years and cannot for the life of me figure out how people lock them up. I have tried and can't, I know one or two other collectors who have tried and can't. Why not just pull the trigger, it won't hurt them. I store mine with the bolt open so as not to take up so much room. I bought a very nice 38 carbine year or so ago for $125 cause the bolt was locked in it, so some good can come from it. riceone.

[Tkaxman]

Hey Guys,
I have been so busy I haven't had a chance to try your suggestions. I'll get to it this weekend, and I will reply one way or another. Didn't want to leave you hanging after your very kind efforts!

[Patrick Chadwick]

I have been playing with Japanese rifle for 50 years and cannot for the life of me figure out how people lock them up.

One does indeed wonder. My first professional electronics design was a power supply for a research lab. A 3-phase thyristor bridge with current control. Very precise, very expensive, back in the days before integrated circuits. I did my best to make it foolproof. Any input or output could be connected to another without doing anything worse than blowing a fuse. A message was engraved in red on the front panel that the load equipment (a damn great magnet) was only to be earthed through the damn great earthing post provided very visibly on the front panel.

Fully in accordance with Murphy's Law Section 13 Sub-Section 666 this foolproof device was killed (murdered?) by the first fool to use it, who was incapable of reading red engraved lettering 1/4" high, couldn't see an earthing post marked earthing post, opened the case marked not to be opened, and earthed the magnet by attaching it to the most sensitive spot in the whole caboodle - the current sensor input to the differential amplier on the floating (because 3-phase, no neutral point) control electronics. The ampifier, quite naturally, was rather upset by 380 volts being applied to an input sensitive to less than a millivolt. It vaporized. He then had the nerve to remove the wire, screw the case together, call me, and complain that the power supply didn't work.

So I learnt early on that really bloody-minded pig-headed idiot foolproof does not exist. You can only try and make it difficult for them!

Patrick

[Tkaxman]

OK guys, I have been looking for the firing pin extension that I need to move forward, but I can't seem to find it. Can you explain where (in my pics) I should be looking? You mention using a small dia tool to get to it.
I'm getting a bit frustrated that I can't understand how to undo this this thing. I am being tempted to just remove the lug stop with a hacksaw, but I hate to resort to this when I have a nice piece of history.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Right lads! Another try!

I have taken photos of the bolt assembly in various positions. I cannot lock it up. Maybe it is looked up. Maybe we are pushing in the wrong direction. I shall skip a lot of photos and get straight to the point. I managed to duplicate the position as shown by Tkaxman. If you do not set the safety to the off position before inserting the bolt, but overturn it, it is possible to get it in with the safety lug at 9 o'clock, as appears to be the case with this problem rifle.

But my experiments also lead to the conclusion that this is only possible with a broken or missing firing spring. Otherwise the force of the spring does not let you get the parts into the necessary position - unless, maybe you go at it with a pipe wrench. And sawing off the lug would not help - the interlock action is inside the safety cap.

Tkaxman, try this: turn the bolt handle up to the vertical position.
And do not try to PUSH the safety cap IN,
but PULL it OUT
and rotate it (anti-clockwise) to the safety OFF position.
And then you (I am really hoping for this!) can withdraw the bolt.

You may have to jiggle a bit with bolt rotation/cap pulling to get the right mix, but it works on my rifle (a Type 38).

If that doesn't work, perhaps jmoore has some ideas.

Patrick

P.S: these pics won't help, but I don't know how to get rid of them.