Ross M-10 stuck bolt

[Bigedac]

Yesterday I finally received my first Ross. A beautiful M-10. I unpacked it and found the bolt was out of the rifle. Not unusual. I have never had one of these in my hands before, so as a gunsmith of about 50 years experience I inserted the bolt which went in about two inches easily but would go no more! Nor would it come out!! It would move a bit but not come out. Hair pulling time. I could not find any place where there was instructions or drawings on how to do something as simple as re-install a bolt. There needs to be a BIG red note on this operation. It was quite late by this time so I decided to wait till today. Up early, out in the shop, I reasoned that by taking the bbl. action out of the stock I could see what was holding the bolt in. Great, took out the bbl. band screw, figured out how to get the floor plate off, main action screw, action won't come out!! I reasoned that there must be a screw in the the top rear of the action. Only problem, there was a stuck bolt in the way! After much prayer my wife and I looked in the bolt area with a bright light to see if I could see anything holding the bolt. I knew it was caught on something in the bottom of the bolt head so I went in with a very small long handle flat blade screw driver and applied pressure to the steel under the bolt head. Praise the Lord, the bolt came out. No marks, scratches etc. on the gun or me! I had already figured out that if I could just get the bolt out I needed to pull the head out and rotate it to the correct horizontal position. This I did. However, it wouldn't stay in that position. I tried several times and finally it stayed in the correct position. I very gingerly slid it into the action and now it works just great. I will insert photos of this so you can see what happened.

[tiriaq]

That is a very fine M10 sporting rifle. You have learned that it is not a good idea to try to install the bolt in a Ross with the bolt rotated to the locked position. How is the bore? The cartridge is very much like the 7mm Remington Magnum when it comes to performance.

[Bigedac]

Thank you, it really is in excellent condition, bore looks perfect. If I had ever seen one before I would have known. The bolt was in the locked position when I received it and having nothing to compare it with I treated like any other rifle. I hope this will help some other "new" Ross person not make the same mistake.

[martins8589]

Yes, many a ross MkIII owner has done the same. If the bolt head rotates slightly "as is easy to do when installing:" it will grab and feel stuck. It does not go into the slide channel correctly. Tap it out with a wooden mallet and make sure to align the bolt head correctly when installing said bolt and make sure it does not move out of alignment.

[CINDERS]

Interesting vid on the Ross bolt and rifle
https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&r...-1on84w04vHgOg

[Surpmil]

I rest the rifle across my legs or left arm and keep the tip of a finger pressing down on the upper right set of threads, with a little practice and suitable digits this can be done with only one hand on the bolt. This usually stops the bolt head from rotating while getting started on the rails. Getting the bolt head out to the extended (unlocked) position takes two hands of course. One gets to know which bolts snap back more easily than others!

That's a fine looking rifle, but I would suggest a chamber and bore cast. The bolt face looks almost like it has been set back a little to resurface it, but that may be just the photo or my recollection of the depth of the two shoulders that project past the bolt face.

It looks like you have the dropped style of bolt knob or loop which was reportedly found on the US market M10s.

Lots of info on the .280 over on The Ross Rifle Forum by the way, including some very interesting stuff from Mr. Crossman and others.

[tiriaq]

I'll have to get out my M10 and have a good look at the bolt face. I know that neither the bolt or chamber have been altered.