Reader question, asked August 2025
Short answer: Most of the stiffness is the bolt cocking the firing pin when you lift the handle. Clean and grease the cocking cam and the backs of the locking lugs, then keep shooting. It smooths out with use.
The details
- Use a small dab of quality gun grease on the cocking cam notch at the rear of the bolt body and on the back faces of the locking lugs.
- Run the bolt a few hundred times. The surfaces burnish in.
- If it catches or grinds, check for burrs or grit in the raceways.
- A gunsmith can polish the cam surfaces. Avoid going to a much lighter firing pin spring, because that can cause light primer strikes.
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