Let's talk about 14/141 Bolts

[nambujim]

I'm posting this because you see a "lot" of stripped bolts for sale on Ebay, Gunbroker, and other auction sites. Most parts places like Numrich along with many others strip their bolts because there are certain parts they can readily sell like ejector rods, ejectors, firing pins, and maybe a few other parts. Unless your bolt is cracked I see no reason to even think about buying a stripped bolt, if your bolt is cracked my advice is "find another bolt".

Lets take this one Model at a time, if you have a 141 you have a bit of an advantage in that "most" bolts between Serial 1001-50,000 will interchange but might require a bit on honing/cleaning to make it perfect. Bolts in that serial range will also "usually" fit serials above 50,000. While I'm not sure what took place around serial 45,000 but the quality of the milling on internal parts started to decline and by Serial 70,000 both the parts and the inside of the frames showed heavy milling marks. These marks are so heavy the tolerances for metal/metal fit suffered. That being the case I have still found that earlier bolts "usually" fit without difficulty but the reverse simply isn't the case so its a "crap shoot". Finding a bolt for a later rifle (60,000-79000 range) can be a bit of a problem with about a 50-60% chance of a later bolt fitting another late serial rifle but 90% chance of an earlier bolt doing the job.

Cracked or broken bolts for either the Model 14 or 141:
OK! If you have a cracked bolt in the name of God please don't think you can buy a stripped bolt and switch over your parts, in 50+ years of messing with these rifles I don't ever remember that working............NEVER! I have had it work a few times with 14-1/2 parts which we believe all came from the same run/lot of parts.

Looking at just two aspects of the bolt where you will quickly discover you made a mistake like the replacement stripped bolt won't even slip into your receiver AND removing and fitting the extractor is like a visit to hell. Other aspects of the transfer of parts are there are three spring/plungers inside the bolt which consists of twenty (20) parts overall, I assure you that you will lose at least one or more of those on dis-assembly. The real fun begins when you think you can remove the "sear pin" on a Model 141, yes you can but know ahead of time these pins were "pressed" into place and unless you have some very specialized tools they are NOT going to come out easily............they really don't want to come out at all. I am hoping by this point in time you get the idea. Don't buy a bloody stripped bolt!!!

Overall summary:
My advice if you need a bolt try to find a complete one within your serial range but sellers rarely provide that information. Used/complete bolts on the auction sites run from between $90 - $200, usually around $130 but you need to look it over VERY carefully to see if it looks "exactly" like yours, I mean from every little detail since there are several variations of the Model 14 bolt. Start with making sure whether it has the hook/lever safety extension which is pretty obvious and go from there, check the differences in the bolt face, in the sear lock, and other parts. I suggest you ask the seller if they accept returns because it won't take you long to determine whether the replacement works, first if it actually slides easily into your receiver, then make sure it will cock & fire. If you make it that far you're ahead of the game but be sure to see if it will cycle from the magazine and fire with dummy rounds. Regardless, buying a complete bolt even if you have to do it 2-3 times will be far less frustrating than trying to switch the damn parts ending up with a piece of crap.

For info, hope this helps someone!

Jim Peterson
Charlotte, NC