A question for the Mauser M03 gurus

[HandB]

Hi all, I have recently acquired a Mauser M03 and am super impressed by it. I understand the bolt head can be swapped by pressing the safety lever on the rear of the bolt to the left and sliding the bolt head out sideways but when I do that the bolt head remains rock solid in place. Do you have any expert tips or tricks for solving this puzzle?

Thank you!

 

[Rutland lad]

Yes !
I have found that on occasion pushing the cocking lever over fully AND HOLDING IT THERE FIRMLY doesn’t help.
Try pushing it right over then backing off your thumb pressure a little bit. That seems to work on one of mine which obviously hasn’t had a lot of bolt head changing in its life.
My other original bolt has had head changes regularly and is much easier.
Once you’ve got the bolt head off give both head and bolt a good clean and lube and then make sure you remove it once in a while to ‘ease’ the process next time.

If that doesn’t help PM me and we can video call the process.

 

[HandB]

Thanks, the bolt head is still solidly fixed. I don't actually need to take it off as I only have one bolt head - I got a few light strikes so I thought I should check inside the bolt head to see if there was anything blocking the travel of the firing pin. Have you experienced light strikes and if so did you find the cause? As far as I can see there isn't a traditional striker spring inside the bolt body.

 

[Rutland lad]

Okay - try soaking that end of the bolt in some very light oil for a few days to see if it if helps it free off.

If that’s still not helping I would suggest a phone call to Steve @ Ivythorn Sporting who may be able to give you more assistance.

I must say it took quite a bit of physical effort to free my ‘difficult’ bolt head when I first acquired that bolt.

I think it’s important for you to be able to remove the bolt head for cleaning purposes - and before it seizes fully to the rest of the bolt.

 

[Scotty99]

I had one a few years ago. There’s a definite knack to it. Push the safety lever to the left as you say and then slide the bolt head upwards towards you (I think that’s how I remember it). It’s a bit counter intuitive, when I first did it I was pushing the bolt head downwards away from me which it seems the natural thing to do and it did not move at all, but you need to give it a good tug upwards.

 

[HandB]

Thanks very much - I will keep fiddling around with it. I did notice that when the rear bolt assembly is removed and I press the end of the striker in with my thumb, the tip of the firing pin freely moves in and out of the bolt face so it seems there isn't anything inside the bolt head obstructing it.

 

[Rutland lad]

PM me and we’ll exchange phone details and I’ll video call you through how to do it. Just in case there’s something obvious none of us have thought about

 

[HandB]

Update - I am pleased to report that thanks to Rutland lad's guidance, the bolthead is now removed. It turns out the central button at the rear of the bolthead needs to be pressed to release the bolt head. So I disassembled the bolt and used a chamber cleaning rod to press the button in a little bit further than was possible using the striker. Lo and behold the bolt head came off.