How to remover 98 Mauser bolt sleeve without safety?

[HankC]

Military mauser has a flag safety and need to turn the safety to vertical position to lock the firing pin to turn and remove the bolt sleeve. In commercial mausers, there isn't a flag safety, how to remove the bolt sleeve? I have a Santa Barbara commercial mauser and the bolt does not have a safety, I also have a military mauser coming without a safety in place. I like to install a safety on the military bolt, that is coming, but when I play with my commercial bolt, I realize I may have a problem! What is the trick?

 

[fguffey]

Hank, To remove the firing pin assemble from the bolt housing the firing pin must be pulled back and pinned (back). It is convenient to have the three position Mauser safety that can be used when the rifle is cocked. No secret, the cocking piece must be pulled back enough to allow the firing pin to clear the front slots in the bolt. I have no problem cutting up anything leather for the purpose of protecting and grasping anything metal like die parts when using pliers.

Most cocking pieces have a notch on one side, it is believed it us used to cock the cocking piece, it is believed the cocking piece is cocked with the rim of a case, a most awkward and clumsily method and or technique, I would use a piece of leather and pliers to pull the cocking piece back then pin it off the the bolt sleeve bar enough to clear the slot in the front of the bolt.

Then there was the smith while working on a Santa Fe that managed to pull the cocking piece back far enough to remove it from the bolt sleeve by rotating it after he pulled it back.

F. Guffey

 

[rcmodel]

Some commercial Mauser's have a hole drilled in the cocking piece so you can pull it back on the edge of a bench and stick a pin through it to hold it.

If it doesn't have a hole, the same method can be used to pull it back far enough to unscrew the bolt off the bolt shroud.

rc

 

[Kp321]

Clamp the bottom of the cocking piece in padded vise jaws and pull it far enough to place a penny between the front edge of the cocking piece and the back of the bolt shroud. This will work on any bolt action that has access to that area, in fact Remington 700's have a slot in the cocking piece that just fits a penny.

 

[Mobuck]

The edge of the wooden workbench I'm using has numerous dings from hooking the cocking piece under the edge of the bench to pull the FP back for shroud removal. You only have to retract it for a couple of turns.