03-A3 bolt jams half open?

[roysclockgun]

Not too long ago, in a swap, I got a US Mode Springfield 03-A3, made by Remington. I have no way of knowing how many rounds have been fired through the bore, but the rifle shoots 1 1/2" groups with my hand loads, with a 4X scope on a "no tap" S&K mount. This to me is very good performance for an old battle rifle barrel.
Yesterday, the bolt slid back smoothly then stopped before the case was extracted. I know enough not to force things. At the firing bench, I took the rifle out of the stock, removed the trigger group and still the bolt slid in and out smoothly, but stopped before getting all the way back. I then took the firing pin out of the bolt, but no help. The final issue had to hinge on the extractor, so when I got home, I pulled the extractor and a very old looking primer fell out of the slot where the extractor pivots in and out to clear the bolt. As "Murphy" would do things, the errant primer had floated around in there for Lord knows how long, before working into the precise position, where it jammed the extractor and prevented the bolt from being fully withdrawn. I had never seen this happen in the past, but then, I realize that I have not seen it all yet.
After making sure that no more debrie was in the slot, I reassembled the action and the bolt again works smoothly.
Anyone else ever encountered this stoppage?
Steven

 

[DrMike]

On one other occasion this happened on a new rifle I was firing. It does happen. If there is a place for debris to hide, it will lurk until the most inopportune time to reveal its presence. Ol' Murph worked this one out very well indeed.

 

[Elkman]

I think that was a great time to find an errant primer. Much better than on the second shot at a big Mulie buck standing in a pasture. I did have a malfuction of a similar kind (it involved the bolt) a number of years ago. While also at the range the bolt failed to come back all the way to extract the case. After several much more careful attempts I found that the rear tang screw was sticking up in the slot for the cocking lug just enough to block the rearward travel of the bolt. Apparently while pulling back I was using more downward pressure on the bolt than when standing up loading. Five min on the grinder fixed the problem for ever. :grin: :grin:

 

[roysclockgun]

Elkman wrote: "I found that the rear tang screw was sticking up in the slot for the cocking lug just enough to block the rearward travel of the bolt."

Ironically, the same situation happened with a sporter Swede Model 1896! I was buying the rifle off of GunsAmerica and the seller kept saying; "I do not want this rifle back! There is a problem with the bolt!" Since I had a supply of M96 Mauser parts, I decided to buy the rifle, in spite of the seller's warnings of trouble. When I got the rifle and checked it out, all appeared to be in good order. I fired a few surplus Swede rounds and suddenly, the bolt would not come back far enough to extract! Sure enough, I found the same problem that Elkman mentioned. The military stock must have been thicker, where the rear receiver screw goes through. So, the screw, going through the thinner custom stock, protruded just enough to engage the bolt when one held down-pressure, while trying to extract. Like Elkman, I ground off the screw and had no more problems.
Steven
Steven