Anybody ever have trouble with them? An issue with my model 70 safety has been bugging me and I finally tackled it yesterday. Maybe it will help somebody in the future.
When flipped front to fire, if you didn't fire the rifle and wanted to put it back on safe, it took some effort. Over time it's gotten worse to the point it basically would be locked in the fire position unless you raised the bolt handle re-cocking the rifle which moved the firing pin back slightly from its previous position, allowing you to flip it on safe. Simple enough fix for me if I needed to do it, but if something happened to me, I wouldn't want somebody else dealing with it.
Bolt disassembly on a model 70 is simple, getting the firing pin out of the bolt shroud was another matter. Mine has a cap at the rear that is pinned with a small roll pin, and that pin was TIGHT. Enough so that when nothing was moving I studied it under a magnifying glass making sure I wasn't missing something. It just wouldn't budge with a punch and normal hammer hits.
When I finally got it out and studied everything, there was kind of a very small rough area or notch worn on the face and beginning edge of the indent in the firing pin, that the safety rolls into. 80 grit sandpaper until the rough spot was gone, then 320 grit equivalent scotch brite, then polished with 600 grit sandpaper. Cleaned everything up and put it back together and now it's fixed. Flip it front to fire, back on safe no problem.
When flipped front to fire, if you didn't fire the rifle and wanted to put it back on safe, it took some effort. Over time it's gotten worse to the point it basically would be locked in the fire position unless you raised the bolt handle re-cocking the rifle which moved the firing pin back slightly from its previous position, allowing you to flip it on safe. Simple enough fix for me if I needed to do it, but if something happened to me, I wouldn't want somebody else dealing with it.
Bolt disassembly on a model 70 is simple, getting the firing pin out of the bolt shroud was another matter. Mine has a cap at the rear that is pinned with a small roll pin, and that pin was TIGHT. Enough so that when nothing was moving I studied it under a magnifying glass making sure I wasn't missing something. It just wouldn't budge with a punch and normal hammer hits.
When I finally got it out and studied everything, there was kind of a very small rough area or notch worn on the face and beginning edge of the indent in the firing pin, that the safety rolls into. 80 grit sandpaper until the rough spot was gone, then 320 grit equivalent scotch brite, then polished with 600 grit sandpaper. Cleaned everything up and put it back together and now it's fixed. Flip it front to fire, back on safe no problem.