Ruger Hawkeye bolt cocking piece stuck

SDHNTR

WKR
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Aug 30, 2012
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So my buddy who is not all that experienced calls me and tells me that his gun is malfunctioning. Will not cock or fire. I swing by and take a look and think that it is the usual decocked situation were all I need to do is pull the cocking piece up in the back of bolt and rotate it. When I got there, however, what I found was the exact opposite situation. The cocking piece was already stuck in the up or pulled back position, with no spring tension, and the back of the bolt would just spin around and around. Haven’t seen this one before.

Any idea how this could’ve happened? It doesn’t appear to be badly corroded or rusted. My buddy said he did not try to disassemble the bolt. And more importantly, what’s the fix? How do I get that cocking piece to slide back down and cam the action, as designed?
 
Is the firing pin retracted or sticking out of the bolt nose?

When you say the back of the bolt just spins? What part are you referring to? The shroud around the cocking peice?

I guess, these answers don't matter to the above. You're going to have to take the bolt apart to see what the issue is. If the cocking piece is back, use a small nail in the hole at the bottom and spin off the bolt shroud. Then you should be able to see if the spring is broken. If it is not, the pin in the cocking piece may have drifted and is locking it up. It's best to use a compression tool for the bolt to push the firing pin back until the pin is clear. Then you can remove, clean up and reseat the pin. Another possibility is crud in the bolt body locking up the firing pin.

Taking the firing pin and cocking piece apart is a PITA if you don't have a compression tool.

Jeremy
 
The back piece will easily unscrew from the bold shroud. No need to even pull back the piece I’m referring to. It’s already back, and stuck that way. So piece of cake to remove firing pin. It looks just fine.

Normally I would pull the cocking piece back and stick a little nail in the hole to hold it back in order to unscrew it from bolt shroud. This thing is acting like the nail is in place holding the piece back, except there is no nail. It stays back on its own. That’s the problem.
 
Got it. Well, at this point it is a take the shroud/firing pin assembly out and take it apart affair. May require some persuading with a blunt instrument. There is only a pin in the cocking piece that holds it onto the firing pin. If the spring is compressed, and the cocking piece is frozen, you have only one option to get it apart.

I suspect you are not dealing with a parts destroying condition. Probably a drifted pin, dirt, varnish or oil. It's a simple mechanism, so not a lot to go wrong. And they are hardened steel parts. Not easy to destroy if you use brass punches.

That said, the compression tool noted above would be a huge help.

Jeremy
 
Buddy did say that when he took it out of his safe for the first time after storage, the bolt was really hard to open. We live at the beach so it could be a corrosion condition that is not easily visible.
 
Buddy did say that when he took it out of his safe for the first time after storage, the bolt was really hard to open. We live at the beach so it could be a corrosion condition that is not easily visible.
Could soak it in Kroil or bore solvent and see if it frees up. If stored for a while, barrel up, varnish from oil or corrosion are possible. Everything runs to the bolt shroud.

Jeremy
 
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