S&W Model 41 Bolt

Domino1 · Oct 11, 2020

I bought a used 41 and wanted to give it a good cleaning. I removed the bolt cross pin and the bolt is loose and shoots out of the slide. The bolt is also proud and sticks out the front of the slide I would guess 0.005 to 0.010. I did not take any feeler gauges to measure it but I should have. If you take your finger you can push on the front of the bolt in the slide and see it move in and out of the slide.

I wander over time is the bolt moving going to cause the cross pin to eventually break? Is there a way to tighten up the bolt? Should I also take some material off the front of the bolt so it does not stick out so far?

I have an older 41 A108XXX serial number and the bolt is tight in the slide and after driving out the cross pin the bolt stays in the slide.

Any advise or help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jeff

chief38 · Oct 13, 2020

My feeling is that if the gun worked perfectly OK prior to your disassembly, I'd put it back the way it is. You can always order a new Bolt and Cross Pin as a back up just in case, but if it is a vintage model and never had any issues - my bet is that it will continue that way. If the Bolt were moving any substantial amount the Pin would already be bent or marked up - tell tale signs. Sometimes the same model guns have different fitments. My model 41 Bolt happens to be very tight to the point where it's a bit tough to get out. Since all works perfectly I decided to leave it just as is.

I also have multiple Colt 1911's. Some of the Link Pins literally fall out and some have to be punched out - all work just fine. I believe that most pistols do have some tolerance in their parts fitment - except for certain parts which must be precise.

You did not mention the vintage nor how the Pistol functioned prior to disassembly. Off the top of my head I don't know the overall length of the Bolt on my particular M41 without measuring it.

I'd also look at the firing pin hits on the spent cartridges and see if they are consistent. If they are erratic that could indicate a coming issue - but again if the cross pin is not bent or marked abnormally - it should be ok the way it is.

Domino1 · Oct 13, 2020

Chief38,

Thanks for your input. This is a newer pistol and was not shot very much by the person I bought it from. I actually have not shot it yet. It was really dirty since the person never cleaned it. I wanted to give it a good cleaning before I shoot it.

The cross pin did have some wear marks on it. More than I expected from a newer pistol.

I was half thinking of putting in a Volquaertsen extractor since I had one laying around but I thought I would try to shoot the pistol first.

The original owner had a reduced power Wolf recoil spring in it so I returned that back to OEM.

chief38 · Oct 14, 2020

Domino1 said:
Chief38,

Thanks for your input. This is a newer pistol and was not shot very much by the person I bought it from. I actually have not shot it yet. It was really dirty since the person never cleaned it. I wanted to give it a good cleaning before I shoot it.

The cross pin did have some wear marks on it. More than I expected from a newer pistol.

I was half thinking of putting in a Volquaertsen extractor since I had one laying around but I thought I would try to shoot the pistol first.

The original owner had a reduced power Wolf recoil spring in it so I returned that back to OEM.

The Volquartsen Extractor IS probably the best improvement you could do to a M41. One of the weak parts of the M41 is the S&W OEM stamped extractor that is usually the cause of faulty extraction down the line.

HINT#1: If you want to be prudent - get 2 Extractors from Scott at Volquartsen - what they have in stock now was a special short run recently, as they discontinued it. They are only about $14 bucks so not a big investment and who knows if they will ever run more.

HINT #2: If you ever do use the Wolff M41 Recoil Springs..... MAKE SURE the CLOSED END points towards the Muzzle and the opened end faces rearwards! If you reverse it - your M41 could jam up worse that you ever imagined! Follow this - not what the ORIGINAL Wolff instructions stated as they were incorrect. They might have corrected their instructions by now - but this is for just in case......

HINT #3: If your M41 is a newer model covered by the Lifetime warranty - you could always send it back to S&W and ask them to replace the Bolt & pin.

Domino1 · Oct 14, 2020

Chief38,

Thanks for the hints, I really appreciate your help!

Regards,
Jeff

S&W Model 41 Bolt

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