Live shell hung on bolt. I need your help! UPDATE

I removed the magazine before trying to eject the round in the chamber.

Yes, I can toggle the safety... but, to remove the bolt the safety must be off and the trigger held in the rearward position. Doing that might fire the round out of battery but I don't know if the firing pin will function with the bolt open. I've never tried it and don't relish finding out. These old shotguns didn't have many safety features.

Maybe taking the mag out is the problem. Can you put the mag back in.
 
You can't remove the bolt w/the shell stuck to the bolt face with out removing the ejector from the gun.

A couple of things about the gun first,,
With the bolt in the open/handle up position AND the bolt is still assembled in the gun,,the striker-firing pin can not hit the primer. Believe it or not it has the same spline allaignment type safety between the striker and bolt head that the 98 Mauser uses.

The trigger/sear is also the bolt stop.

You are smart in not taking a cavalier attitude in handling this. It is a live round under a cocked striker. Some people would not be as wary and 'accidents' have occured.


Take the barrel-action right out of the stock.
On the bottom of the stock just forward of the magazine well is a large dia slotted screw. Unscrew that and the entire assembly separates from the stock.
A quarter works well in the overly large slot in the screw.

On the under side on the action at about the 8 oclock position just in back of the mag well is the ejector. A stamped steel part attached with a screw (maybe two?). The arm of the ejector fits up into a slot thru the tubular action and into the bolt raceway.

That arm is what hits the edge of the case as it's drawn back on the bolt kicking it/ejecting it from the gun.
You can't get the bolt w/stuck case past that w/o removing it.

You can also remove the magazine guide & latch spring from the bottom of the frame. It's large headed screw may be going on thru and interfering with the bolt movement passed it's point w/a shell in place.

Once removed, the bolt can be taken out of the gun by pulling the trigger rearward and pulling the entire bolt assembly out of the action.

See if it doesn't come out of the gun at that point.



The striker is cocked and held there by a 1/8d pin through the striker head at the rear of the bolt. That pin can be seen at about the 8 oclock position sitting in a detent notch in the bolt body. The bolt body under that notch is cut away at an angle towards the front of the bolt. That slanted surface is the cocking cam,,cocks on opening.

**The bolt is cocked and held there by the pin sitting in that detent notch when the bolt is in the unlocked/open position. **


The extractor on the bolt head is a U shaped spring steel afair. It has 2 arms extending from it.
The one extractor hook you can see easily plus another directly opposite it w/less of a hook on it. That opposite side acts as both a partial extractor and more as a shell guide for loading and extraction.

That spring steel clip unit is easily damaged so take it easy on it.

What you want to do now is pull the bolt out of the gun with the shell attached. It may give some resistance but with the trigger pulled (sear out of the way) and the ejector removed, it should come out the back of the gun.
Once out,,handle it carefully as it's still a cocked mechanism.

If the shell does not easily come off the bolt face at this point, remove the front bolt head w/shell from the bolt assembly.

Take the front rotating bolt head portion of the bolt with the shot shell attached and give it a 1/2 turn either direction and pull that right off of the bolt assembly itself.
That leaves you with just a stripped bolt head w/extractor and the shell stuck to it.

Left behind is the rear bolt body w/ bolt handle, striker, firing pin, main spring.

Now you can better see what is holding things together and without the cocked mechanism being attached to it.

If you just pull the case off the bolt face, do it in the direction it would normally be kicked out of the gun in operation. That will lessen most any possible damage to the fragile part. Pulling it up or down off the face can bend the part or tear it right off the bolt head.

If you find that you've somehow 'uncocked' the bolt when you go to put things back together (it will only go back in if it is cocked),,,an easy way to recock the bolt assembly is to place it into the gun backwards with the 1/8"d pin I mentioned in the slot in the left side of the frame and lift the bolt handle up.
It'll cock the bolt for you quick and easy.
Better than trying to fight the powerful mainspring and headless striker w/ screwdrivers & pliers in a vise.
Works on some other bolt shotguns and 22 rifles too (Marlin).

Sorry for the long post,,hope this helps out.
 
Last edited:
After removing the powder and shot....

After removing the powder and shot I believe that I would try to fire off the primer while it can be done in a controlled fashion. That way the firing pin won't drop while you are working on it.
 
Sounds like 2152hq has taken a few of these old Marlins apart. My father has a 16 ga. just like it. I did take the barrel and action off one time as 2152hq describes and it's pretty straightforward and easy.

I'd consider breaking the shell down as was described.

Best of luck and let us know how it works out.
 
Hi guys, I'm alive and well. Sorry it took so long to post back but my day has been full. Ended the day trying to track down three coyotes that have been running my animals, but that's another story.

Thank you all for your advice and help. I want to send a special thanks to 2152hq. Thanks Marlin. Your comparison of the Mossberg bolt to the Mauser bolt did the trick. I owned a Mauser at one time. I especially appreciate the tip on putting an 'uncocked' bolt back together. I knew there had to be a simpler way of doing it.

This is what I did: Just to be on the safe side, I cut open the shell, removed the shot and powder and then held the trigger in the rearward position since I knew now that it would not release the firing pin. The bolt came out easily with the case head still stuck to it. I reinserted and closed the bolt with the case head attached and fired the primer. When I pulled the bolt back this time, it ejected as it should.

I cycled the bolt a dozen times ejecting the shells without a hitch. I still haven't figured out what caused that one shell to hang.

Thanks again guys. I love this Forum!



 
I removed the magazine before trying to eject the round in the chamber.

Yes, I can toggle the safety... but, to remove the bolt the safety must be off and the trigger held in the rearward position. Doing that might fire the round out of battery but I don't know if the firing pin will function with the bolt open. I've never tried it and don't relish finding out. These old shotguns didn't have many safety features.

I'll reluctantly share a page out of my young dumb@$*%( files.
we were at a hunting cabin gathered round the campfire unsupervised when we discovered several shotshells orphaned about the cabin.
campfire + mystery ammo ... well the dots aren't that hard to connect if ya know what Im saying.
we put shells in glass jugs trying to get an explosion ... never happened, shotshells just kinda puke there guts out rather than blow em out when they don't have chamber walls to keep the shell body from expanding under pressure.
they just seem to vent without much drama at all.

I'd go forward with dissasembly procedures
 
I have had problems with Winchester Super X (silver box) shot shells in the past when shooting them in my vintage Browning A-5. They too have a steel base and they are NOT formed sharply/crisply enough to function well in my A-5 or High Standard 12 Gauges, - (the extractors slip off the shell after being fired) All other brands with the steel base and Winchester shells with BRASS function flawlessly. Even the promo Federal Cheapo's and Remington Gun Club work fine, it's just the Winchester Super X that Does not work well in a lot of semi auto's. Your gun might just not feed well with this particular shell brand, so if there are no other obvious defects I'd try some different ammo and see what happens.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top