[391 shooter]

Was shooting practice yesterday and my wifes 391's breech bolt failed.

The firearm jammed after a normal shot, shooting #8 target loads, when I got it free and took breech bolt out, there I found on the bottom right rear foot of the bolt the leading edge had peeled off.

Just a small piece, but, non the less it jammed and stuck. Found the small piece lodged on top rear of the trigger. Put my spare breech bolt in and all was fine.

What would cause this to happen? Fatigue?

The firearm does have 1000's of target rounds through it.

 

[cubancigar2000]

That lug can break off. I have had this happen twice on a 303 ( same bolt) I am quite sirprised that it is not jamming but it will soon. New bolt is needed

 

[391 shooter]

I already ordered the bare bolt from COLE's. Will transfer balance of parts to the new bolt.

Cuban - It did jam for the first time on the final shot I wrote about above, that is when I found the failure.

Thanks for the responses.

My most curious question is to why it broke.

 

[635 G]

Every now & then a complete 391 receiver shows up on this site, put in a new recoil spring & you are good to go in under five minutes. Plus the parts are way cheaper than buying them individually.

Phil Berkowitz

 

[cubancigar2000]

"My most curious question is to why it broke" well I always attributed it to very big shells because I shot a lot of games with mine but I have heard of it several times from those who dont so??

 

[dickgtax]

Usually it's the locking block on the bolt that breaks -especially if you
shoot hot loads. If you shoot hot loads you should put in a softer spring in the gas valve. Also the breech connecting rod is a victim of Annie loads.

 

[kirbythegunsmith]

There was some discussion about bolt issues in the past, and I showed a repair to a broken bolt that I did for a shooter.


http://www.trapshooters.com/cfpages/thread_archive.cfm?ThreadID=225079


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Here is some information posted then:

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Here is a sample "before" and "after" of a Beretta bolt. I believe it is better to repair a damaged section of an original part if there is any doubt that a replacement might not be compatible with the assembly parts or inter-related mechanisms not in the specific assembled unit, such as a carrier (shell lifter) actuated by the bolt.

Notice that the white arrows point to a section of firing pin spring that had broken off and "screwed" itself into the coils of the larger section. The red arrow points to the obvious cracked off section temporarily affixed for picture comparison. The bad spring was replaced during the repair.

This example was reported to have functioned fine, and I think it looks fine, too, don't you?

Kirby

<a href="http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x109/kirbythegunsmith/shotgun/?action=view¤t=Berettaboltcracked.jpg" target="_blank">

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<a href="http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x109/kirbythegunsmith/shotgun/?action=view¤t=Berettaboltrepaired.jpg" target="_blank">

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