doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Learning new things... Remington 30 or 1917 En

So, a friend has asked me to look at a 1903 Springfield that his grandfather restocked.
It doesn't eject the cartridge clear of the port.
Photos to follow tomorrow (I KNOW I KNOW)

What he has handed me appears to be a Remington Model 30 with what is truly an above average stock for "Grandpa"
I have not investigated other than opening the action to confirm it was unloaded. Is the ejector on that rifle a lip on the bolt release lever? Are they adjustable or known problematic?

I hope to investigate this evening and report more in the am.

IIRC it is a blade type ejector with an integral spring, that slides through a slot on the left locking lug.

If it is based on the P.14/M17 action it might need a fairly sharp “soldierly” bolt opening to throw the fired case clear.

The orig ejectors, they have an integral spring made as part of the ejector itself as already pointed out.
That spring has been known to break off. That leaves the part with no tension to move into the raceway as the bolt is opened. Thus there is little or no contact with the case that is being carried rearward by the bolt. No ejection is the result.

The breakage point is the sharp corner left from mfg'r on the originals where the integral spring met the ejector part itself.

When surplus rifles were inexpensive and sporters were made often on these (1917 rifle and the P'14 edition as well) the 'broken ejector' was a not an uncommon problem.

Numrich Arms and likely others sold an aftermarket ejector at one time. The new part had/has it's own separate spring design in the part.
That design seems to have given way to a new repro that follows the orig design w/it's integral spring.
However the new mfg has eliminated the stress point where they often broke by simply making that inside corner a radius instead of the old sharp edge corner.
Same integral leaf spring ,,just a small design & mfg'rg change
New design repro's are about $20each now.
.. with Numrich's lavish shipping costs it may be near double that!

A field expedient repair to one w/ a broken spring was to place a piece of rubber mtr'l behind the ejector when reinstalling it.
The rubber compresses and then expands when the bolt is opened and pulled to the rear to push the ejector blade out into position so it can kick the casing out of the recv'r.
I've read that a small piece of a tire was sometimes used to do the trick. Maybe that's just urban/jungle legend talk too.

It probably wouldn't give the ejector the movement the real spring arm did. But it may be better than just a broken ejector blade (spring).

I've never come across one with such a repair, but I have seen a few with the broken spring on the part.

All the above sounds correct and helpful as I did a little web searching myself this afternoon. There is also a reprint design that uses a coil spring rather than a flat spring as well. I fully expect to find a broken integral flat spring and may file my own seats for a coil spring or just buy the $20 replacement.
Still running the bus to pickup from wrestling and softball practice. But perhaps I can relax and fiddle soon enough.

OK i made it home and took it apart... exactly .. broken ejector spring. The only marks on the entire gun are:
1 flaming bomb,
scribe line for barrel install
E on bolt release handle
R on bolt release spring
E on ejector
Redfield on front sight.
No serial number, or any other marking... weird?

nothing hidden under the base for the scope?

Jim Wisner makes a coil spring replacement, it's listed in the custom parts section of rifle parts, $8 for ejector and spring complete.

Well just to close the door on this one... I did get 2x coil spring replacement ejectors from Wisner's. There was a $10 min order, and they wouldn't charge me $10 for the $8 part. (SHRUG) But as it turned out the first one I installed still didn't eject the shell. I reinstalled and played with a bit and was a bit perplexed. Taking it down to only the ejector in a bare received I noticed the ejector dragged in the slot. It appeared flat, the receiver slot looked more suspect, but before I started adjusting, I tried the second part and it worked perfectly. I wasn't going to remove someone elses scope and mounts to check for further marks and just end with the summary that it was a VERY nice rifle to be "Grandpa stocked" and a simple little project to have solved for a friend.

Well done! Thanks for sharing the experience and pictures with us.

Marks 21
The reason to check under the scope mounts on a M1917 (it was marked with a "Flaming Bomb") is to see if it had the common void in the receiver bridge and how it was filled, in addition to checking for markings. The rear scope base usually holds, but not always.
Mike

Copy Mike, good to know. Again a good clean rifle that wasn't mine... so theres that, but full disclosure, I gave it a quick try on the removable scope mounts and they were Gorilla tight so I stopped short of agressive tools to get them off!

Marks 21,
It is your rifle, if you don't feel comfortable doing it, you don't have to.
Mike

I've owned a custom built hunting rifle based on a Remington Pattern 17 Enfield for about 40 years now. It's fitted with a Douglas Premium .30-06 barrel and custom stocked. I purchased it from an elderly gentleman at a local gun show back in the early 1980's and it's been customized enough that the only sign of what it was is the safety, and the rollstamp I found on the receiver ring under the scope base.
Haven't fired it or taken it out of the safe in probably 15 years now, but I'll likely never part with it. I guess I need to take it to the range and fire it one of these days!