REM 721 Ejector Problem

[nmkid]

Talk about a mess up! I was doing a REMAGE barrel for my nephew. All went fine until I took the bolt apart to do the Wheeler Method for finding our C.O.A.L. When we finished I told him to install the ejector. He installed 180* off and hammered the pin in. It is completely jammed. Gunsmith just called and said he can't get it out. What do I do, besides cry?

 

[jackieschmidt]

The usual fix (last resort), on getting something like that out is put it in a milling machine and drilling it out.

Do you have a picture?

 

[nmkid]

The usual fix (last resort), on getting something like that out is put it in a milling machine and drilling it out.

Do you have a picture?

I tried but, you really can't see anything
There was a very short piece sticking out of the bolt head but, the gunsmith broke that off in his efforts to remedy the problem. You can only see the ejector flush with the bolt face. For what it's worth I have the bolt in the freezer to see if that helps any.

 

[nmkid]

Would a machinist have something that small to drill things out without enlarging the pin hole?

 

[DaveTooley]

There's three approaches.
Take carbide mill and square up the hole with the broken off pin to get a flat spot to work from. Then a small carbide drill on the pin and cross your fingers.
Another would be to try and rotate the ejector. Carbide drill and a small easy-out might allow rotating it 180 degrees.
Another would be to plunge in with a carbide endmill down the ejector to remove the upper portion until you clear the cross pin hole.
The last might be the best approach.

 

[nmkid]

Well, I took it to a machine shop. We'll see.

 

[nmkid]

I haven't heard from the machine shop yet. In looking ahead for possible bad news...What is involved in purchasing a new bolt? Other than buying it!

 

[10XSHOOTER]

Get a new bolt with a M-16 extractor!
Call Dave Kiff @ PTG. He can probably fix you up.

 

[Pyscodog]

If I was a betting man, I'd bet the machine shop will get you fixed. You may have to buy a few new parts, pin and ejector, but cheaper than a bolt.

 

[nmkid]

After checking with a couple of gun places they recommended the place I took the bolt to. No dice, they couldn't do it. They said they even broke a couple of drill bits and a carbide endmill. A forum member has stepped up with an offer for a 721 bolt he has. I'm waiting for him to answer my response.

 

[Pyscodog]

Boy he must have jammed that pin in there. I would have thought a machine shop could have fixed it. Bad call on my part.

 

[AlNyhus]

Is the ejector hole in the bolt face buggered up after being worked on?

 

[LVLAaron]

Lets see some pictures. I like a good challenge.

 

[DaveTooley]

^^^^^^^^^^^
There's your man

It will take him a few more years to NOT make eye contact.

 

[AlNyhus]

^^^^^^^^^^^
There's your man

It will take him a few more years to NOT make eye contact.

Dave, he still thinks the phone should ring, right? .

When training new hires at the hospital, the first rule I gave was don't do anything that caused paperwork, phone calls or made me go to a meeting. All that happened without anything going wrong, anyway.

 

[kendog]

There's three approaches.
Take carbide mill and square up the hole with the broken off pin to get a flat spot to work from. Then a small carbide drill on the pin and cross your fingers.
Another would be to try and rotate the ejector. Carbide drill and a small easy-out might allow rotating it 180 degrees.
Another would be to plunge in with a carbide endmill down the ejector to remove the upper portion until you clear the cross pin hole.
The last might be the best approach.

This is how I would approach this job. Before doing any of this, I would "fix" the ejector with some epoxy. Mix up a little clear devcon and dab it around the ejector and hit it with a heat gun. The glue will get water thin and flow around the parts. Let it cure and then cut it out. The reason for doing this is if you plunge in with a tiny endmill, when you cut away any jammed up parts the loose parts flopping around, even a tiny bit, will most assuredly break the cutter. Then you have more problems!! Any epoxy left behind can be cleaned out relatively easily. I learned this the hard way getting a grip screw out of a Ruger New Model Single Action. If I had jammed the broken screw from the back side with a chopstick or something through the hammer pivot hole, I wouldn't have invented so many new cuss words.
Another thought comes to mind, with 700 bolts the bore for the ejector is partially exposed from the rear. Not sure if 721's are similar. Maybe something can be done from the backside??

 

[DaveTooley]

I forgot about the hole being exposed in the bolt bore. Once upon a time, many decades ago I made an offset punch for just this problem. Probably cold rolled with a piece of drill rod in the end.

 

[ricco1949]

I once broke a tap off in a Harley part and had it EDM'd out at a local manufacturing plant.....no charge since a friend took care of the project.

I suggest you check around in your area.

 

[kendog]

I forgot about the hole being exposed in the bolt bore....

Memory is the second thing that goes. Can't remember the first!

 

[STS]

If I were going to address this issue, I would have avoided the pin all together. I would have set up in V blocks and milled the ejector out. The pin would have been free at that point. Ejectors are easy to come by, 721 bolts, not so much.