My buddy has had a Turkish Mauser for a little while and has just decided he wants to get in and clean the bolt. The first step in break-down of the bolt is to cock the bolt and put it on safety before removal from the rifle. Well, he has never actually used the safety on the gun and tried to move it and it won't budge from the "Fire" position. Is there some sort of trick to this? I've never owned a Mauser (getting my first soon) so I just figured it would easily rotate like on my Springfield '03. Well it doesn't. We put as much force as we thought we should on it without breaking and it won't budge.    Any suggestions?

Thanks,

-St

There’s no trick that I know of.

My guess is that he’s got a parts gun and the safety doesn’t quite match up with the cocking piece (the plug-like part attached to the rear of the firing pin).  Specifically, when the cocking piece is in the full rearward (cocked) position, it still isn’t quite far enough back to allow the safety to pivot to the ON position.

If this sounds likely, try the following.

Remove the bolt from the receiver.  Note that the firing pin / cocking piece assembly is about ¾ cocked when you do this.  (Pushing the bolt forward in the receiver normally finishes cocking the assembly.)

Put the bolt horizontally but upside down in a padded vise.  It needs to be fairly snug in the vise, but of course don't bend anything.

With a good sized screwdriver against the cocking piece’s bottom, front lug (where the sear normally engages), push the cocking piece further rearwards while applying gentle pressure on the safety trying get it to engage.

Don’t slip with the screwdriver!!

With luck, once you get the cocking piece about 3/16ths of an inch further back, the safety will engage.

Good luck!

I've got a Truk Mauser with a non-functioning safety.

I've disassemebled the bolt a few times, and the only problem is if the bolt slips from "cocked" to "fired" while out of the gun. But all I've ever done when this happens is to wrap a rag around the bolt and crank the back part until it "cocks" itself again.

sometimes this is overlooked:

is the striker cocked?

Quoted: sometimes this is overlooked: is the striker cocked?

Damn!  Beat me by >this< much.  

well, now I realized it, but that was a stupid question by me, although me personally, I've done some rather stupid things when it comes to having problems with firearms.  Like actually having my first mauser, accidentally (not knowing when I did it) put the safety selector on bolt lock, not figure out why the bolt was not opening, and having to take it to the smith inside the range/gun shop I was at.  

that's why I asked.

People have done similar things with Yugo SKS' with the gas valve being shut off and not knowing that existed (me being one of them).

www.surplusrifle.com

Let it guide you. 'nuff said.

We couldn't get the thing to budge at all so it went back to Cabela's where he got it.  The guys were really nice and said they'd send it out to their gunsmith and have him fix it.  If he can't, they'll let him take his choice of a new one or $ back.  Great service!  I'll let you know what happens.