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VK98, safety wont engage

builttoughf350

Senior Member
Time to dig into my VK98 a bit. I bought it off of the trader here last fall.

It came with a mismatched bolt which had no striker assembly in it.

I purchased a striker assembly from another forum member, and installed it into the bolt.

It feels like it doesnt thread into the bolt as far as it should, and when cocked the safety lever wont flip up or to the right. It seems like it wants to go, but any more force will break it.

I know I wont be shooting this rifle but I want it to be in working shape.
Also, the bolt body that came with the rifle is blued and the striker assembly doesnt have any finish to it so the appearance is off.

What would be the best step from here ? Try a different striker assembly that has a better matching bluing to it, or an entirely different bolt and sell this bolt and striker as parts ?



Last, is there a good online source to learn about VK98s and lots of photos ? Most that I have seen have completely unfinished wood, blond, where mine is very dark. I am curious if this was a finish that was added post war or a sloppy paint job at the factory. I know they were desperate at this point and there was no rhyme or reason to "last ditch" builds.
 
Can you show us some photos of the back parts of your bolt assembly? If the safety won’t engage then the shroud may not be screwed into the body all the way.


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You say striker assembly. As in firing pin, cocking piece, shroud, and safety? Your VK just came with a bare bolt body? Just a 98k bolt body, or?
 
Researched the trader forum. You had a late steyr bolt body. I'd check the interior of the body for an obstruction first. Second, disassemble that back half and check for burrs.
 
It feels like it doesnt thread into the bolt as far as it should,

Right there is your problem. Assuming none of the parts are totally worn, the forward position of the cocked cocking piece is only determined by the sear. The position of the safety is only determined by the position of the bolt shroud. If the bolt shroud won't thread completely into the bolt, the shroud is set back from where it should be by the pitch of one thread. So is the safety. And now it hits the cocking piece from the side instead of rotating in front of it.
 
That bolt back half was Phosphate by the way, worn but definitely not zero. I believe the stock on that rifle was sanded but I can’t remember for sure, been too long, have any pictures?
 
I hope these pictures work. There are some overall shots of the rifle.

Flynaked you are correct the striker assembly I got from you is phosphate. I mispoke earlier when describing it.

I posted a pic of the safety inside the rifle, that’s as far up as it will go.

I did a complete tear down and cleaning of the shroud / cocking piece / safety / bolt body etc and the problem is still there.

I posted a few pics of the angle of the safety that seems like it should slide under the edge of the cocking piece while rotating the safety which lifts the cocking piece a hair while the safety turns.
I believe this could possibly need a little bit of trimming with a file to make more clearance ?

I am still tempted to replace this striker assembly with a blued one so it looks more the part or put a all phosphate complete bolt in there if that would be more factory “correct”
 

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There are many dual tone bnz45’s, but not typically dual toned bolts themselves but it does happen. On the other hand it seems to usually be the later rifles that show up dual tone, these earlier ones seem to typically stick to a consistent overall finish. Come to think of it, I can’t remember seeing a dual tone VG5, maybe someone else has.

You need to check the sear as well on this rifle, if it’s been ground or honed it may not be holding the cocking piece back far enough to allow the safety to engage.

Unfortunately it hasn’t just been sanded but rather reshaped fairly dramatically with a rasp. The stock should have sharp transitions at the corners and the forend should be parallel all the way down the barrel channel. Is the MR XE still showing on the wrist at all?

Still a fairly hard rifle to find, and interesting to examine! Let us know if the sear is unaltered first, and hopefully that can be sorted out.
 
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Flynaked -

Without pulling the rifle out of the safe again tonight to check the sear,

I forgot to mention earlier that a bolt from one of my other k98s works just fine in the VK98. Safety functions properly.
 
I knew the stock had been sanded to some extent before buying it. It’s a huge bummer that someone would even bother messing with a last ditch rifle, not like they were going to improve it LOL

I would pass up any other K98 if it were sanded. But a VK98 is so rare and the price was right for me to be able to add one to my collection I could easily overlook the issues !
 
If another bolt works in it that’s a good sign probably not a sear issue. That’s not to say there couldn’t be a dimensional issue on the cocking piece. Does the shroud screw in and then stop solid or does it get progressively tighter like it’s going into an under bored hole? Sometimes the aft shank of the bolt (where the camming surface is) can be slightly off dimensionally and not fit within the shroud, typically not an issue between K98 bolts but we are talking about Steyr here so anything is possible. A lot of VG5 parts are worse than the later standard KM rifles which did have to go through army inspections after all.

I know what you mean about the rifle, they are cool. I had a similarly sanded one and it eventually drove me crazy so I sold it haha. If you happen to take it apart, please let me know if you note any markings inside the stock. Is the MR XE present on the wrist or sanded off?
 
Check out this VK bolt for instance! Granted it was as actually initially rejected, but pretty crazy forging flaw.
 

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I think the shroud does actually screw in far enough. To the naked eye it appears to have a tiny bit more space between it and the receiver when put together and installed in the rifle compared to the other bolt but that could just be a matter of dimensions or tolerances between factories.

After tearing it apart last night I think the main problem is the little corner of the safety which was crudely ground down at that angle could use just a tiny bit of filing so it’ll clear the cocking piece


I could even try to throw the striker assembly from another rifle into this bolt when I have time to do so. Mauser bolts just aren’t much fun to disassemble and reassemble when you haven’t practiced them much
 
Check out this VK bolt for instance! Granted it was as actually initially rejected, but pretty crazy forging flaw.

Little details like that dont matter when the russians are 300 meters away :laugh:

I get a kick out of the fact that the VK98 were counter bored, probably because its quicker than putting a nice crown on the muzzle
 
Little details like that dont matter when the russians are 300 meters away :laugh:

I get a kick out of the fact that the VK98 were counter bored, probably because its quicker than putting a nice crown on the muzzle

They were counter bored because when you weld the front sight on it damages the rifling in the barrel, and it was easier than soldering an actual front sight on, or I guess it was in their eyes.
 
You need to check the sear as well on this rifle, if it’s been ground or honed it may not be holding the cocking piece back far enough to allow the safety to engage.

That's always the most likely cause, and the first thing to check. Photos show this area of the safety to be extremely worn. It shouldn't be. The safety should neatly cam into the striker housing, and it's not doing it. Finding a safety and housing that work together properly is going to be largely a matter of luck.

I've never had this problem with an original all matching rifle in nice shape. We forget that each of these rifles was originally built by one highly trained individual who had a great deal of training and experience in fitting.

The American philosophy during the same time period was complete interchangeability. No parts fitting or reworking was allowed. If something failed to gauge or function properly, it was scrapped, likely along with the entire lot. The cause was then investigated and corrected. No substandard parts were allowed into the supply chain.
 
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I love this thread
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