WTH, here's some pics of the trouble areas:
This gun is beautiful and does draw attention. It's accurate for a carbine too, and feels very solid when you shoot it. It's well balanced too. Mine is the Davidson's special .30-30 Brush Gun (I call it a bush gun.)
It has a matt-finish high-tech heatproof electrostatic-aluminized coating that looks slightly better than cheap aluminum paint and works somewhat better. Some places inside the receiver the finish was thick, and some places it was rough, like it was shot on too cold.
You can see where the finish was wearing heavily on top of the bolt. this pic was actually taken after polishing the bolt, but after shooting 70 rounds, it looked pretty much like that. Heavy wear right at the middle, which is the spot rubbing the underside of the bridge.
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The bolt was like that--Like metallic lacquer paint that hasn't been rubbed out. It's smooth as silk now. I also had to file some rough bits on the grip safety tangs (grip safety action was catching), and the high corner of the hammer.
After pulling the bolt I ran a brass shotgun brush up the rails, then scotchbrite. I polished the snot out of the rails and bolt with scotchbrite. Also the underside of the "bridge"
Anyhow, the process was easy if you know what 2 screws and 2 pins to remove. The pins come out easily & go in with one light tap, once you get the lever aligned in the bolt. The two screws simply lock the lever hinge pin and floor plate hinge pin in place.
The action is so much better you wouldn't believe it was the same gun.
Disassembly to this point was all that was necessary. I didn't need to pull the trigger, elevator, or cartridge guide rails.
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The edges of the "bridge" are very sharp and digging into the coating on the bolt. I polished them down with white scotchbrite.
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Polish these edges, front & rear of the bridge:
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Wear pattern underside of the bolt was heavy because the hammer was a few thousandths taller on that side.
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This caused a lot of drag on the bolt, which coupled with the rough bolt finish and sharp bridge edges threw off the timing.
The bolt moved too slowly and the breech lock was hitting it on the flat instead of on the bevel, causing the bolt to press hard on the sharp edges of the bridge. They dug into the Marinecote and instant hang!
This action was so beautiful and well-priced, yet disappointing and balky right out of the box. And just got worse and worse as the parts dug into the finish. I nearly sent it back for a refund and bought a Browning or a Marlin.
Now it moves as slick as a whistle, and fellas I'm in love again!