....A painful admission: I took my Model 14 .35 Remington down to clean it after sighting in, and while I had the receiver in my cleaning cradle, the block dropped out. I had not intended to disassemble the rifle, which I am totally unfamiliar with, that far, but I then had no choice but to try to reassemble it, cursing Pederson, the inventor, all the way. I finally got all the parts back together, but now the action does not cycle, and I can't depress the button on the breech block which allows the block to retract without pulling the trigger. Do you know of someone well versed in the occult science of Remington 14's who might be able to help me out?
It sounds like the 'ejector plate' is missing from the bolt.
It may have bounced free of it's interlocking cut when the bolt was out of the recv'r.
Take the bolt back out of the rifle (I know, it's a pain but a learning experience too!)
Look at the left side of the bolt. That is where the 'ejector plate' sits in a milled out cut in the side of the bolt.
If there is a cut out there about an inch long or so, rounded end,,and the ejector rod stem itself is easily seen and can be manually pushed back and forth with your finger,,that's where the ejector plate is supposed to be. The ejector is held in place by the plate during use & can actually be simply pulled out the front of the bolt face w/o the plate in place. Part of the disassembly procedure
It's also part of the bolt lock.
If the plate is not there, the bolt will not unlock using the button on the right side of the bolt,,only if you (dry) fire the rifle will the bolt stop fall so you can open the action.
That's the first thing that comes to mind with the problems you mentioned. It's not uncommon for the plate to be missing as it is easily removed from the bolt w/o tools. It simply fits down into that cut in the bolt and slides under the milled tabs. Once the bolt is in the rifle, it can't come free. It's when the rifle is disassembled is where they go missing.
When reassembling the 14,,make sure the striker is cocked.
Also push the ejector forward from the back of the bolt with your thumb as you pull the slide bar back to engage the bolt to latch on to it. That pushes the bolt lock down manually and makes it much easier and smoother to link up the two parts.
Hope this helps.
