CFW Bolt first outing- Light strikes

[Kalashnikev]

First up - so sad to hear about VegasSMG. I seldom drop in here, and was not expecting the sad news.

The issue - I took my CFW bolt (from the second run, I believe. I've had it for years) out for the first time yesterday. Configuration was:

1985 M-11/9, runs with OEM bolt/ Zytel mags
Shockwave Z-Mag (first outing with these, though unrelated)
CFW Bolt, complete
124gr Magtech 9x19

I loaded up and pulled the trigger, but no bang after the bolt went home. The extracted round showed a light strike. I extracted that round, same thing on the next one.

Thinking it may have been mag drag on the bolt, I downloaded to 4 rounds- same result.

Any ideas?

Maybe like, short firing pin?

 

[strobro32]

The 2nd and 3rd gen CFW bolts were wider on the bottom of the bolt that passes through the feed lips. There was a video that Coffeefreak made showing how to cycle the bolt on empty mages to "carve" a passage through the Z-Mag feed lips. Without carving the feed lips, there was enough drag on the bolt to cause light primer strikes.

 

[Hey]

Even with a stock bolt all my zmags needed fitting.

Some dykem and a small file, keep filing the feed lips until the bolt passes without scraping.

 

[Mackjack]

My cfw bolt just plain won’t fit in one upper I have where as a stock bolt fits and runs just fine. The stock bolt is dimensionally just a tiny bit smaller than the cfw one, and that’s all it takes and the cfw bolt will go in so far and just wedge up. Now I know it’s the upper out of spec, but either way, a similar scenario

 

[rybread]

Lubricated? Make sure it moves freely in the upper, then install, charge and dry fire or test fire it a few times and check for contact marks on the bolt or magazine. Honestly with mine set up, I have a hard time getting it to not fire with super high reliability.

 

[Garrett]

One thing to keep in with the Gen 2 bolt is that it was actually designed as an M11/A1 bolt, and they cut the breech face for a .380 case head, which is slightly smaller in diameter than that of a 9mm.

I find brass that has gone through an open bolt subgun will have the rim somewhat dinged up sometimes. (Uzi smiley face, anyone?) I find any reloads with minor rim damage like this will feed and function just fine in any of my 9mm firearms. But they absolutely will not fit into the slightly undersized breech face of the Gen 2 W-bolt. This was to the point that I could put the round directly in the chamber, pull the trigger, and it would still not fire. Put the same ammo in another gun, or put a different bolt in the M11 and they go bang every time.

This should not have been an issue where you were shooting factory ammo. But it might be contributing to your issue. Or maybe your breech face was cut a little tighter than mine.

Maybe take a fired case and see if the rim will fit in there, under the extractor.

 

[strobro32]

Bought 2 new 50 round Z mags this week. The Lage bolt needed to carve a passage through the feed lips with about 30 dry fires. The CFW-A bolt needed to carve even more material.

 

[Alaska_Shooter]

I had the small breech face problem with mine also. I sent the bolt and upper to Tom and he got it working. I’m not sure what he did to fix it.

 

[Doobis]

When I first got my bolt I tried to use it in the stock Cobray upper. I got light primer strikes. Tried an MPA upper it worked great. Looking at the trunnion there was splatter from the welding that was beaded up and prevented the bolt from going all the way home. The stock bolt was slightly dented on the face giving it room. Checking the face on the CFW bolt I saw a dent starting but I just stopped using it in that upper receiver.

 

[Kalashnikev]

Sorry for the hit and run on this. I have plenty of Zytels, I will give those a shot and report back.

My CF-W is all shiny tungsten, one piece... so I think Gen 1?

 

[A&S Conversions]

Sorry for the hit and run on this. I have plenty of Zytels, I will give those a shot and report back.

My CF-W is all shiny tungsten, one piece... so I think Gen 1?

No, actually a first generation CF(W) bolt was a steel bolt with a tungsten weight bolted on the back, made by the inventor. Second generation was a full sized M11/NINE bolt with a replaceable firing pin made entirely tungsten alloy. This is where Vegas took over production. If you have a replaceable firing pin and all one peice the size of the M11/NINE bolt then the bolt would be a second generation. It might be a short firing pin. Check the protrusion of the tungsten bolt compared with your other bolts.

There is the M11A1 bolt which could run 9X19 in a large magwell M11A1. There were some dimensional issues that would not allow .380 to be run in a M11 with the original magwell with this bolt. There was a second generation of the .380 A1 bolt where the dimensions were refined to allow both .380 use and 9X19 use. To differentiate between the two generations the marking font was changed, as the dimensional differences are just a few thousands of an inch. With a change in spring, guide rod, and ejector, the second generation of A1 bolt could also be used in the M11/NINE. This caused the full sized M11/NINE bolt to go out of production as the same bolt could be used in the M11 and M11/NINE. So which bolt do you have?

Scott

 

[LawBob]

No, actually a first generation CF(W) bolt was a steel bolt with a tungsten weight bolted on the back, made by the inventor. Second generation was a full sized M11/NINE bolt with a replaceable firing pin made entirely tungsten alloy. This is where Vegas took over production. If you have a replaceable firing pin and all one peice the size of the M11/NINE bolt then the bolt would be a second generation. It might be a short firing pin. Check the protrusion of the tungsten bolt compared with your other bolts.

There is the M11A1 bolt which could run 9X19 in a large magwell M11A1. There were some dimensional issues that would not allow .380 to be run in a M11 with the original magwell with this bolt. There was a second generation of the .380 A1 bolt where the dimensions were refined to allow both .380 use and 9X19 use. To differentiate between the two generations the marking font was changed, as the dimensional differences are just a few thousands of an inch. With a change in spring, guide rod, and ejector, the second generation of A1 bolt could also be used in the M11/NINE. This caused the full sized M11/NINE bolt to go out of production as the same bolt could be used in the M11 and M11/NINE. So which bolt do you have?

Scott

“ Second generation was a full sized M11/NINE bolt with a replaceable firing pin made entirely tungsten alloy. This is where Vegas took over production. I”

I have the first gen all tungsten bolt. No replaceable firing pin


Sorry. Reread. I have first gen m11a1

 

[Gaujo]

Yeeea, mags prolly? Dry fire one until you can press up on an EMPTY mag a little bit and the bolt will still go all the way home on trigger release.