Disassembly and Reassembly of the Smith & Wesson i-Bolt Rifle

It seems the reports on the demise of "Gun Valley, USA" have been greatly exaggerated. Case in point: The new Smith & Wesson i-Bolt’ Rifle, which was designed by S&W engineers in Springfield, Massachusetts, and is being manufactured in that American facility. The public got its first glimpse of the new rifle during the NRA Meetings and Exhibits in 2007.

Unlike many firearms which are not available for sale until long after their initial introduction, the i-Bolt actually began showing up in gun shops during the summer of the same year. Initial calibers were .25-06, .270, and .30-06. Magazine capacity is four plus one.

When I asked what the "i" ini-Bolt stood for, the initial response was a single word: "innovation." When I asked what "innovation" meant, I got an earful and then some. "Innovation," according to the Smith & Wesson engineers includes a "breakthrough" in bolt releases (the patent is pending). The bolt is withdrawn with a simple lift, push, and pull. No buttons to press, no levers to swing open, and no other mechanical parts involved.

The triple-lug bolt assembly itself boasts a short, 60-degree travel, a flat-top handle, and a cocking indicator at its rear. Another innovative feature of the firecontrol system is its S&W-designed three-position safety. With its lever to the rear, the gun is ready to fire. In the middle position’s omething not usually found in arc-movement safeties’ the rifle can be loaded or the bolt can be removed. When the safety is forward, the rifle will not fire.

To further the goal of providing hunters and shooters with one of the most accurate, reliable production Top of page: The new i-Bolt Rifle was designed in the U. S. by Smith & Wesson and is being manufactured domestically. The "i" ini-Bolt stands for "innovation." It dispenses with a bolt-release mechanism, carries a 23-inch match barrel, and has a trigger that’s owner adjustable without disassembling the rifle.

bolt-actions available, S&W reached out to a couple of the company’s subsidiaries well known and highly respected in the firearms industry. One of these is Timney Manufacturing, Inc., whose engineers worked closely with the team in Springfield to design the Tru-Set’ trigger (also patent pending). The trigger housing is machined from a single piece of steel. Its cross pins are press fitted. Moving them (not advised) would require an arbor press.

In fact, taking out any one of those pins, or the larger, easily removed safety-lever pivot would totally disrupt, dislodge, and let loose everything inside the housing. Another potentially serious consequence to attempting such an action is: No data is available on reassembly. What the owner gets right out of the box is a rifle with a trigger that can be adjusted from 3 to 6 pounds without removing the barreled action from the stock.

It’s essentially "field adjustable" using a small tool that’s included with the rifle. The tool has its own little slot in the foam padding inside the hard case that accompanies each rifle leaving the factory. As you may know if you read the trade press or The Wall Street Journal, The tool fits within the trigger guard to make field adjustments possible. Turning clockwise increases the pull, counter clockwise lightens it.

The front pin is identified by the "A" in the photo and the adjustment screw is at "B." The assembly can be replaced as a unit, but cannot be further dismantled. Smith & Wesson is also the parent company of Thompson/Center Arms, Inc. Thompson/Center is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of premium hunting rifles, so why not get them involved with the i-Bolt? So it was reasoned, and so it happened.

The i-Bolt rifle features a 23-inch freefloated match-grade T/C barrel with a 1-in-10 twist and a 90-degree target crown. Atop the polished blue metal is a one-piece Weaver scope mount wearing a unique recoil lug. This lug helps secure the mount to the front of the ejection port, thus stabilizing the scope when the rifle recoils and avoiding interference with exiting brass. The Monte Carlo-style stock is of a rigid synthetic polymer, and boasts its own list of innovations.

Simply explained, there are four small "Xquadrants" molded inside the forend to strengthen and stabilize it. It’s called X-Bed’ technology. Again, the patent is pending. And don’t look for sling swivels that protrude from the stock. They’ve been molded in as indents. The final feature waiting for a patent to come through is a recoil-reduction chamber in the buttstock. Into it goes a recoil tamer, either the one offered A B

1 Receiver 2 Recoil Lug 3 Barrel 4 Trigger Guard 5 Floorplate Latch 6 Floorplate by S&Wor an aftermarket unit of the owner’s choice that fits the chamber. It’s claimed felt recoil can thereby be reduced by approximately 30 percent. (The final figure depends on what’s filling the recoil reduction chamber.) In my opinion, the "innovation" in the i-Bolt Rifle is no idle boast. It’s a simple statement of fact.

Field Stripping Okay, the gun is empty, your eyes are protected, and your fingers are outside the trigger guard. A few paragraphs back I mentioned that you lift, push, and pull when removing the bolt. Here’s how that works.

Place the Smith & Wesson i-Bolt Bolt-Action Rifle (Specifications subject to change without notice) 7 Trigger Housing Pin 7A Floorplate Pin 8 Mag Latch Pin 9 Mag Latch Spring 10 Front Trigger Guard Screw 11 Rear Trigger Guard Screw 12 Stock 13 Trigger Assembly 14 Magazine Spring 15 Magazine Follower 16 Scope Mount Screw 17 Scope Mount safety in its center (loading) position. (There is no bolt release, remember?) Now lift the bolt handle and draw it fully to the rear.

Push the bolt approximately 1/2 inch forward, apply a slight downward pressure, and rotate the bolt handle down until it almost touches the stock. You may have to wiggle the bolt slightly to align all the slots and relief cuts before gently pulling the bolt from the receiver. Now you can push the release lever inside the trigger guard. The floorplate will fall open with its spring still attached. It if doesn’t fallen free on its own, extract the magazine box (#29) or "tube," as the factory calls it.

Next remove the front guard screw 18 Ejector 19 Ejector Spring 20 Ejector Pin 21 Extractor 22 Extractor Plunger 23 Extractor Spring 24 Bolt Body Assembly 25 Striker 26 Striker Spring 27 Cocking Piece 28 Shroud 29 Magazine Tube (#10) and the rear guard screw (#11), and separate the action from the stock. Note how the scope mount (#17) has been relieved in its center portion to clear the ejection port. The trigger assembly (#13) will remain attached to the barreled action.

Incidentally, if you leave the magazine assembly in the rifle while backing out the guard screws, the mag spring (#14) is strong enough to raise the guard clear of the stock the second the screw threads exit their holes in the receiver and tang. Detailed Stripping All the pins mentioned here (#7, #8, and #20) are roll pins. Use only a

properly sized roll-pin punch to move them. Where possible, drift a pin just enough to free up the part it retains. This will make reinstallation easier and reduce the possibility of damaging the pin. Secure the bolt upside down between padded vise jaws by its shroud (#28) with the bolt face toward you. Pause and study the cocking piece (#27). There’s a flat on its bottom. Push upward on the cocking piece to relieve the tension on the striker spring (#26).

Either keep pushing upward as you rotate the bolt body (#24) or stop and push upward after each complete rotation. It will take three 360-degree turns to back out the shroud. There’s a "collar" near the business end of the striker (#25). You can’t miss it. It has a larger diameter than the rest of the component. That collar has to be rotated 90 degrees to detach the striker from the cocking piece. Remove the shroud from your vise and clamp the bolt body between those same padded jaws.

The body should be secured about 2 inches behind the bolt face and should be facing you. You can see the plunger (#22) immediately behind the extractor. Aft of the plunger is the extractor spring (#23), but it’s hidden inside the bolt head. Cover the ends of your needle-nose pliers with a small strip of duct tape, grab the end of the extractor, and then tilt the pliers toward At both times, the bolt head faces the gunsmith. The nose of the cocking piece (arrow) must engage the bottom of the bolt channel as shown.

I you to free the extractor from the bolt and remove it. Be careful; the plunger and spring may want to fly off to parts unknown. The ejector (#18) is located on the opposite side of the bolt face from the extractor. On the lug immediately above the ejector is a pin hole. The other end of the hole can be seen once the extractor is removed. Depress the ejector to the point where it’s flush with the bolt face. The pin can be drifted upward or down.

Either way, once it has cleared the ejector, the ejector spring (#19) will start to push it toward you. You’ll feel the pressure. Ease out the part and keep its spring under control. Note: There’s a slight countersink associated with the pin which is intended to make reinstallation easier. It’s not necessary, however, to drift the pin out completely when removing the ejector.

With the guard assembly in your hand, the magazine tube out of the receiver, and the floor plate (#6) open, you’ll see two tabs on the floor plate that keep the magazine spring (14) attached to it. Separating the spring from the plate is a simple matter, after which you can disassemble the plate latch (#5). You should be aware of and watch out for the latch spring (#9) when you drift out the latch pin (#8). This spring is very small and is not attached to anything.

It’s merely seated in a shallow hole in the trigger guard. All that’s keeping it there is the inside upper edge of the latch. When the pin is taken out, the latch will drop away. And if you’re not careful, you’ll be hunting for the spring for hours. Reassembly Tips My first tip concerns the ejector. For reassembly, insert the spring, depress the spring with the ejector, and be sure the concave machined cut in the ejector aligns with the pin hole. Then install the pin.

As you noted when you took out the extractor, there’s a recess for it milled in the bolt head. You might not have considered this significant during disassembly, but the back end of the extractor is rounded and has two steps. When you insert the spring and plunger, the front end of the plunger has to sit on the higher of the two steps.

You’ll know you’ve done things right when the rounded part of the extractor locates behind the plunger nose, the plunger snaps into the extractor, and the rounded end of the extractor does likewise with the bolt. The bolt will give you less trouble if you secure the shroud upside down in the vise. Then reinstall the cocking piece in the shroud.

Slide the striker and its spring into the cocking piece, and compress the spring enough that you can lock the striker/spring assembly into the cocking piece with a 90degree turn. Screw the shroud assembly into the bolt body until it’s hand tight, and make certain the nose of the cocking piece ends up fully engaged with its notch at the back end of the bolt’s bottom channel. And that should do it.