Repair Pitting on Bolt Carrier?

I've got a PSL that has pitting on the ejection-port side of the bolt carrier, it is a 1" x .5" area near the "ramp" on the carrier (near the cocking handle). About 90% is what I would call "light pitting" with a few spots I would classify as "heavy".

Any safe way of fixing this? I'd buy another carrier but not if something can be done about it to save the original one. I also don't feel like returning an overall well-built PSL (sights are straight, rivets good, etc).

:confused:

Can you show us a photo?

My first thought, assuming it is just a cosmetics issue, is to sand it down (or use an abrasive blaster) and/or fill it with body solder, do the finish sanding/blasting and then use a spray on finish like Molyresin or GunKote.

Heck, it may even just be a situation where you can blast away everything and then apply a finish. A picture would really help to make sure we understand the surface(s) of the carrier in question.

Can you show us a photo?

My first thought, assuming it is just a cosmetics issue, is to sand it down (or use an abrasive blaster) and/or fill it with body solder, do the finish sanding/blasting and then use a spray on finish like Molyresin or GunKote.

Heck, it may even just be a situation where you can blast away everything and then apply a finish. A picture would really help to make sure we understand the surface(s) of the carrier in question.

I will get a photo. I was planning on stripping / parking the carrier when I park the whole rifle. However, I want the bolt in grey (a-la svd bolt...hey I miss my Tigr) and that color won't hide the pits well. If it wasn't for one pit deeper than the others I could probably sand it all out.

Any suggestions on a spray finish that holds up on a bolt? Teflon types?

I've had good luck with Molyresin. I abrasive blast, clean the heck out of it, park and then apply the Molyresin and follow the baking instructions. It's pretty rugged after that.

Looks wise - if you want - bead blast / ligth sand blast / refinisrigh. If bare bright metal 5-O 0000 to 00000 steel and ATF. I blued metal ATF and PLASTIC tooth brush.

Dammage and too much SLOPP can be easily achieved by over buffing - super aggressive cleaning - grinding - polishing - sand blasting to crapp out of it.

{My Opinion} If this rust is in a critical area of movement or tollerance. Light rust removal only and leave it aloan. Just remove active rust. Clean up light pitts and leave deep one a-loan. {My Opinion]

LOOKS and Cosmetics Withstanding.

The general policy for rust and discoloration of the metal in the bolt area or actions or surfaces of rifles "MOST standing armies" {in this case German Army WW1 & WW2} is the active rust should be removed with steel whool and oil - lightly cleaned as possible. Metal discoloration, light pitting, stains, rings , lines should be dis-regarded as long as the action operates to acceptable standards. They wanted the rifle to shoot and last. Looks were secoundary. If directed by the Squad Leader or Superior the rifle will be cleaned by Armorer Personell when rifle is turn into ARMORY and then released back to trooper.

Most line troops were not looking at the big picture. The line soldier wanted a shiney rifle that would pass inspection easily. The armeror wanted a rifle that would shoot. A trooper might clean buff luggs, gas piston, ???, out of spec and take too much metal off and bolt carrier might start to bind or malfunction. Many cleaning and maintenace operations are supervised so line troops do not F-up or damage the functionality of the rifle.

In Gun-Smithing it is easier to {subtract} remove material than add.

In Cooking it is easier to add material than subtract.

Try to add metal to the inside of the groves for the rails on bolt carrier???? Try to remove too much salt from the Turkey Gravy?????

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Late edits

Very often, rust pitting is not as bad as it looks. First, try hitting it with an abrasive blaster. If it is true pitting, blast it hard enough to get the rust out of the pits. For very fine pitting, I just apply the Gunkote resin thicker over that area. A few applications will usually seal the pits. If it's larger pitting or surface "worm holing", you'll have to fill those areas and then refinish. I use JB Weld (fast cure) for that. Fill the pits and sand it down. You may have to do it twice. As you're getting close to perfect with the sanding, use a swirly pattern and be sure to not sand dips into the filled surface. Then coat it. I use JB Weld because it's not affected by the curing heat of the Gunkote (300' +) Keep yer powder dry, Mac
Tuff-Gun Finishes. The name Says It All.
Mac's Shootin' Irons
http:www.shootiniron.com

Very often, rust pitting is not as bad as it looks. First, try hitting it with an abrasive blaster. If it is true pitting, blast it hard enough to get the rust out of the pits. For very fine pitting, I just apply the Gunkote resin thicker over that area. A few applications will usually seal the pits. If it's larger pitting or surface "worm holing", you'll have to fill those areas and then refinish. I use JB Weld (fast cure) for that. Fill the pits and sand it down. You may have to do it twice. As you're getting close to perfect with the sanding, use a swirly pattern and be sure to not sand dips into the filled surface. Then coat it. I use JB Weld because it's not affected by the curing heat of the Gunkote (300' +) Keep yer powder dry, Mac
Tuff-Gun Finishes. The name Says It All.
Mac's Shootin' Irons
http:www.shootiniron.com

I had come to the same conclusion - use JB Weld to fill in the voids, then use a resin coating. Since I want the carrier gray that would work out great.

Thanks for the input guys!

Watch out for one thing with JB Weld - it's porous and shows up differently compared to metals when it is finished. It's fine to fill up small pits, etc. but you will not want to cover large surface areas or it will stick out.

On the following AK, I thought I'd use JB Weld like autobody filler on a dent. It looked great after sanding, etc. With the finish, it looked like this:

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t221/gspafford/Molyresin/DSC_0007.jpg

By the way, this is the weld build test rifle I did around two years ago. Still going strong - no cracks, etc. I usually do rivets but wanted to try the welding method for future reference.

Watch out for one thing with JB Weld - it's porous and shows up differently compared to metals when it is finished. It's fine to fill up small pits, etc. but you will not want to cover large surface areas or it will stick out.

On the following AK, I thought I'd use JB Weld like autobody filler on a dent. It looked great after sanding, etc. With the finish, it looked like this:

By the way, this is the weld build test rifle I did around two years ago. Still going strong - no cracks, etc. I usually do rivets but wanted to try the welding method for future reference.

Interesting. I would be using a fraction of that for my repair so I should be fine given your experience.

One last item for me to consider is the order in which I finish the bolt. Given a stripped carrier, I am thinking I should fill/sand first, park, then coat the outside of the carrier (not the underside where the bolt goes). The JB weld should do fine in the park solution.

The coating would be mostly aesthetic since I want it a nice "park gray" as that should hide the filling nicely. The rest of the bolt will be only parkerized.