Can't believe that its been quite a few months since the last time I shot my Model 8 35 Rem. Put forty rounds through it using hand loads with 200 and 225 grain SPs. I loaded these some time back and decided to see how the old girl was shooting. Averaged about 3.5" at 100 yards with both loads. Good enough for me using the Marbles Tang sight. Anyway when I got home I noticed that what I would call the bolt thumb release was loose and didn't function. Never noticed it at the range as the rifle functioned fine there. I just left the action open when I packed it up. When I pulled it down I found the what is called the Magazine Indicator Thumb Piece by Remington had the small pin that connects it to the rest of the magazine indicator assembly broken off. Interesting that the rifle still functions this way. You just cant release the bolt unless you either place a round in the mag or depress the mag floor plate with something. Fingers are not recommended. I was able to order a new assembly from Numrich Gun Parts Corp. for $25. Any ideas on why this would have happened other than just age and wear? Hate to put in the new part and have it fail too.
Received and installed the new mag indicator assembly. Rifle runs fine again. Seems that at some point the bolt carrier had jammed open and I think someone tried to force it to release by placing a great deal of pressure on the thumb piece. Maybe even hammering on it. Bending and partially fracturing the connecting pin which finally sheered off. At any rate its all good now. Shot some test groups at 100 yards just to be sure its still good to go on deer. The paper bull ran at 3.5" from the sand bags and the life size paper buck was shot off hand sitting on my ground stand stool. Its not going to be long before hunting with open sights at anything past 50 yards or so is going to be a thing of the past for me. I have a Model 81 that came with a scope mount and I have played with it some but that's a subject for another post.
I was able to order a new assembly from Numrich Gun Parts Corp. for $25. Any ideas on why this would have happened other than just age and wear? Hate to put in the new part and have it fail too.
