Home	Stripping and Assembly of the M1904 Bolt:
The complex nature of the M1904 Bolt and its difficult striping and reassembly process conducive to the loss of parts, contributed significantly to the demise of this Rifle as a Service Arm with the Union of South Africa, Defence Force. UDF Troops are documented as arriving on Parade with disassembled Bolts and their parts tied in a handkerchief and many surviving Rifles today are found with replacement Bolts, or the Safety flag having been replaced, as was easily lost. Today, many M1904 owners rather do not strip the Bolt assembly, or, hand this job to a competent Gunsmith. Although delicate and complicated the task of stripping and re-assembling these Bolts can easily be undertaken by the average owner and a set of instructions is published here to assist in this.
- Check Rifle is empty and safe. - Pull out Bolt stop on left rear of receiver and slide Bolt assembly out to the rear. - The Bolt assembly must be cocked for disassembly. To disassemble the Bolt assembly: 1) Turn cocking piece at rear of the Bolt assembly counter clockwise, (Seen from behind) 90 degrees.  This will lower the cocking piece forward to the "uncocked" or "fired" position in the back of the Bolt barrel. 2) Rotate the Bolt face at front of the Bolt assembly clockwise through 90 degrees so that ejector slot of the Bolt face is aligned with the un-slotted blot lug on the Bolt barrel. 3) The cocking piece is now free to slide to the rear, remove and place aside. 4) Now rotate the Bolt face counter clock wise 270 degrees to align the slotted lug in the Bolt face with the guide rib on the Bolt barrel. Be aware that the Bolt-face is spring loaded and will release forward if not contained. 5) Remove Bolt face forward and extract firing pin and spring to the front. Reassembly is roughly in reverse: 1) Place spring and firing pin in Bolt-body. Add Bolt-face noting the keyway for the firing pin on the inside of the Bolt-face forks. 2) With slotted lug on Bolt-face aligned with the Bolt-rib the firing pin is pressed back into the Bolt-body with pressure on the Bolt-face. Pressing down, rotate Bolt-head until slotted Bolt-face lug is aligned with the unslotted lug on the Bolt-body. 3) Replace the cocking-piece at the rear down to the "uncocked" position. 4) Now rotate the Bolt-head 90 degrees counter clockwise until resistance is felt. 5) Grab Bolt-head in one hand and cocking piece in the other (for right-handed persons use; left forward and right rear). 6) Pull back on the cocking piece while rotating both the Bolt-head and cocking-piece 90 degrees clock wise until the slotted Bolt-head lug is aligned with the slotted Bolt-body lug and the cocking-piece is in the "cocked" position. Note that because the Bolt-face must be attached to the firing pin before the cocking piece can be added, it is not possible to fire the Rifle with the Bolt-head missing. Refit to Rifle from the rear. As expanded by F. von Solms from the original Page 204, Mauser Bolt Rifles by Ludwig Olsen (Third edition).
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