by Bill McLeod, 3 May 2020

Got back into camp late in the afternoon, opened the bolt of my rifle and it came out in my hand. Gives you a bit of a surprise when that happens. What the !!!.
How did that happen?  I know. Must have put the bolt guide around the wrong side of the bolt when I put it together. That will prevent the bolt stop properly engaging the bolt lug and the bolt will come out. Seen it happen. Never mind, just put the guide back in the right place and she’ll be sweet. But the guide was in the right place. Tried cycling the bolt. It still came out. Must have some debris in the bolt stop. Took the rifle stock off, no debris. Saw a broken bolt stop spring, just a little coil wire spring but definitely broken.

We were working out of the Otaunoa bivvy in the southern Urewera, it would take the better part of a week to get to Mangatoatoa, radio Charlie in Wairoa, get out to the station, get to Gisborne, get the bit, then reverse the process. That would give Kelson a chance to catch up to me in the race for the number of tails. Couldn’t have that. Could use the rifle being ultra careful not to pull the bolt back too far. Have to do.
Raining the next morning so time to think it out.

We had a file so I made a tiny screw driver to take the screws out of the bolt stop housing and removed the broken spring. Serious shortage of springs in the Urewera. Must be something compressible and resilient. Lightbulb moment. Cut a chunk off the tongue of my Buller gum boot and painstakingly cut it to size. Looked good, worked good. Reassembled the rifle and back to work. The repair lasted so well that it was months later that I bothered to get the proper replacement.

That was the only occasion that a genuine rifle fault caused me any grief in the bush