The Dillon Gun Bolt set is comprised of six Dillon DA1000 Gun Bolts. Dillon Gun Bolts offer several important advances over the General Electric gun bolts. Firing pins found in GE bolts have blunt tips. Blunt tips can puncture the primer of a cartridge during the firing sequence. When this happens a portion of the hot gas is vented passed the firing pin and through the bolt. This has two effects. The first is to cause the firing pin to compress the firing pin spring rearward against the firing pin retention pin. If this happens enough times the firing pin spring will lose temper, which leads to light firing pin strikes on primers. These 'light strikes' may contain insufficient energy to fire the cartridge.
The second effect of gas venting is to 'etch' the tip of the firing pin. The more the firing pin tip is damaged the more likely it is to puncture larger holes in the primer. At a certain point enough gas is vented into the bolt body that the bolt head retention pin may actually be sheared into three pieces, leading to catastrophic bolt failure.
To solve these and other problems, Dillon patented an entirely redesigned gun bolt for use in Dillon M134D. This bolt, the DA1000, is completely compatible with the General Electric GAU-2B/M134.
Dillon Aero's Bolts are amazingly strong and reliable. The firing pin tip is rounded, not blunt, to avoid primer puncture. In firing tests totaling well over one million rounds, Dillon Bolts did not puncture a single primer. Because of this, Dillon springs last fifteen times as long as GE springs.
Other improvements include dual, opposed guidance tangs that drive the bolt head into and out of the locked position. This is compared to the single tang GE bolt head which was susceptible to cracking.
Also, bolt searing is simpler and more reliable. GE bolts have a boss on the rear end of the firing pin that engages a track in the gun rotor. With Dillon Bolts the sear is contained within the Bolt Head and is triggered by Bolt compression. This feature makes rotor design less complex and less expensive.
Bolts are sold as complete units and have no need for individual maintenance beyond normal cleaning and inspection. In fact, a single set of Dillon Bolts has been fired well beyond 400,000 rounds without replacing any parts including springs.
- More than 10,000 units currently in Service with US and foreign military
- Gun Bolt service life of 400,000 rounds.
- Dillon Gun Bolts require no maintenance aside from normal lubrication and inspection.
- Dillon Firing Pins are internally seared so there is no interface between the firing pin and rotor.
- Dillon Gun Bolts are designed to prevent "off-center" firing pin strikes.
- Dillon Firing Pins have spherical ends which eliminate punctured primers.
- Dillon Firing Pin Springs service life of 400,000 rounds. Dillon Firing Pin Springs are engineered to last as long as the bolt, thus eliminating firing pin spring changes.
Part Number: DA1000
NSN: 1005-01-490-9688
