Bolt Sticking on Rem. 700

12 August 2003, 15:39

Is a bolt sticking always a sign of too much pressure? My bolt has started sticking at the top of its throw after firing my reloads. It's sticking every other round or so with two different powders. The rifle is a Remington 700 in 300 Ultra Mag. The loads are 180 grain Barnes Triple Shocks with 95 grains of R25 and 91.5 grains of R22. Length is 3.62". I'm neck sizing only with 3 loads fired through the brass. The bore is clean enough.

Could the problem be something other than the load? The primers look fine. No other signs of excess pressure.

12 August 2003, 15:54

<Pa jim>

recoiljunky,
Have you checked for galling of the
bolt from no lube? Dry locking lugs or need of cleaning?

12 August 2003, 16:02

McCray

Could your chamber have a rough spot?

I'm not familiar enough with the 300 RUM to know if your loads are warm or not but I know of two 338 RUMs that had a reamer scratch in one and a unidentified burr in the other that caused stickyness like you mention.

In the second case, a little carefull polishing took care of it and in the first one... well, since I got two it's waiting to be rebarreled.

Just a thought...

Joe.

12 August 2003, 16:08

<Savage 99>

If it's sticking at the top of the throw then the chamber may be rough. It's most likely however that it's due to an out of round chamber.

Full length the next lot of reloads and see if it goes away.

High pressure affects the initial lifting of the bolt more. Of course a very hot load would make the bolt hard to lift when it's in it's extraction cam as yours is.

12 August 2003, 16:15

LE270

quote:
Originally posted by JMac:
Could your chamber have a rough spot?

I'm not familiar enough with the 300 RUM to know if your loads are warm or not but I know of two 338 RUMs that had a reamer scratch in one and a unidentified burr in the other that caused stickyness like you mention.

In the second case, a little carefull polishing took care of it...

I agree strongly with this suggestion. I got a Remington 700 Classic in 300 Weatherby Magnum the year those came out, and I had a terrible time with a binding bolt in it -- I actually had to hammer the bolt open -- until I polished the chamber. After that, no more such problems with it.

12 August 2003, 16:29

cjw3

Reading this with great interest I have a Win Mdl 70 in .300 Win. Mag. that does the same thing. Bolt lift is not hard, you get it to the top and sometimes it just wonï¿½t slide back. There is no sign of any wear points on the bolt and it is well lubricated. There are no pressure signs, I am using a load that is near the bottom end of the listing. I also seem to have less of a problem if I use new brass.

Savage 99, how would one go about determining that a chamber is out of round?

LE270, you polished the chamber, how did you accomplish this?

Kind regards
Carl

12 August 2003, 16:58

LE270

quote:
Originally posted by cjw3:
LE270, you polished the chamber, how did you accomplish this?

Well, my method was so primitive I don't know whether it is to be recommended or not.

I got a 1/4 inch diameter wooden dowel rod and cut it to about 16 or 18 inches -- long enough that, when inserted into the chamber, it would go to the end of the chamber and extend out the back of the bolt sleeve several inches. I then got a thick rubber band that was about 3/4 inch wide (I don't remember how I got this; I may have cut it out of an old bicycle inner tube) and cut a length of it -- maybe about 6 inches -- and then cut a piece of fine grit emery cloth about 1 inch wide and slightly longer than the rubber band. I then stapled the end of the emery cloth, with the rubber band under it, onto the dowel rod in such a way that when I wound them together on the dowel rod, they would be positioned so that when the dowel rod was turned in an electric drill, the emery cloth and rubber band would be wound onto the dowel. I then ran this into the chamber, while it was being turned by an electric drill. I was careful not to overdo it, and to keep the thing going in and out so that no section of the chamber would get more polishing than any other. (The thick rubber band worked as a kind of "spring" to push the emery cloth out against the chamber walls.) After I had done that for a bit -- as I remember, it was a minute or less because I was afraid of overdoing it -- I took another dowel rod of the same length and put a hank of fine steel wool on it and ran that in and out of the chamber too, while turning the dowel rod with an electric drill. After that I cleaned the chamber.

As I said above, this way of doing things is probably too crude to recommend to anyone. But it worked for me and solved the problem of this rifle, with a single applicatoin of my technique.

[ 08-12-2003, 08:11: Message edited by: LE270 ]

13 August 2003, 02:45

JustC

My 300rum starts to stick around the 3rd firing. If you are not FL sizing,..you should look into it. Several shooters more experienced that myself with this caliber,..told me that was the only way to go with the RUM. I got to the 5th neck sized firing,..and it locked up the bolt. A few light smacks got it open,..and the remaining 4 rounds were pulled and the powder recovered. I threw the cases away just to be safe. The RUM works on brass,..whether it is due to the exagerated pressures or bolt thrust,..I will leave that to be determined by someone more versed in balistics. I just know FL sizing makes the RUM a more agreeable caliber.

Just a thought,..

15 August 2003, 06:10

recoiljunky

Thanks for all the input. I believe full length resizing may be in order.

15 August 2003, 16:19

Bud H

Very interesting, I have a 7mm STM Remingtom 700 BDL and I am FL resizing and I get about 1 of 3 the stick at the top of the bolt stroke, I cannot extract the shell. I wait a few minutes for things to cool off and then, with some effort (no hammer, just pull) I can get the shell out. I am using a fairly heavy load (175 gr Nosler partition with 79.7 grais of H1000, about 3050 fps), but there are no signs of over-pressure.I will have to carefullt examine the chamber for scratches, burrs etc. I think this has only started since the weather really got warm. [Confused]

21 August 2003, 16:22

Bud H

Would you believe, I solved my bolt sticking problem just by cleaning the cases again after loading. A littel alcohol on a rag and my problem went away [Big Grin]

It seems that if you leave any case lube on the cartridge, something happens that refuses to let me extract the shell. The bolt would lift fine but I was unable to pull it back.

22 August 2003, 07:35

sonofagun

quote:
Originally posted by Bud H:
Would you believe, I solved my bolt sticking problem just by cleaning the cases again after loading. A littel alcohol on a rag and my problem went away It seems that if you leave any case lube on the cartridge, something happens that refuses to let me extract the shell. The bolt would lift fine but I was unable to pull it back.

Yes, I remember asking about leaving any case lube on your cases a long time back. Your cases and chamber should be clean AND DRY with NO trace of lube on them. Try that and see.

And let us know what the results are! Many times people ask for help, but then don't follow up with how things worked out for them. Helps us all to learn.

27 August 2003, 05:36

Bud H

Sonofagun
You asked me to post the results and I am happy to say that a little isopropyl alcohol on a rag removed any remaining case lube and the sticking is no longer a problem [Big Grin]

You can bet I will be doing a better job of cleaning the cases after loading.

27 August 2003, 15:55

sonofagun

quote:
Originally posted by Bud H:
Sonofagun
You asked me to post the results and I am happy to say that a little isopropyl alcohol on a rag removed any remaining case lube and the sticking is no longer a problem You can bet I will be doing a better job of cleaning the cases after loading.

THANK YOU!

27 August 2003, 17:05

prof242

Had the same problem with a .338 WSM (wildcat). Finally found out the problem was the front of the magazine follower popping up just enough to stop the bolt from coming to the rear after only normal bolt lift. Heavier loads jarred the follower up. Gunsmith reshaped the front tip of the follower...no more problem. [Big Grin]

20 September 2003, 02:00

recoiljunky

Thanks all. Full-length resizing cured the problem.