My dealer ordered me a left handed stainless barreled action in 458 Lott the first of the year. I believe it finally arrived in June and I just received my McMillan stock for it and assembled it together.
After assembling it to the stock I loaded up four dummy rounds to check feeding and ejecting. It basically will not feed but if I load up a shorter round (3.4 in COL) it can pick one up from the magazine but it may jam before it goes into the barrel. Once I am able to get a round to feed properly it will not eject it. I pull back the bolt and the round is attached to the bolt but the ejector will not kick it out. I am not a gunsmith but I noticed the ejector does not even go beyond the bolt face when the bolt is fully pulled back. It appears to me it could be as simple as having the incorrect bolt stop installed because as it stands now the bolt can't even be retracted back enough to clear the magazine. or possibly the ejector is also to short.
I am very disappointed in the quality of this rifle. My initial impressions when I first bought it were very good but what good is it if it can not feed or eject? I now await MRC to see how they will fix this. On a positive note the McMillan stock fit like a glove.

Sorry to hear this bad news about quality control.

Does the rifle have problems loading/feeding all .458" bullets, or just certain types (i.e., monometal 'flat-nosed' solids)?

George

George,
I only tried the Barnes XXX 450's seated very deep. I doubt it is the design of the bullet as the bolt will not go back far enough to even clear the magazine box. And as I stated, the ejector will not even protrude from the bolt face when the bolt is fully retracted.
I did call them up and they agreed to try to fix it, if I shipped it back to them at my expense. That doesnt sit well with me but I will be a happy camper if it feeds properly

man, TSX generally feed REALLY well...

sending it back?

Of course I am sending it back. It certaintly appears it has an incorrect bolt stop and probably a to short ejector.
I asked them twice via email if they checked for feeding before the barreled actions departed the factory and they would not answer the question in there replies.

I hope you get this straightened out. A left hander has to go the extra mile it seems.

I visited them when the promotion started three years ago and had a M1999 made up. Glad it's gone. Glad for Kimber.

Snowwolfe,

I feel your pain.

Now that I have some time to thoroughly try out my M1999 .450 Ackley, it won't feed conventional softpoints since they cross over during forward travel and hang up on the edge of the chamber. It does feed the 450TSX though.

After a Butch's Bore Shine fiasco, I had MRC rebarrel it the same and notified them of the cross feed problem. No changes were made. The extractor is also pretty loose and often fails to hold the fired case tight enough for the ejector to kick it out. It also misfires until the brass is fireformed such that there is interference upon bolt closure.

I guess it's the impossible dream: a stainless, big bore, DGR for around $1k and not a lot of gunsmithing. It makes Hein and the rest of the custom guys look better all the time.

The damn thing is super accurate and doesn't foul much at all but if I had to do it all over again...

I sounds to me like the bolt stop is too long, this will stop the bolt premature of it's full back stroke. If you place your thunb on the bolt stop and override it then position the bolt just past the end of the Mag. box do you then have ejector protrusion thru the bolt face? If so, then it is the bolt stop that is too long and it is stopping the bolt travel before the ejector can have a chance to protrude. the ejector may also be stuck, too thick for the slot in which it works, surface grinding the ejector will cure that if in fact it is too thick. As far as feeding the 458 Lott the meplate bullets require a much tighter radius in the front of the magazine box walls .094 radius vs the .250 standard radius this allows the front of the box to be the same width but allows clearance in the front corners of the box for the squareish bullets. As far bullets hanging up on the edge of the chamber it should have a cone breech with a good polished finish, If the mrc is more like a Dakota then it should have a square counter-bore breech and all perpendicular edges of the breech and the edge of the chamber should have a nice polished radius on them. Feed ramp shape should be wide in the bottom to clear the bullet and not gouge it and narrower at the top to funnel the round in. Carefull and judicious grinding of the rails will allow the cartridges to transition out of the box and under the control of the extractor more smoothly, this work is also followed by the use of a mold stone to polish rail areas that have been worked. The extractor tension and engaugement can't be too much or the rim will gouge it's way under the extractor and feed will be hindered, proper fit here is a must. Sounds like it needs a bit of a messaging.
Timan

Timan,
That is why it went back to MRC. They built it, let em fix it. Seems the more I spend on a rifle the more problems I have with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Snowwolfe:
Seems the more I spend on a rifle the more problems I have with it.

LOL!!!!!

which is why savage 110s feed, shoot, and just plain work.. but are uglier than sin...

seems like the sexier a rifle or a woman is, the more time and effort you have to invest!!

jeffe

Jeffe,
Totally agree. I will never be without a Savage. My leftie 300WM with it's thin barrel and tupperware stock and accura trigger will shoot MOA all day long with all the loads I have tried in it so far.

seems like the sexier a rifle or a woman is, the more time and effort you have to invest!!

jeffe

Boy! Ain't that the truth!!!

Snowwolfe,

This sounds very familiar. I had a 375 RUM built with an Echols stock. The rifle looks great, shoots unbelievably well, but will not feed reliably. The case barely makes contact with the boltface. The bolt will slide over a round without picking it up and the second round will pop out of the mag after firing. I sent the rifle back to MRC twice with copious details of the problem. They returned it twice stating they could not see a problem. That is funny since feeding one magazine would readily identify the malfunction. I finally changed to a Winchester follower and spring and this seems to have fixed the problem for now. I still have no faith in the rifle and need a good smith to look it over.

On that note, who do ya'll recommend? I do not have a smith that I've used on a regular basis and trust with a potential DGR. .

Clint

simple answer,
take it to JeffeOsso.

reagards,

Rich

PS: bring plenty of ammo, he will want you on video before you leave with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Clint:
Snowwolfe,

I still have no faith in the rifle and need a good smith to look it over.

On that note, who do ya'll recommend? I do not have a smith that I've used on a regular basis and trust with a potential DGR. .

Clint

Mark Penrod.

MRC emailed me today and said:
"There was a standard bolt stop instead of a magnum. The gunsmith replaced the bolt stop and would like to check the feeding with your cartridges"

Kinda makes there story about checking feeding and functioning before the barreled action departed there factory a little misleading. But I am sending them the dummy rounds as requested and we will see what happens.

I received the barreled action back from MRC with a note they changed out the bolt stop to the proper one. I did not have a chance to check it out before I went moose hunting. This morning I checked feeding and ejecting with Swift 400 grain and Barnes 450 grain XXX's. At this point it will feed and eject both rounds well. There are no rough spots while cycling the bolt and I am happy with how slick the action operates. Much better than a factory W70.
As soon as time permits I will put it in the stock and fire off a few and post the results.
At this point in time MRC fixed what was wrong with it and did so in a fast manner. Kudo's to them for that.

I am still miffed at having to spend $26 to ship the action to them and then another $6 to ship dummy rounds when it was entirely there lack of quality control that caused the problem.

Live and learn, this still could be a very inexpensive way for a lefty to obtain a SS CRF 458 Lott if it works out. I have my fingers crossed.

I seem a little apprehensive don't I, lol.

They are only about eight hours from here. If I order a barrelled action from them I will be up there to get it with a handful of rounds and make D**n sure it works before we head up to my wife's family to visit.

Rich

my grandfather was a very wise man, and not stingy about sharing what he had learned in a lifetime with me. He told me "...trust everybody, but ALWAYS!!! cut the cards...".

You get what you pay for........