I have a 700 VSSF in a Swift that has the j-lock. While at the range shooting some loads the other night, after firing the rounds I would have to take my hand and hit the bolt after I lifted it to get it to cam over and eject the shell every time. The brass was all full-length sized and the bolt closed easily on all of them and the bolt lifts easily without a round chambered. No loads were excessively hot and showed no signs of high pressure. Any ideas of what is causing this?

I’ve always found that a deliberate process of elimination works well in diagnosing problems. Start with the easy stuff and work your way toward the more complicated things like the lock. Many times finding out what “isn’t†causing the problem can be as helpful as determining what “is†causing it.

1. Is your chamber dirty?

2. Does the problem exist when shooting factory ammo?

3. If you fully cycle (including pulling the trigger) the empty action is it still hard to cock?

You said that the bolt lifted “easily without a round in the chamber.“ Did you mean that it lifted “easily†while un-cocked...or are you just cycling the bolt on an empty chamber without pulling the trigger? Big difference since nothing inside the bolt has to move if its already cocked when you lift the handle.

As a last resort to totally eliminate the lock as the problem, do you have access to another 700 without the lock that you can swap firing pin/shround assemblies and test on your rifle?

If you find that the lock is the culprit just buy a complete assembly, firing pin, spring, shroud, (without the lock) from Brownells. They sell factory Remington ones as well as several after market models for under $70.00.

Good luck!

Not a dirty chamber......I am real picky about a clean rifle. You can dry fire the rifle and it cocks easily. As far as shooting factory loads, no I always have shot my reloads in it. I am going to lube the lugs with grease and see if that helps as I normally just use oil or Hornady Dry-Lube.

I have zero experience with the j-lock, but how does your chamber look? Any rings or nicks? It doesn't take much to keep the brass locked up.

Has the gun functioned OK with these EXACT loads before? In a simular temperature?

Are the bolt lugs and camming surface well lubed? They are easy to gall, especially on stainless.

Just a couple things that leaped to mind...

quote:

Originally posted by sll:
Not a dirty chamber......I am real picky about a clean rifle. You can dry fire the rifle and it cocks easily. As far as shooting factory loads, no I always have shot my reloads in it. I am going to lube the lugs with grease and see if that helps as I normally just use oil or Hornady Dry-Lube.

If the problem doesn’t exist except with a fired case from one of your reloads then I would suspect that it is a ammunition problem and not a mechanical problem with the action or the lock. Without removing your handloads from the equation you will never know though, will you?

Lubing the locking lugs won’t normally have much effect on bolt lift...greasing the caming areas on the bolt and receiver might help a bit...but that’s just a mask for the problem.

I don’t know you so when you say that you are fastidious in cleaning, does that include swabbing out the locking lug area, and cleaning the chamber with an oversized brush? The locking lug area and the chamber are not cleaned with “normal†cleaning using just bore sized brushes and patches being run through the bore.

Locking lug recesses and chambers are cleaned with a rotating action not a push/pull action with a cleaning rod. You can have a perfectly clean bore, with clean patches coming out, and still have residue/gunk in the chamber and locking lug recesses.

Trust me, I am aware of how to clean a rifle . It is apparently the ammo and nothing to do with the bolt because I took one of the fired cases and rechambered it and it had resistance closing the bolt and the same thing would happen when I tried to eject the case. The bolt raises easily 7/8's of the way and comes to a halt and I have to use the palm of my hand and strike it pretty hard to get it to go the rest of the way.

quote:

No loads were excessively hot and showed no signs of high pressure. Any ideas of what is causing this?

sll

Sticky bolt lift IS a sign of high pressure and a hot load.

Ray

Not pressure when the same condition exists on a fired case. Something is binding mechanically. Is this a new rifle and did this from the start or has it just begun on a previously functioning rifle?

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:
Not pressure when the same condition exists on a fired case.

When a hot load causes sticky bolt lift it means the brass is expanding beyond it's elastic limit to the point where it cannot contract and allow easy extraction. If you take that sticky case and put it back into the rifle of course it's going to stick again. Full-length re-size it and it will chamber easily. Fire it with the same load and it will stick again. One of the first signs of a hot load is a sticky bolt. It's trying to tell you something. That's when it's time to back off. JMHO

Ray

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:
Not pressure when the same condition exists on a fired case. Something is binding mechanically. Is this a new rifle and did this from the start or has it just begun on a previously functioning rifle?

Something is “binding†all right...the case in the chamber. A box of factory ammo would be a real cheap way to exclude the reloads from the list of suspects.

I am sure you are probably correct, Rick. It is just odd that I have shot these same loads in this rifle with no problems that I can recall. I had rounds loaded with 5 different powders and all were book max or below, and they all acted like this. The temp outside that day may have contributed.......who knows. But I do keep my ammo cool during the course of the day while it is in a hot vehicle.

sll ,
Checked your case length lately ?

Well, let me restate that. Unfortunately I have had a few bound bolts from over-eager reloading, mostly 6MM AI. I don't remember having an empty that bound up on firing go in hard or come out hard after it was extracted once. Just my experience, I guess. Hopefully its just a hypothetical for ne these days anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by sll:
I am sure you are probably correct, Rick. It is just odd that I have shot these same loads in this rifle with no problems that I can recall. I had rounds loaded with 5 different powders and all were book max or below, and they all acted like this. The temp outside that day may have contributed.......who knows. But I do keep my ammo cool during the course of the day while it is in a hot vehicle.

Hey, we’re all human...perhaps that batch of reloads was just a fluke of some kind.

It’s just normally been my experience that heavy or sticky bolt lift, if its mechanical, will show up with or without a round being fired...unless its something in the chamber making the case stick.

If you have access to a bore scope you can check to see if there might be something in your chamber causing the problem and polish it out.

I know this won’t be a real popular statement with some, but rifle problems associated with reloaded ammunition are not all that uncommon. I’m afraid that it’s just one of those almost unavoidable side effects of the practice that you have to consider when taking up that hobby...and that’s especially true when reloading to maximum or near maximum levels. It’s like life in general...there are pluses and minuses attached to just about every action we take.

Bushchook, the cases were trimmed to length before they were loaded. I am going to load some more up and try it again and see what happens. You can put a sized case in and it will chamber and extract easily.....like it should. Put fired case in and it has a little resistance when chambering......like it should with a fire-formed case that has not been yet sized. Raise the bolt to eject the case and it is easy and smooth until it likes about another 1/4" and it comes to a complete halt.....like it shouldn't.

I just recently had a very similar problem with one of my xp-100 remingtons. It turned out to be a broken pin that goes through the cocking piece and the firing pin.
One thing to check before tearing the bolt apart is to drop the firing pin on an empty chamber and if you have sticky lift, then the problem is indeed machanical.
I replaced the pin and polished the cocking surfaces, slick as a whistle now.
Your problem sounds a little different, but it is one thing to check.
Good luck
Joe

Joe,

You must have missed it, but he doesn’t have any problem with heavy/sticky bolt lift with an empty chamber, so your suggestion wouldn’t apply in this instance.

Didn't miss it, just thought maybe the same problem slightly different symptom. Is the bolt leaving circular shiny spots on the head of the case during the bolt lift?
I hope you get it figured out.
Good luck
Joe

Done tried to fire on an empty chamber Joe and the bolt lifted easily and fully. And no, there are no extractor marks on the case head or any other sign of high pressure to the brass, but that is about the only thing I can blame it on at this time. You know how you can lift the 700's bolt up slowly and right as it gets ready to get to the point to let the bolt turn to let the firing pin head go into the indention to lock the shroud in place, it comes to a stop and you have to lift it that extra little bit to get the firng pin head to engage......this is the point where it comes to a halt and has to be persuaded some to open the bolt fully. It lifts very easy until it gets to that point. It is not like it has sticky bolt lift all the way up like it has when it has resistance when chambering a tight case all the way down. If it were due to high pressure causing a snug case in the chamber, would it not have a sticky bolt the whole way up? I know I am confused......have I confused you guys also?? If so, sorry as that was not my intentions as this is bugging the Hell out of me.

Sll

How many times have the cases in question been reloaded and fired, have you ever turned the necks of the cases as the .220 Swift is notorious for brass flow? This would create an excessive pressure problem if the thickness of the neck were to hinder bullet release in the throat of your barrel....

Augustis ><>

Sll

P.S.

Examine the necks of your fired cases for marks...

Augustis ><>

I did notice some scrathing on some of the necks of the cases in question. They have been fired probably between 8-10 times and the necks have never been turned. I normally use a Collet die for a couple firings and then full-length and trim about every third loading. They were full-lengthed and trimmed prior to this last problem and chambered very easily.

Sll
Do you measure and monitor the OAL of the case after each time the cases are fired and did the case *require* trimming after 3 times being fired?

This is what I might do if I suspected a brass flow condition to exist in my Swift reloads, but for the record I neck turn all my precision rifle brass when it is new in my regiment of brass prep.

Measure the neck on a fired case, a resized case and then seat a bullet into the resized case, preferably a dummy round and again measure it. Then using a "Sharpie" black marker, color the neck and shoulder of your dummy round and chamber it to see if you detect any interference with the throat in your chamber and case neck. One other note, you may have a minim SAMMI chamber or a tight throat in your chamber which could potentially enhance this suspected brass flow theory, with a chamber cast and in taking some measurements could reveal what I suspect, however the other method posted above might suffice...

I hope my thoughts help!

Augustis ><>