My 700 Mountain Rifle will extract fired rounds but will not eject/kick-out the brass. Suggestions/thoughts?

the spring that drives the plunger ejector is gummed up or rusted or broke.

quote:

the spring that drives the plunger ejector is gummed up or rusted or broke.

Ejector stuck down by gunk or an overload is the most common one. The next common one is that its trying to eject but the cartridges are hitting the big/ass turrets on those stupid Chinese/Filipino scopes and the empties are falling back into the action.

How do I take it apart and check for gunk and the spring?

First thing I would do would be simply inspect it and see if it functions smoothly as you push down on it. If not clean it real good let it soak for a while and test again.

Problem solved (I think). The plunger was frozen and would not move. Used a small dowel and with some pressure it released. Then I soaked it with a little Break/Free, oiled it and worked it a couple dozen times. Seems fine now.

Thanks for the advice and direction. I appreciate the help.

JDG

If you notice there is a small roll pin on the left hand side of the bolt face which retains the spring/plunger of the bolt. Put a piece of tape over the front of the bolt, tap out roll pin, spring/plunger can then be captured for inspection. The plunger most usually will remain stuck if load is "hot" but removing and checking for small burrs, rough edges, etc. can help there. Shot Plama Matches for number of years and those 308 loads are definitely on the warm side and the ejector would normally stick due to "hammering" it was seeing. Not for your application, but several match shooters simply removed the plunger ejector, single loading and just plucked the spent case out of the way.

With hot loads, the plunger hole can get filled with brass shavings that get scraped off that shiney circle on the case head.

I think brass shavings were the problem, although not because my loads are "hot". I'm shooting 140g round nose bullets over 49g of 4350. I do know the first 20-rounds I put through the rifle were a little long and the brass fired previously through my G&H so I had to put pressure on the bolt handle to get it closed and there were marks on the bottom of the brass where it had clearly been scraped.

Any additional thoughts?

As far as mixing and matching brass between rifles, it's a forgone conclusion that it's a bad idea. It's hard on brass and it can cause brass shaving in the ejector port as you have seen and a host of other problems. The worst case being, getting a live round stuck in the chamber which has to be removed by force, or galling the lug surfaces in a soft action.

As far as brass shaving in normal operation, it's actually a handy thing to see. Once it becomes apparent, you have a solid indicator that your operating pressures have gone beyond what the case was designed to handle and it's time to back off a few grains. If your brass is flowing into the tiny port, you can rest assured that the primer pockets are also expanding which is going to show up as gas cutting in the bolt face sooner or later and your brass will be stretching more than normal which is going to lead to premature case failure.

Some people view this brass flow into the ejector port with distain and see it as a weakness in the system. Others see the flow into the port on a Remington, ejector slot on a Mauser or pre 64 model 70 as a poor mans pressure gauge. So, rum or rye, pick your poison.

Thanks for the detailed reply. I'll be the first to admit that I have A LOT to learn.

I'll order some additional brass IF I can find it.

Thanks again,

Jay