Several months ago I had a problem with my 35 Whelen (1917 action) feeding the second round, base of round drops allowing bolt face to slide up on round. Anyway, several suggestions from this sight gave me direction and I thought I had the problem solved. Unfortunately I experienced the same problem last Saturday while at the range, but I cannot duplicate it at home using the same brass and bullet (dummy rounds). Outside temp was 45 degrees. I checked bolt face to case engagement at initial movement of round on my other 1917 in -06 and its the same. Suggestions

Check to see if the follower spring is fully seated and tight on both the follower and the floor plate.

The springs and followers are cheap and can be found just about anywhere (same as used on 1903 Springfields) in case you want to pick up some spares to try out.

Check to see if the wood is binding the magazine box in the shoulder area of the cartridge. If not, try to spring out that area of the box (a smidge).

quote:

Originally posted by Rick 0311:
Check to see if the follower spring is fully seated and tight on both the follower and the floor plate.

The springs and followers are cheap and can be found just about anywhere (same as used on 1903 Springfields) in case you want to pick up some spares to try out.

I used a mauser 98 spring in my O3-A3 and it solved my feeding problems. Might be worth a try.

Another thing that happens on occasion is due to the bolt blocking feature of the follower after the last round is fired. If you try to close the bolt hard on an empty mag (because you lost count of the number of rounds fired) you can actually push the follower off of the spring just a tad, and that will put the follower in a bind inside the mag box.