I bought a brand new M77mkII .243. I took it straight to the gunsmith to get a matte finish and have him install a Timney trigger. I get it home and notice now the floor plate wont open. Also, the safety is very stiff and hard to flip forward. So then i check to see if it will feed shells. I loaded it up and it is not feeding correctly either. I grabs the shell then binds up and it hits before it goes into the chamber. I called the smith and told him, and he said it was nothing they did, and to bring it back in! The gun worked perfectly before i took it to him. I have two other models like this and they work perfectly too. Any input on what is wrong with this gun? It is brand new, never even fired!

[ 01-27-2003, 04:57: Message edited by: dogcatcher223 ]

We would have to see it. You could fill a page with the possibilites,

Was the bolt disassembled for matte finish? Do the serial #'s match on the bolt and receiver?

Quick diagnosis,is that she sounds like she's runnin' about 260PSI within the stock.

I'm guessing she's much over tightened(especially on the middle screw) and possibly not assembled correctly....................

I agree with Big Stick on this one. The floor plate not opening means that it was either over tightened (middle screw), or that it was not assembled properly.

The safety lever problem is a much bigger problem, however.

[ 01-27-2003, 06:45: Message edited by: Ray, Alaska ]

could even have left blast grit in it.

Celt

Just had it matte finished & the safety is stiff.
Hmm... Sounds like someone bead blasted it without disassembling it. Got some sand or beads stuck in there.

I agree, take it apart and reassemble it. Tighten the front action screw hard (about 60 in-pounds, rear moderate, about 30 in-pounds, and middle just snug. Make sure the magazine box is not binding and that the trigger housing is not binding also. If the mag box is in a bind, it messes up everything. Also, when you tighten up the middle screw, make sure the latch works. On mine I have to sometimes adjust the trigger guard housing back and forth a bit before tightening the middle screw down. If it is too far forward or too far to one side or the other, and it doesn't take much, the latch won't work. I bet that clears up all your problems. Good luck.

If your "gunsmith" was the kind of professional he should be he would have checked your gun for function before he began work, that way if there was something wrong he could have notified you and it would have been obvious that it was something he did not cause.

And he should have checked it for function after rebluing so he could have corrected any problems that might have came up as a result of poor workmanship or mistakes and corrected it before you picked it up.

I have always checked every job for function and test fired everything I worked on for liability and customer satisfaction. I learned many years ago to test fire and check function of every gun to be reblued BEFORE I begin work. That way if a gun was brought in for rebluing and had problems it could be identified and a lot of hard feelings could be avoided.

In your case I would have to take your side. I agree with some of the previous posts that it sounds highly possible that there was some improper assembly and possibly some sand or glass beads in the safety mechanism. Could have been partially disassembled instead of comepletely stripped. There are a lot of unscrupulous people who reblue firearms and think it is OK to only partially disassemble certain assemblies of a gun and the customer gets an inferior job. A lot of times the customer will never find out he got short changed.

I would give the guy room to graciously correct the problem with out having to admit too much guilt, then find a better qualified gunsmith next time.

If a frog had wings...he wouldn't bump his ass either.

No need to get wound up on something simple. If it is something obvious,cure it. I'm personally not one to go immediately "Head Hunting",over an "oops".

Should the malady run deep,seek said party's counsel. Likely no big deal and a simplistic fix..............

Don't know about the rest of it but the Timney trigger requires hand fitting where the safety swings in to block it -- they are made generously oversize to allow for this and will be stiff if not enough material is taken off. OTOH they will be sloppy or even dangerous if too much is taken off.

My first thought was overtightening and the trigger guard is too far forward. The safety issue is probably overtightening and rubbing the inletting or if he bedded the tang area it may have been glassed.

Thanks for the input. I was just going to live with the floor plate problem, but then it dawned on me that this was a brand new gun, screw that! If i would have bought it this way i would have taken it back to the store. Since then i also discovered the feeding problem. The whole receiver binds up and the shell is missing the chamber dinging up the bullet tip, or not even loading at all! It also is failing to grab the shell during extraction. Seems like the whole bolt is messed up. Going back tonight to the shop, i was polite on the phone and he was all "it was nothing we did!!!!! I guess you could bring it back". Nothing they did? A. if the gun was broken out of the box i would have taken it back. B. If i decided not to take it back, i would have had him fix it while i dropped it off for the other problems. Hopefully he will be reasonable.

Take the action out of the stock; screw it together(do not overtighten, especially the tang screw). Use action proving dummies not live rounds, See if everything works correctly. If everything works correctly out of the stock, he screwed up inletting the stock for the trigger.