Was out at the range today with a friend who was given a slew of tasty guns by his brother. One was a 700 that he says he was out shooting about three weeks ago. I put one of my reloads into the magazine and tried to put the round into battery. The bolt went forward, but did not capture the rim. The round stuck (could not shake it out with the gun vertical) and had to be pushed out with a cleaning rod. Ditto for a second attempt. On the third attempt, the bolt failed to go beyond about mid-stroke. It was like there was a block somewhere along the race and it would go no farther. It felt sticky or kind of bound up. I do not own a 700 and have never fired any Model 700 even once. I am totally unfamiliar with them. Any ideas as to why the gun would just "lock up" like that? Another friend says the trigger is the problem; that it is in a sort of half-cocked, half released condition. He says we need to remove the action, file away a bit of wood that's probably binding the trigger and give everything a good cleaning. What say you?

Well if the gun chambers and fires factory ammo I would compare a new round with your reloaded round using a micrometer and see where the differences were.

Since it works with something I would not suspect the stock initially, but you could remove it from the stock and then see if can chamber an empty or dummy round.

What caliber?

Old Reliable-- .30-06...

After it began the mid-stroke shenanigans, we couldn't even get it to close on an empty chamber.

Does the bolt go forward and then the handle just not go down, or does the bolt hang up before it gets that far?

I'd remove it from the stock as you suggest first, not so much to see if the stock was causing the problem but to be able to see where the hang-up is, and also to prevent the stock from getting mucked with.

If it worked before and then stopped, check for some debris stuck in there. Another thing you can try is spray the inside of the action lightly with a foot spray that has talcum powder in it, then close the bolt to where it bind and remove it. Now you can see the track inside the gun where the hang-up is at, it will be somewhere around the border of where the powder is scraped away and where it has not been. Look for an especially shiny area.

Bolt only goes about halfway to the breech. Then it hits or gets wedged up against something that makes me think there is some sort of dirt or grit or solid impediment in there, and that's all she wrote...

With the bolt out of the rifle, turn the bolt shroud to make sure it is lined up properly. There is usually a small notch in the rear face of the bolt body and the sear should be in that notch.

Ray

Good point Cheechako, I had thought about that too but but Brewer says the bolt feels sticky and bound up. When the shroud is turned the bolt slides freely and then stops abruptly with a smack.

However, it is a good point to bring up just so all the bases are covered.

Anyway, Homebrewer, you can check this by putting the bolt in the gun and with the bolt handle in the up position, you can see the end of the firing pin. It is a circle with little rectangle coming off it. The rectangle shape is the sear and it should point down. If it got moved out of the cocked position to will point horizontally to the right, the direction the empty cases go. If it does that then you need to re-cock the bolt which you can do with a penny in a vise or a piece of wire.

OK; thanks a ton. My friend had to go shortly after we limped in, so we'll have to get to it next week. Thank you all ever so much...

Mark,

Any chance your talking about the cocking piece and the face on that thet engages the sear? I'm not aware of any rifle design that includes a sear on the bolt.

Different guys call the parts by different names. They are, technically, the firing pin head and the bolt plug. The sear is part of the trigger assembly.

The important part is that I think we're all talking about the same parts.

It's usually when those parts are out of alignment that the bolt will lock up.

Another thing to look at is the safety. If it's one that locks both the bolt and the trigger it could be keeping you from inserting the bolt all the way.

ray

Ray

John,

You are correct that I'm talking about the cocking piece that fits into the bolt shroud, and in fact I am also referring to it as the "firing pin" which as we know is also incorrect since you cannot see the actual pin when the bolt is in the rifle and action closed.

However, the purpose of the explanation was to help someone learn how to easily recognize when a M700 bolt has become uncocked, and in doing so with someone with an unknown background it is sometimes best to use a definition that while not the technically correct answer is clear enough to not be misunderstood.

I was just trying to figure out what you fellas were talking about. Call me crazy, but I figure it's best to use the correct terms, and then explain what they look like. Here's a picture that may help:




Sorry I piped in; didn't mean to cause any ruckus.

It's OK; I need any and all opinions, here...

quote:

Originally posted by Toomany Tools:
I was just trying to figure out what you fellas were talking about. Call me crazy, but I figure it's best to use the correct terms, and then explain what they look like. Here's a picture that may help . . .Sorry I piped in; didn't mean to cause any ruckus.

Toomany

No ruckus caused. The photo is worth more than all of our words. I think we are all talking about the same thing.

Do you shoot?? I used to live in El Cerro (Los Lunas) and shot at the ZIA Club. My brother lived in Corrales and shot there also. maybe our paths have crossed.

ray

Hey John I don't think you're causing a ruckus at all, and that is also a great pic to explain about how a cocking piece looks in the uncocked position. Not only can you see it pointed to the right but your pic also shows how far the bolt is able to move forward before travel stops.

Ray,

Small world; I used to be a member at Zia, but now that Del Norte reopened I go there instead. Drive is about the same distance but I don't have to deal with the Interstate interchange.

NO doubt about it, the cocking piece is in the unfired position. You will have to rotate the cocking piece back in to the proper position before the bolt can be closed properly.
One of the easiest ways is to hold the cocking piece in the PADDED JAWS of a vise and rotate the bolt to recock the firing pin. There is a very small indentation past the camming surface on the bolt body.

Bob

That photo is one taken by toomany to illustrate one possible problem. It's not necessarily what homebrewer is experiencing.

Now, with all the exspurt advice given here, what's the odds that hombrewers problem is something else altogether. Like maybe a wasp has made a mud nest in the bolt raceway.

Anyone who owns a Rem 700 should have one of the tools made to disassemble the bolt. No more padded vise jaws or a penny or piece of wire holding the cocking piece back.

Ray

But it does show just about exactly where the bolt refuses to go any further forward. You gentlemen may have cracked the case!

Credit for the picture goes to my friend, Rick.

quote:

Originally posted by homebrewer:
...a friend who was given a slew of tasty guns by his brother.

Who tasted them?

My eyes took it all in. One is the 700, in very good condition. It has the glassy finish and the bluing borders on almost black. Nice looking gun; fired very few times. One is a King Cobra .357 revolver. It's an older piece, but it's got "history" written all over it in the tiny dings and scratches on its surfaces. The third is a 9mm Ruger auto showing very little use and wear. The fourth is my favorite. It's a stainless steel Springfield Armory 1911 without a scratch on it. It looks like it hasn't had a box of shells through it.

The brothers are Phillipino. My friend earned his US citizenship last year at this time after 13 years in the process. His brother went back to the PI for good about a month ago where law-abiding citizens are not allowed to own guns, so my friend got his guns. Nice brother, huh?

Problem solved! The bolt would not go forward because the handle was hitting the flipper-opener of the flip-open scope cover before it (the bolt) had made it far enough into battery to miss said flipper-opener. All of this was discovered after we had removed the action from the stock, thinking the little spring thingy that stops the bolt had gotten bound up on the wood inside the inletting. The gun needed a thorough cleaning, so it got one. The bottom metal screws nearly fell out when I put a screwdriver to them. I thought that might be part of the problem, but we soon discovered the real problem. You know, sometimes the smallest, most inconsequential things make all the difference...