The bolt slides freely and rotates as it should until fired, then it becomes sticky or tougher to cycle. It shoots very well I might add in terms of accuracy, no head space issue either I had it once overed before buying it by my gunsmith. To me it sounds like the same occurance as Oscar mentions.

Thanks

If it's anything like one remington I have it may have an out of round chamber. When fired the case expands to fill the chamber walls. When you lift the bolt to extract the shell from the chamber it is like trying to turn a square peg in a round hole so to speak and the case dosen't turn but rubs a bit of brass of the base of the shell until the bolt comes up enough to be free of contact of the bearing surface of the lug recess and the shell pops out no problem.This dosen't hurt anything except that I have to full length resize the brass if I'm going to reload it so it fits back in the chamber nicely but it shortens the reloading life of the brass. The gun functions fine until you extract a fired shell and it is difficult to lift the bolt. Unfired shells feed and extract normally.This happens in this gun even with factory and handloads that are downloaded to low velocity.

I have a Rem 700BDL that after a shot the bolt is tough to open, it will rechamber and shots great. The bolt cycles good when chamber and unchambers until it is a spend case. Inspection of the casing is normal no pressure signs, etc. I have tried both hand and factory loads same results. I bought the rifle as a project, it has been glass bedded and pillared which are both good as done by a well known gunsmith. I plan to reblue and re finish the stock then hopefully make a few bucks but am worried about this sticky bolt (for lack of a better term). It is chambered in a 300 win, BTW.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

SkHunter.....please understand that a compression failed recess that allows the bolt to recess AFTER it has been rotated into firing position may not be found with a headspace gage. A so called No-Go gage is for checking headspace of a normal gun and will not always detect setback as the setback is only in the area where the bolt lugs rest in firing.

The round is fired and the brass is lengthened and the bolt won't open because it has to ride up and out of the recess to open.....the brass case is too long to allow that to happen so you must compress the brass in opening the bolt.

Again here.....I'm speculating on the condition but the fact that your headspace was checked don't mean that it's ok.

Lets go back to the gauling possibility and it's real.....If that's the case you should see evidence of it visually on the rear of the bolt lugs. Look at them closely.

I say this about setback because I had a commercial (mark X) mauser do this to me once.

Stonecreek:

Quote:

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If the galling is a result of high pressure loads, you may want to check for excessive headspace caused by lug set-back (although this is unlikely with the massive lugs of the 700).

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I agree 100%.....but having said that this would be the thing I'd look for.

Sadly, if this is the case, the normal correction to headspace isn't the solution. One must remachine the "Bolt seats" in the receiver and then set back the barrel and rechamber.

Please understand that it's very unlikely that a Remington 700 has suffered compression failure and the bolt has been recessed to the receiver. They're extremely strong actions.

I'd remove the barrel and inspect for this potential even though it's not likely. I sure hope someone comes up with a better idea!!!