Remington bolt head problem

700cdl · December 29, 2010, 02:59 PM

I have a Remington 710 in 7mm Rem. mag. that is a nail driver that my Son had a mis-hap with. I hand load and while out out town my Son grabbed a box of what he thought was 7mm ammo. that was in fact some potent .270 ammo. He took my 710 out shooting, chambered a round, and it fired. The case got mildly stuck in the chamber and required him to drop a cleaning rod down the barrel to knock it out which is when he realized he had made the mistake. The case was obviously fractured, but after very careful inspection of the action and barrel nothing was out of spec on the rifle except for the center of the bolt head. The center of the bolt head was pushed back .001" in the exact diameter of the .270 case head. I disasembled the bolt body and then removed the bolt head and checked it for any signs of fracturing and couldn't find any indication it was pushed back on the opposite side of the bolt face. Even though belted magnums head space at the shoulder with fired brass, I measured the depressed area and it is still measuring good at .003 and .002 outside the depressed area, which is tighter than any of my 700s. I've been loading for and shooting the rifle since and the bolt face is beginning to return to a normal flat surface. The fired brass isn't out of spec. and the rifle is still as accurate as it ever was, single hole groups. I know most think of the 710 as a rifle plagued with design problems, but I've shot groups with it that are just as tight as those from my 700s. My question is, did I just get lucky and the bolt face just forged the imprint of the .270 case head into it and then worked the metal back out flat again? Since that incident I have locked my gun cases and now my Son has to wait till I put the ammo. in his hand to prevent him from making another potentially deadly mistake. I still can't understand how he got the firing pin to make contact with the primer being that the .270 head won't chamber up to the bolt face.

wncchester · January 5, 2011, 12:34 PM

Not sure I follow your report.

Are you asking if the .270 round forged the middle of the bolt face down a thou and firing a few magnum rounds has forged it back up? If so, I doubt it.

Perhaps it would be good to label your ammo boxes more clearly. ??

December 29, 2010, 02:59 PM	#1
700cdl Senior Member Join Date: December 6, 2010 Posts: 216	Remington bolt head problem I have a Remington 710 in 7mm Rem. mag. that is a nail driver that my Son had a mis-hap with. I hand load and while out out town my Son grabbed a box of what he thought was 7mm ammo. that was in fact some potent .270 ammo. He took my 710 out shooting, chambered a round, and it fired. The case got mildly stuck in the chamber and required him to drop a cleaning rod down the barrel to knock it out which is when he realized he had made the mistake. The case was obviously fractured, but after very careful inspection of the action and barrel nothing was out of spec on the rifle except for the center of the bolt head. The center of the bolt head was pushed back .001" in the exact diameter of the .270 case head. I disasembled the bolt body and then removed the bolt head and checked it for any signs of fracturing and couldn't find any indication it was pushed back on the opposite side of the bolt face. Even though belted magnums head space at the shoulder with fired brass, I measured the depressed area and it is still measuring good at .003 and .002 outside the depressed area, which is tighter than any of my 700s. I've been loading for and shooting the rifle since and the bolt face is beginning to return to a normal flat surface. The fired brass isn't out of spec. and the rifle is still as accurate as it ever was, single hole groups. I know most think of the 710 as a rifle plagued with design problems, but I've shot groups with it that are just as tight as those from my 700s. My question is, did I just get lucky and the bolt face just forged the imprint of the .270 case head into it and then worked the metal back out flat again? Since that incident I have locked my gun cases and now my Son has to wait till I put the ammo. in his hand to prevent him from making another potentially deadly mistake. I still can't understand how he got the firing pin to make contact with the primer being that the .270 head won't chamber up to the bolt face.

January 5, 2011, 12:34 PM	#2
wncchester Senior Member Join Date: December 1, 2002 Posts: 2,832	Not sure I follow your report. Are you asking if the .270 round forged the middle of the bolt face down a thou and firing a few magnum rounds has forged it back up? If so, I doubt it. Perhaps it would be good to label your ammo boxes more clearly. ??