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Old December 15, 2012, 03:32 PM   #1
tAKticool
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new Remington 700, difficulty when chambering a round/working the action

Hi all,

Basically the new Remington 700 SPS Tactical AAC-SD .308 is having trouble when I chamber a round. It has NOT been fired yet I won't get to the range for a bit but I tried it out just cycling and its difficult. It seems like the tips of the bullets are getting pushed into the bottom of the chamber and sometimes it doesn't want to push a round from the magazine follower forward at all, sometimes its difficult, sometimes when I get it all the way up, and I go to turn down the bolt to 'lock it in' its hard.

Now this is my first bigger caliber bolt action rifle I've bought and maybe it's just brand new? I have not shot it so maybe it needs to simply be 'loosened up' and i am totally fine with that. But when you know something is wrong and you read these horror stories like *Oh it's probably chambered for a different round than .308* or "you have a .308 barrel but .223 chamber" etc. etc... Or even "your extractor is most likely broken" all sorts of stuff, and without knowing what i'm looking for , everything ;Looks; fine.

I am not sure if it's ADL BDL GDL etc. but it has a hinged baseplate w/ follower attached... not any magazine system. I have WANTED an external magazine etc. but that is not what I have lol, I have 4 rounds + 1 round chambered w/ the hinged baseplate... And again it could shoot fine, andI am hoping it does, but if anyone has any insigh plz. let me know, Thanks!!!
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Old December 15, 2012, 03:57 PM   #2
Adamantium
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Is it hard to close the bolt or does the bolt not close at all? Also if the bolt closes, do the rounds extract/eject fine?
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Old December 15, 2012, 04:15 PM   #3
tAKticool
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No the bolt definitely closes and it sometimes goes with very little problem, sometimes more force. Sometimes when I push forward it seems like the rounds don't want to go without a lot of pushing. Sometimes they go a lot easier...

And then when I go to "lock it down" by turning the bolt handle all the way to the right ,sometimes it takes a real push down, sometimes its easy.

And they generally extract fine. Although if I had to push real hard to lock the bolt down, i might have to reverse the process pretty hard to get the thing open/and extracted but the rounds still usually get flipped right out to the correct landing spot.

The tips of the 5 rounds I have decided to use as the 'testers ' the past 30 days or so have become pretty mashed, and you can see goldish color in the chamber area like it was marking it with the tip contacting the chamber area / mouth of the barrel where the bullet goes in.
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Old December 15, 2012, 04:22 PM   #4
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Clean the chamber and bolt. It could have grease or other preservative in there. There is sometimes a little resistance, but it shouldn't be difficult to close the bolt.

You could have an ammo issue rather than a rifle issue. Trying another brand of ammo could solve your problem.

Do you have a scope mounted on it? With most scope mounts on a Remington they use longer screws on the rear receiver bridge. It is possible to get them reversed and put the longer screws on the front of the receiver. When this happens they come through the receiver and hit the bolt when you try to close it. Look inside the receiver and see if the scope mounting screws are protruding inside the action.
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Old December 15, 2012, 06:02 PM   #5
tAKticool
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Quote:
Clean the chamber and bolt. It could have grease or other preservative in there. There is sometimes a little resistance, but it shouldn't be difficult to close the bolt.

You could have an ammo issue rather than a rifle issue. Trying another brand of ammo could solve your problem.

Do you have a scope mounted on it? With most scope mounts on a Remington they use longer screws on the rear receiver bridge. It is possible to get them reversed and put the longer screws on the front of the receiver. When this happens they come through the receiver and hit the bolt when you try to close it. Look inside the receiver and see if the scope mounting screws are protruding inside the action.
So this was great stuff and since I was just taught how to QUOTE lol (thanks much coyota1) I wanted to address each point.

I have cleaned the bolt extensively-- Sprayed it multiple times down with Breakfree CLP, let it soak overnight in CLP, buffed it down multiple times with new, and used, Remington RemOil wipes ( i buy the tub full of them and use a ton on just the bolt)... I have CLEANED AND RemOil'd/wipes this many times... so I can't see it being this. I have also tried to clean everything else and ... since I thought "cleaning the chamber" would be necessary but not sure how to do this... I have rolled up fresh RemOil wipes and stuffed them into the barrel'chamber area, then sprayed CLP on the excess so it would soak and saturate with CLP, and maybe pack another on in there ... and soak that. So the area had basically "cured" with CLP / RemOil wipes overnight several times. Short of somehow SCRUBBING with a brush... I don't know how to clean it better. In fact that was going to be my next questions, even my thin fingers can't get in there very perfectly, is there ways to scrub the area somehow?

I also thought the ammo could be. I basically could not find snap caps when I bought it so I took 5 of the box of ammo I bought with the rifle, expensive Federal Power Shok 180 gr soft points and designated them as rounds to test feed/function/and store in the magazine over night/etc. I will eventually try to shoot them but for now they are the ones I am 'sacrifiing" because I can tell they wont be aerodynamic bec. the bullets have got a little damaged. Anyway I took 5 of my new expennnnnsive Hornady Zombie 168gr. Z-Max tipped rounds, also they had trouble feeding. I did not force the issue so the bullet tips still look fine but I am not gonna keep feeding them till they break... (Zombie is basically Hornady TAP from what I understand, they make seveal versions I have bought 5? boxes of 168gr. Z-Max bullets, [i have 1:10 Tactical Rifling so I need heavy rounds] .. I would maybe buy other ammo and not SEEK OUT Zombie but it was what was available).

I do in fact have a scope. Someone on a local forum suggested the mount was installed so a screw could protrude, I checked and it was no. Now the mount was not working so it was removed, we completely took off the Leupold 1 piece mount and put on two piece Weaver mount (lil rails fore and aft) and new rings, and it still ahs the problem. .. So I can't see it ebeing the case if the mount and rings were completely changed.



Please keep the stuff coming, I will take any and all help and am gracious so far, I just wanted to make sure I address the stuff I have tried already so we can rule them out if possible. tytyvm!
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Old December 15, 2012, 07:53 PM   #6
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I have read in a few places that the parkerized finish on the bolt and the action can have a tendency to make the action tight. The quick fix was to coat the lugs with some 600 grit lapping compound on the back of the lugs, cycling the action until it frees up a bit. Clean out, and repeat as necessary.

I've never done this, so you might want to repeat this post over in the smithy section of TFL. I can imagine that there is such a thing as over doing it.

My action was a little tight when new. It improved over the first couple hundred rounds. Now I don't notice it at all. Fixed itself I reckon.
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Old December 15, 2012, 08:06 PM   #7
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The cartridges should feed without the tips touching anything. Something is wrong here. If possible have someone locally look at it. Possibly at the store where you bought it if not a gunsmith. If the bullet tips are hitting and messing up it sounds like a magazine or magazine spring/follower problem. In addition the bolt should not be that hard to close.
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Old December 15, 2012, 09:37 PM   #8
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Does it do this while cycling the bolt with no ammo? I was thinking you had an ammo issue at first, but I see you've tried a different kind. I have a sps in 300 win mag that has always fed perfectly smoothe with 150 grain ammo of any kind. Before deer season, I tried a few 180 grain loads to try and find which grouped best out of my rifle. Had a box of HSM ammo loaded with 180 grain bergers that did the exact same thing you are talking about. I'd wasn't real hard to lock the bolt down but was very noticeably different. I just didn't mess with that ammo anymore as everything else I've fed it has cycled just fine. Also, my bolt is smoothe as can be when cycling with no ammo.

If I were you I'd get a chamber brush and make dang sure that chamber is spotless. If that doesn't do it, I'd take it back where I bought it or send it off to Remington. Good luck! Let us know how it turns out, I'm real interested.
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Old December 16, 2012, 09:37 AM   #9
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Years ago I had a new 700 with the same problem and it had an out-of-round chamber. You turn a fired round 90ยบ and it wouldn't rechamber. It would chamber Winchester (7mm mag) ammo but not Remington.
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Old December 16, 2012, 10:27 AM   #10
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If it were an out of round chamber it stands to reason the casing would be out of round after chambering, and extracting. Try measuring the case with a dial caliper before, and after to see if the casing gets deformed.

BTW, your welcome
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Old December 17, 2012, 09:05 AM   #11
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By laying one round in the receiver will the round chamber properly, without using the magazine tention
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Old December 17, 2012, 01:26 PM   #12
chris in va
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Please take it to a gunsmith. I would expect a Mosin to do this, not a $$$ modern rifle.
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Old December 17, 2012, 06:29 PM   #13
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Yes, please take it to a gunsmith! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do not! !!! Use any kind of abrasives on the locking lugs. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As this is your first rifle this size there is plenty of things that are important to learn so that you are good friends with your rifle. It sounds like your ejector may be wonky. And or an out of round chamber. But. And please don't take this the wrong way, but your lack of experience counts against you and the rifle at this point. . Find someone with plenty of experience with Rem 700 s and have them try it. On the flip side you are learning some very valuable things. Make sure the chamber, lug area of the reciever and the barrel are free of oil, solvent, patches ect.ect.ect.
I've had several M 700 s over the years and I really like them . The 223 I had would fail to feed at least 1 out of 5 times. But all the rest were 100% reliable.
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Old December 18, 2012, 07:53 AM   #14
geetarman
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I have one 35 year old 700 and one about 5 years old.
The older one is a 22-250 and if you want to shoot single shots or load the magazine and be able to shoot 5 shots, you must load the magazine and push the rounds back with your thumb if you want them to feed. Otherwise they want to jam.

The newer rifle is a .308 and you can just lay a single round in and close the bolt and it works fine. Again though, if you want to load the magazine, it works better if you push the round down and firmly against the rear of the magazine box.

The actions on both rifles are not stiff but there is definite resistance when you close the bolt. Even when empty you can feel the locking lugs engage.

I think I would be leery of a bolt gun that did not have some definite resistance at that point.

Please let us all know what you find out.

Both of mine shoot really well and have put a lot of lead downrange.
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Old December 18, 2012, 09:28 AM   #15
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Quote:
I have one 35 year old 700 and one about 5 years old.
The older one is a 22-250 and if you want to shoot single shots or load the magazine and be able to shoot 5 shots, you must load the magazine and push the rounds back with your thumb if you want them to feed. Otherwise they want to jam.
If the feeding problem you described is what I think it might be, it may be a bad follower like one of my 700's. I called Remington and they sent me a new one, and the problem went away.
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Old December 18, 2012, 05:43 PM   #16
was123
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Is most of the problem after the round is nearly all the way into the chamber and then locking the bolt? May have an extremely short throat causing the bullet to be stuck into the lands.
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Old December 19, 2012, 09:48 AM   #17
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If you work the bolt slowly while feeding a round from the magazine, try to see exactly where a round may be binding up. If there's a sharp edge on the receiver bottom where the round is hanging up, it can be smoothed a bit by using a stone or a dowel rapped with emery paper. (Don't hone the rear of the bolt lugs, since that could increase headspace!)

Sometimes it helps to see where the round hangs up by coating the round with magic marker prior to testing.
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Old December 19, 2012, 09:52 AM   #18
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As mentioned previously, bring it to a local seasoned gunsmith. For a paltry sum you can probably fix it. I hope you do this, and post your results.
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Old December 19, 2012, 07:26 PM   #19
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Try match grade ammo. Most of my cutsom rifles do exactly the same thing if you try to feed them factory ammo. You are probably going to have to turn case necks and use bushing dies. Might also have to bump the case neck back just a smudge.
I am not trying to be disagreeable, but I seriously doubt the chamber is "out of round" on a SPS. I am not a Remington fan or a Remington hater, but the SPS is jam up.
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Old December 20, 2012, 08:30 PM   #20
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Two things... first, do not use live rounds to see how the bolt cycles and rounds feed from the magazine in your house. You are risking an accidental discharge.

Second, you may have head space issues. Last year I had to send a M7 - same action as a M700 - back to the factory because after firing a round it was next to impossible to cycle the bolt due to head space issues. To Remington's credit, they corrected the problem and returned the rifle to me in a timely manner. If your rifle is new, contact Remington.
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Old December 24, 2012, 06:08 AM   #21
Cold Trigger Finger
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So, how are things going. ???
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Old December 24, 2012, 11:19 AM   #22
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tAKticool, when you get this figured out, please dig this thread up and follow up.
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Old December 25, 2012, 07:07 AM   #23
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Send the rifle back to Rem. It should feed all factory ammo without any problem. Dont pay a smith to do something the factory should have taken care of.
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Old December 25, 2012, 07:58 AM   #24
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Did you try to load and unload with the 1 piece leupold base OFF? (screws removed) I have owned and currently own several model 700 remingtons and those mount screws have got me a couple of times over the years, leupold bases come with 2 long and 2 short screws, the long are for the rear, and short for the front, if you have one of the long screws in the front mount it will protrude through and the locking lug of your bolt will contact it making it difficult if not impossible to close the bolt
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Old December 25, 2012, 09:48 AM   #25
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Quote:
the long are for the rear, and short for the front, if you have one of the long screws in the front mount it will protrude through and the locking lug of your bolt will contact it making it difficult if not impossible to close the bolt
Wouldn't this score the bolt?
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