tight bolt

D

double s

Guest
I bought a varmit rifle from a friend, but it is built like a custom benchrest rifle. It started as a 308 XR-100 remington, but now it is a 6 PPC. it still uses the factory ventilated stock and it looks damn good. the action has been completely trued and sleeved, it has a shilen match grade 14 twist barrel 19 1/2 inches long with a .262 neck and a weaver 6X24 scope and it is extremly accurate.it will shoot groups in the mid 1's, but i have one little problem i can't get the bolt open without practiaclly beating on it with my palm after each shot. i mean the bolt will lift up but the action is not unlocking at the top of the lift. i have noticed that it does this almost every shot but sometimes it will open fairly easy on some shots. i am shooting a 66 grain rubright bullet around 3150 fps with 29.5 grains of benshmark powder. the casings were were given to me by a friend who fired them about 10 times from his benchrest rifle. i ran them throuigh a reading full lenth ppc die with a .228 neck bushing and checked them according to my chamber length for trim length, i have about 20 thousandths length clearance. a loaded round will slide in and out of the chamber just fine both with and without the firing pin installed. but after firing it is very hard to open the bolt. can someone tell what might be the problem other than maybe i should get some brand new casings.?????????? thanks... sam
 
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double s said:
I bought a varmit rifle from a friend, but it is built like a custom benchrest rifle. It started as a 308 XR-100 remington, but now it is a 6 PPC. it still uses the factory ventilated stock and it looks damn good. the action has been completely trued and sleeved, it has a shilen match grade 14 twist barrel 19 1/2 inches long with a .262 neck and a weaver 6X24 scope and it is extremly accurate.it will shoot groups in the mid 1's, but i have one little problem i can't get the bolt open without practiaclly beating on it with my palm after each shot. i mean the bolt will lift up but the action is not unlocking at the top of the lift. i have noticed that it does this almost every shot but sometimes it will open fairly easy on some shots. i am shooting a 66 grain rubright bullet around 3150 fps with 29.5 grains of benshmark powder. the casings were were given to me by a friend who fired them about 10 times from his benchrest rifle. i ran them throuigh a reading full lenth ppc die with a .228 neck bushing and checked them according to my chamber length for trim length, i have about 20 thousandths length clearance. a loaded round will slide in and out of the chamber just fine both with and without the firing pin installed. but after firing it is very hard to open the bolt. can someone tell what might be the problem other than maybe i should get some brand new casings.?????????? thanks... sam
Click to expand...

Yes. I'd get some new brass. That will likely prove to be the problem. --Mike Ezell
 
I agree with Mike.
Get some new brass, and your sticky bolt problem should go away.
I had the same problem a while ago - for the same reason.

I guess there's a reason why friends give away "free" ppc brass.
 
sam

Before rushing out and buying new brass, find out what is causing the problem. A sticky bolt lift can also mean a lot of other things. High pressure. A rough chamber. Mis-matched brass/chamber dimensions. Just to name a few.

Old brass does not always mean bad brass. I use my discarded PPC Benchrest brass for live varmint shooting and some of it has been fired more times than I can remember. It takes a licking and keeps on ticking. There's also a reason why shooters are waiting in line to snatch up that "free" brass.

You need to take a little time and set up a systematic approaach to finding the cause of the problem (i.e., one thing at a time). If you are lucky it may well be something as simple as the need for new brass.

Good Luck

Ray
 
.228 bushing????
Ditto on the new brass-Lapua is best. Also your sizer may work but in all probability it won't size properly......in which case send 3 spent cases (newer ones...not the ones your using) to Harrells.....it will prevent a lot of grief in the future.
 
New Brass

Ray is right, there could always be a mechanical problem. At only 3150 fps, I doubt pressure is the cause. And, it sounds like your Rifle was put together by a competent Gunsmith.
But I would bet that in this case, a new set of cases will solve your problem.........jackie
 
My guess would be the chamber is to tight and or the bolt needs to be properlly timed. If I remember correctly the bolt needs to have about 8 thousandths clearance between the bolt handle and the action at the front and 20 or more thou behind the bolt when closed on a cartridge. It sounds like the action was reworked and I would check it.
 
Probably in the extraction camming...

When an action is trued, metal is cut from the locking lugs in the receiver and the rear of the locking lugs on the bolt. Removing metal on the lug surfaces will move the bolt handle away from the extraction camming surface at the rear of the receiver and sometimes this can make the bolt handle not have sufficient camming at the top of the bolt lift. I've seen new Remingtons before having any truing done where the bolt handle needed to be removed and reattached to get enough camming. On these it gets worse when the action is trued. The more that the bolt will move to the rear when the bolt is opened to the top of the bolt stroke the better. The bolt should move rearward about .090" or so from closed to the top of the bolt stroke. Look at the front of the bolt handle. If there is a lot of gap between the bolt handle and the bolt handle cut on the receiver, then the bolt handle more than likely needs to be taken off and moved forward to maximize the amount of extraction camming.
 
like i said guys it does not do it on every shot and when it opens it opens good and smooth so maybe i should try the new brass theory. it could be that some of this used brass is really used brass and some of it may only be slightly used and when you mix it well this is what happens....
some sticks some don't. so i seriously think this rifle deserves some new brass and we will go from there. oh and the bolt handle has good clearence so i don't think that is the problem. not the first xr-100 this gunsmith has built and the rest seem to be ok.............. thanks much.. sam
 
Mike Bryant said:
When an action is trued, metal is cut from the locking lugs in the receiver and the rear of the locking lugs on the bolt. Removing metal on the lug surfaces will move the bolt handle away from the extraction camming surface at the rear of the receiver and sometimes this can make the bolt handle not have sufficient camming at the top of the bolt lift. I've seen new Remingtons before having any truing done where the bolt handle needed to be removed and reattached to get enough camming. On these it gets worse when the action is trued. The more that the bolt will move to the rear when the bolt is opened to the top of the bolt stroke the better. The bolt should move rearward about .090" or so from closed to the top of the bolt stroke. Look at the front of the bolt handle. If there is a lot of gap between the bolt handle and the bolt handle cut on the receiver, then the bolt handle more than likely needs to be taken off and moved forward to maximize the amount of extraction camming.
Click to expand...

;)

right on

al
 
Sam, listen to Mike Bryant. If you aren't a smith, how do you know the bolt has the right clearance and is timed properly? If he machined the lug abuttments and the back of the bolt, you could have a problem.
Butch
 
We're very lucky to have people like Mike Bryant contributing here on the forum... I would pay heed.

Try a few pieces of new brass and see if it cures your ails.. If not you know where to look..

Thanks, Mike..
 
I just had a 700 that I barreled yesterday that had marginal camming before truing. I took a few thousandths off the back of the lugs in the receiver and bolt body. When I checked for full contact on the lugs with lapping compound, something wasn't right. I found that the rear of the bolt handle was hitting the bolt handle cutout in the receiver. Removed the bolt handle, silver brazed it back on as close to the front of the bolt handle cutout as I could get it. Then a quick lap to check the lugs and everything was good to go. The bolt handle would move .062" rearward from fully closed to fully open. After truing there was less than that. I didn't measure how much movement it had after the bolt handle was moved, but it was plenty of extraction camming. There needs to be as little clearance between the front of the bolt handle and the receiver bolt handle cut as you can get. Too much clearance is the problem which results in insufficient camming. May or may not be your problem, but I expect that's the problem.
 
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