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Gunsmithing Rem 700 SPS .300 WM issues...

GardDog

LT
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 16, 2009
2,200
1
52
New Orleans
A buddy of mine asked me to mount and zero a scope for him on his brand new .300 WM Rem 700 SPS. He also provided me with a new box of Federal 180 gr ammo to use. It was my worst experience with a Rem to date. After I fired the first round, the case remained in the chamber, despite working the bolt to the rear, so I had to tap it out with my cleaning rod (closing the bolt on the stuck case a couple times did not help). The next round fired resulted in heavy, difficult bolt lift and a struggle to pull the bolt to the rear to eject the empty case. The bolt would cycle normally and eject an unfired round without issue. I put 8 new factory rounds through it, hoping that the issue would resolve itself after a few rounds, but it did not (the remaining shots resulted in either a stuck case in the chamber or similar heavy bolt lift and movement to the rear). The rear of the spent cases did not have a heavy extractor mark or spot rubbed smooth on the case stamping. I was at a loss to try to explain this to my friend.

Any insight from the pros? Could the extractor be that effed up on a brand new rifle? Would this (extractor failure) explain the difficult bolt lift and bolt movement to the rear after firing, or is that a separate issue? The rifle is headed to a 'smith next week for a hands-on inspection, but I'm curious to see if any of you have heard or seen a similar occurrence.
 
On a brand new factory rifle, I would send it back to Remington, and let them fix it. There could be a few reasons this is happening, and it's covered under warranty. If you mess with it, and they can tell you did, there might not be any warranty for you. Best of luck.
 
Original stock with original screws?
No, the barreled receiver was moved to a B&C stock, with original bottom metal and action screws. The rifle was not fired while in the original stock. I wanted to shoot it after putting it back in its original configuration, but I wasn't sure that continuing to fire it while in fail mode would result in worsening a condition.

When you open the bolt where does the bolt handle contact the primary extraction cam on the aft bridge of the receiver?
Not sure. I'd have to take another look at it.
 
I take the simplest approach first and work up. In this case I think the front guard screw is too long. Take a few threads of with a dremel or file and I think the problem will disppear
 
Not it the height of the Bell & Carter is off causing the bolt to drag.. sounds like insight3b gave good advise. I can't hurt to look first.

Indeed it can hurt. The bolt dragging on a guard screw has nothing to do with why it won't pull fired cases out of the chamber, cutting down screws prior to diagnosing it via warranty will likely mean "no warranty for you"

If the guard screw is too deep and causing the lower lug to drag on it there will be swipe marks on the OD of the lower lug.
 
My comment on the warranty was to address the suggestion about cutting guard screws, which would get involved with "user modifications to weapon" that Remington likes to tout for denying warranty claims. sorry for the confusion.
 
Issue Resolution Update - I dropped the rifle off (in its current configuration) to a 'smith last week. He reported back that neither the action screws or new stock install were the culprit. He detected a faulty extractor was the cause of the grief. He added that he took a bolt out of a similar rifle and it functioned flawlessly in this setup. I guess that the QC guys missed this one prior to it leaving the factory.
 
This is an all too familiar problem with Remington (and other MFG's) belted mag chamberings. Browning and T/C have problems too but Remington seems to specialize in it. If you've ever seen how they chamber rifles at Illion you wouldn't be surprised they have so many problems. I would estimate 25% or more of their belted mag rifles have extraction problems. The extractor breaks because the chamber has not been cut right but a head space gauge will work so you'll chase after the wrong problem in the beginning. What I do is to take a reamer and lightly "dress" Remington's mess of a chamber up (there is always an amazing amount of metal on the reamer when I pull it out) then replace the extractor since the customer (though no fault of their own) usually breaks it trying to get the spent case out. I've actually had several customers who have ripped their bolt handles off with this problem.

If the problem was merely an extraction issue a rod and effort wouldn't be needed to remove the spend case.