Re: 6.5 Creedmoor Rem 700 Ejection Problem?
Lowlight, et al.:
Just took a look at things in situ and found this:
1. Case exit is low out the ejection port, nothing is coming close to the one-piece scope mount and even farther away from the windage knob.
2. There appear to be no skid marks on the bottom edge of the ejection port. Could smoke it and look closer, but that's pretty low on the possibilities list.
3. Most, even with fairly sedate bolt operation, are bouncing off the rear edge of the port. Picked up some brass "freckles" on the side of the receiver about 3/8 to 1/2 inch back from the port. More brisk retraction tends to have the brass bouncing forward in the 11:00 direction, often not spinning at all, going head-first.
4. The three that landed inside the bolt path (on top of the follower or the next case in the mag), and the fourth that barely dribbled out of the action, all appeared to spin a full 180 degrees off the bolt and lost all spinning energy as the case mouth hit the back of the ejection port.
5. The brass is picking up impact lines about .08 or so long about 1/2-inch and a bit more up from the case head. I see no contact point to do this other than the almost sharp corner at the outside front edge of the rear receiver ring.
Can't tell much more without some high-speed photography but the kids with their videocam expertise need to go to bed.
I'm thinking that this is possibly a problem when the bolt head has gone back with enough speed that there is only empty space "inside" the rear receiver ring which is the edge of the rear of the ejection port. If there's still some bolt there, the front of the case is bouncing off of the bolt and receiver surfaces.
Tonight's conclusion is that the slightly shorter Creedmoor cases have enough of a different "bounce dynamic" that instead of rebounding off and out, they sometimes miss the outside of the rear receiver ring, leaving just enough weight inside of the ejection port that gravity stabilizes them there. The casehead just follows the case in, sitting quite pretty backwards there.
Possible solutions:
1. Silicone Rubber a 1/8-inch piece of material matching the front of the receiver ring in there. Hard rubber perhaps. Maybe with a triangular cross-section tapering to almost zero on the outside of the "circle" making a bevel. Closes up the port a bit more than it is already. Easy, reversible, not totally durable.
2. Experiment with heavier and lighter ejector springs. Change the speed of rotation. Voodoo and witchcraft, decision by experimentation. Could start with heavier by putting a spacer under the spring, do lighter only after getting a replacement spring.
3. Experiment with bevels on the ejector plunger, to move the direction a bit "up" in the port. Could maybe change the angle of the spin before the front of the case starts hitting things. Don't start without a replacement plunger.
4. Give up and switch to a rifle with a fixed ejector. I think there's something to be said for keeping the case on the boltface until you're really ready to kick it out. That would seem to be quite insensitive to empty case length. Not a realistic option. This rifle is so accurate it is worth the effort to perfect it.
5. Give up and just remember to operate the bolt moderately. Fooey! Unacceptable. Being a rifle, there remains the possibility that it might be needed for use in, um, a stressful setting. One must be prepared for foreseeable user errors. That's why I'll never buy another pistol that *requires* the user to "fire" before taking it apart...
6. Put a 22-1/2 degree bevel at the back of the ejection port. That *might* put a little sideways shucking action into the bouncing around. Hard metal, hard costs, money lost if it doesn't work. Can't fully predict effectiveness with Option #1 above because the surface would be .10 or so behind the one introduced there. Nevertheless, if I had a mill, I'd try it in a heartbeat because I see no downside to it.
