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Gunsmithing Makin' me Crazy FTF 300 WM

Bloody_Tailgate

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 12, 2008
244
8
Sioux Falls, SD
Ok guys, I'm usually pretty good at figuring these things out, but this one has me stumped.

Rifle:

Remington Sendero 300WM Stock (Other than Timney trigger and McMillan stock)

History:

This rifle has functioned flawlessly for 2 years in its current configuration. I haven't changed loads, brass, dies, nothing. My brass is Winchester and it gets annealed every 3rd firing. I measure head space and base to ogive on every loaded round. Bullets are Berger 168gr and 210gr VLDs.

The problem:

This year while deer hunting the first morning was freezing rain and it was getting EVERYWHERE on the rifle. The rain actually froze between my bolt body and the ejection port making it very difficult to open the bolt. Anyway, I had an opportunity shoot at a deer and when I pulled the trigger it just went "Click". I ejected that round and chambered another and it fired correctly but I missed the deer.

To see if this was just a fluke, I proceeded to load and fire 3 additional rounds and everything seemed to function properly. I was in deep grass and snow so I didn't take the time to find the unfired case.

Later that morning, still in the freezing rain I had an opportunity to shoot a coyote. Same thing happened..."Click". This time I ejected and re-chambered the round in question and pulled the trigger..."Bang" it went off.

This same thing happened one more time and I was fed up. I stripped the bolt (thinking moisture had found its way into the bolt and freezing on the pin spring) and totally dried everything and even put some WD40 on the spring and through the bolt body (it was all we had in the truck).

Well, you guessed it, the next time I pulled the trigger it had a FTF. Reload the same round and "Bang" it goes off.

I inspected the FTF rounds and the primer strike did look a little light, but the funny thing is it only happened on the first shot, after the rifle was out in the cold for an extended period of time.

What do you think could have caused this issue?

Thanks for your help.

Clint
 
Re: Makin' me Crazy FTF 300 WM

My guess is that cold temperatures + a weak firing pin spring in combination was just enough to produce a light strike. After taking a shot the firing pin was freed up enough to not repeat the problem the second time around, until it was allowed to sit for awhile and begin to stick again.
This is one reason dry lubes are used in very cold weather environments.
 
Re: Makin' me Crazy FTF 300 WM

I uses graphite powder have had no problems.
 
Re: Makin' me Crazy FTF 300 WM

That's a frozen firing pin. Nothing to worry about. Strip the bolt completely and degrease it thoroughly. Then lube w graphite powder as the above gent suggested. You should not have that issue again after that
 
Re: Makin' me Crazy FTF 300 WM

I've run my 700's in crazy cold with light oil or wd40 inside the bolt with no problems.

Order a new spring. Remove the old one and lay it side by side with the new. I'll bet the old one is a fair bit "shorter".