Gunsmithing Newly barreled rifle....hard to chamber/open bolt?

[JDB]

Guys,

I recently had a Rem 700 action barreled to 280 AI.

It is bedded it into a H-S stock. When I chamber a round it takes some pretty good effort to close the bolt and then open the bolt to extract the round. I have not shot it yet....

Is this normal on a newly barrel rifle? I had a pretty good gunsmith do the rebarrel...is this something that will become smoother over time?

 

[wnroscoe]

Re: Newly barreled rifle....hard to chamber/open bolt?

Is the brass new or was it fired from another rifle first?

 

[JDB]

Re: Newly barreled rifle....hard to chamber/open bolt?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: wnroscoe</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Is the brass new or was it fired from another rifle first? </div></div>

Brass is brand new. It is the Nosler brass that comes in 280 Ack Imp. It came sized and ready to load....I did not run the cases through the resizing die since they were said "ready to load"

 

[wnroscoe]

Re: Newly barreled rifle....hard to chamber/open bolt?

Did you try to cycle just the brass in the chamber, unloaded? do so if not and report back.

 

[JDB]

Re: Newly barreled rifle....hard to chamber/open bolt?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: wnroscoe</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Did you try to cycle just the brass in the chamber, unloaded? do so if not and report back. </div></div>

Yes, I ran both loaded rounds and unfired empty brass and it was stiff to close and reopen the bolt on both

 

[wnroscoe]

Re: Newly barreled rifle....hard to chamber/open bolt?

Screw your FL die into the press so it's tight against the shell holder with the ram up, then lower the ram and screw the die in 1/8 of a turn. This will FL resize the brass so you just bump the shoulder, try it again in the rifle. Not having a 280 AI go gauge it's going to be hard to determine if the headspace is short or not but, your brass could be slightly long from Nosler.

 

[Shredder58]

Re: Newly barreled rifle....hard to chamber/open bolt?

A friend of mine had a similar problem a few years ago. I gave him the exact same advice that Wnroscoe provided above and it cured his problem. I have run into this problem before when reloading for AR15s. So what you have encountered is not that unusual and hopefully this simple adjustment will fix your problem!

 

[JDB]

Re: Newly barreled rifle....hard to chamber/open bolt?

You guys are great. I bumped the neck back just a little bit and that worked.

I have 2 batches of brass....the newer brass is OK, but the older Nosler brass I had needed to be bumped back a little.