I have a Remington 700 AAC-SD in .308. I noticed the bolt seemed stiff when I purchased it, but assumed it will ease after some break-in. After a hundred rounds, still no change. Upon recommendation, I've also cycled the bolt and dry fired countless times. The problem only seems to worsen. The bolt is manageable when the firing pin is cocked, but requires a lot of force to cycle once fired. I'm assuming it's some issue with the locking lug and the cocking mechanism, but I'm new to shooting and gunsmithing. Is that normal? Is there a relatively simple fix I could try? Thanks for looking!
Gunsmithing Rem700 bolt stiffening w/ use
- Thread starter CapnJohnSmith
- Start date
Re: Rem700 bolt stiffening w/ use
I would remove the firing pin assy. And grease the threads on the shroud and the cocking ramp. I have worked on quite a few new bolts lately that were running dry from the factory. Hope this helps you out.
Regards, Paul
I would remove the firing pin assy. And grease the threads on the shroud and the cocking ramp. I have worked on quite a few new bolts lately that were running dry from the factory. Hope this helps you out.
Regards, Paul
Re: Rem700 bolt stiffening w/ use
Thx for the quick reply Paul. I will give it a try tomorrow morning and see what happens. I'm overdue for attempting my first bolt disassembly anyway. I'll keep you posted, and thanks again!
Thx for the quick reply Paul. I will give it a try tomorrow morning and see what happens. I'm overdue for attempting my first bolt disassembly anyway. I'll keep you posted, and thanks again!
Re: Rem700 bolt stiffening w/ use
If you have a dremel tool use a fine abrasive wheel and polish the camming surface on the bolt to a bright finish. Lube everything and you should be good. Everytime you clean lube the camming surface and the lugs.
If you have a dremel tool use a fine abrasive wheel and polish the camming surface on the bolt to a bright finish. Lube everything and you should be good. Everytime you clean lube the camming surface and the lugs.
Re: Rem700 bolt stiffening w/ use
Hello, try some of this behind the 2 bolt lugs and the raceway: good for 1911 slides too
http://shopwilsoncombat.com/Ultima-Lube-II-Grease-2-oz-Bottle/productinfo/579-2/
Hello, try some of this behind the 2 bolt lugs and the raceway: good for 1911 slides too
http://shopwilsoncombat.com/Ultima-Lube-II-Grease-2-oz-Bottle/productinfo/579-2/
So I grabbed the dremel and some jeweler's rouge and polished the cocking ramp to a nice shine. After, I applied some gun grease to the cocking ramp and locking lugs. I still have the same problem of the bolt sticking in the closed position when I pull the trigger to engage the firing pin. If I do not pull the trigger, the bolt opens with significantly less effort. I would assume based on this that it would be something to do with the cocking ramp, but I'm no gunsmith and have never seen a diagram of how the shroud mechanism works. Any suggestions? I can gladly attach pictures if you want.
Is this problem consistent when dry firing or is it only after firing live ammo? If it is only after firing live ammo, you could be seeing an overpressure problem. Just want to rule that out before we go telling you to go look at other things.
Do you have an aftermarket trigger? I ran one of my Remingtons dry and gauled the cocking ramp and had a pretty rough bolt. The whole rifle would bout flip to the side if I was trying to open it with one finger. I was able to stone the surface and made sure to grease it up after that. Also I have a Timney trigger and that sear seams to drag more against the cocking piece than my rifle with a Jewell trigger.
If you have a stock rifle. I would send it to Remmy and have them work on it for you. If you have aftermarket stuff have a smith tune it up. Bolt to sear engagement is nothing to mess with.
If you have a stock rifle. I would send it to Remmy and have them work on it for you. If you have aftermarket stuff have a smith tune it up. Bolt to sear engagement is nothing to mess with.
I had one do this and it was the threads on the fireingpin assembly. Changed to a different assembly and that fixed the problem
Make sure the firing pin moves freely in the shroud and lube it as well. I've seen what I guess was a drop of sweat make them rust darned near solid.
I'm not saying this is the problem, but if it is, here's a way to fix it.
Talk to any ME worth his salt that has experience with two metal objects interacting with one another and at some point he should tell you that you want a minimum of 5 points of hardness differential between them. 7 is even better. Tear your bolt apart with the fire control removed and carefully inspect the cocking ramp in the back. Are there little booger marks (galling) along the helical ramp surface? If so what's happening is your cocking piece is eating your bolt.
No need to fret, there's a solution.
Get a steel rod that will just slip inside the back end of the bolt. 7/16" OD will be a good place to start. Drill a hole in the side of it so that you can press in a 1/8 to 3/16 OD dowel pin. You can buy them stupid cheap from a better hardware store. Now ball up a rag in your hand and put one end of the rod against it while the bolt is fixtured in a vice. Put a pair of vice grips on the 7/16 shaft and with A LOT of pressure push your pin against the ramp and burnish it. The dowel pins are typically case hardened and they are extremely hard. Hard like a bearing. By it rubbing up/down the ramp it'll work harden the piece while also smoothing out the boogers from the cocking piece. If they are really bad you can carefully sand/file them out, but I'd only do this as a last resort as it always seems to accentuate the problem rather than fix it.
IF this was your dilema, a 10 minute workout will typically fix it. Use LOTS of pressure as you do it.
Reassemble with all the parts squeaky clean. You can use grease, but I personally have had better luck with copper anti seize. Just seems to lubricate better/longer on these parts.
Good luck and hope you sort it out.
C.
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Seems like it would be a lot easier to just grease the lugs and cam surface, hold the trigger pulled and work the bolt;-)
Sure! If the cocking piece is harder than the bolt body. If it's not what are you doing? Perpetuating the problem.
A case hardened dowel pin is close to 60 Rockwell. Which is why it works.
It's done every day at manufacturers like Dakota Arms, Nesika, etc.
A case hardened dowel pin is close to 60 Rockwell. Which is why it works.
It's done every day at manufacturers like Dakota Arms, Nesika, etc.
If it's not, it needs to go in the trash;-)
Cap'n, try this. Clamp the rifle or action in a vise or get someone to help hold it if you need. Push straight down on the bolt shroud until it bottoms out on the receiver and see if that helps. If it does' I'll tell you how to fix it.
This made a difference on my stiff 700 bolt. Further information would be appreciated.
You have taken the bolt apart and cleaned it all, correct? Checked the firing pin, hole, spring, etc? Guy was at the range the other day with progressively lighter strikes until it didn't fire, took the bolt apart, filthy of course, he looked at it, said he couldn't see anything wrong. I guess his idea of cleanliness was below mine. I would chk the back of the lugs as well for galling.
Lastly, drop another bolt in there from the same action, don't fire it, <-read that twice, and that will at least tell what's going on. Was just thinking also to chk the bolt release lever but if that was in wrong or hung you would have other problems.
Lastly, drop another bolt in there from the same action, don't fire it, <-read that twice, and that will at least tell what's going on. Was just thinking also to chk the bolt release lever but if that was in wrong or hung you would have other problems.
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