Remington 700 problem

SupressYourself

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I bought a Remington 700 SPS in 7mm Rem Mag last summer.
From day one I've had problems with cases sticking in the chamber after firing. Both factory and hand loads. Although not every case does it, the worst was plain-Jane Federal blue-box 150. The bolt handle lifts fine, but the bolt won't go back. With some cases I'd have to take a small hammer and tap the bolt back. The brass gets a small ring of scratches just above the belt, so seems like it's sticking there.

I've been working on hand loads with new Hornady brass, and most times they were not a problem until I got up around max published loads. Now I'm on my second firing of the Hornady brass and I'm having trouble again, even with lighter loads that were not a problem on the first fire. I full length sized them in between.

I did some interneting about it, and some say debris / burs / stuff in the chamber. Just polish up the chamber and it'll be fine. I polished the crap out of it today with a 50-call bronze bore brush and some brass polish. It looks pretty shiny, but it didn't help much.

One thing I noticed is there seems to be excessive headspace. Using a headspace comparator, the shoulder on once-fired brass is about 7-8 thousandths longer than unfired. The twice-fired brass is about ten thousandths. It seems odd though. I guess I wouldn't expect extra room in the shoulder to make it swell and stick just above the belt.

I'm about ready to send it back to Remington. Any other thoughts?
 
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Bed Wetter

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I know very little about reloading but if t gets worse as your brass sees more use and your neck gets longer with more use, you should probably trim down your case necks. Plenty of other guys on here who would know better than I.
 

Wildyote

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The extractor may be one issue and can be resolved by having a gunsmith install a M-16 extractor. The M16 extractor has to be cut in to the bolt and pinned. I would have a gunsmith check headspacing and he might have to set it back. I would send it back to Remington as you said and they should take care of it but you are on the right track. I have quite a few rem actions and great actions for doing a build. The modifications that I recommend is timney trigger, bed the stock and free float the barrel, and buy a aftermarket stock with a bedding block or pillar bedded and skim bed. If you are going to rebarrel the gun have the action trued as they will lap lugs, square bolt face and action threads and install a good custom barrel.
 
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SDMF

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Try neck sizing only, or even better, a partial neck size that creates a slight crush fit. Having the case-head all locked up with no place to go upon the bolt face is comforting.
 

Sum1

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Sell that piece of crap and get a Savage. Jiffy would appreciate this. Lol
 


buckhunter24_7

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Bring it back to where you bought it from and get a new one nothing worse than a gun you don't have confidence in
 

PrairieGhost

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I had one like that 15 years ago. Evidently the chamber reamer at the factory was chipiped and it left a ring that was so bad it cut the brass in half. I had a Mosberg that I polished. A new rifle I would not gamble with doing myself and letting Remington off the hook for warranty. Send it in and I am sure they will fix it.

Once your chamber is within SAMI specs you should be able to get six or eight loadings from your brass. Even though the magnums like the 7mm headspace off the belt you should still set your dies so you don't move the shoulder more than .002 inches when resizing. I have mine set at .001 inch.

Tip a candle to the side until it smokes, and smoke a case head. Raise the ram on your press and screw the sizing die in until it contacts the shell holder. Screw the die out 1/2 turn and resize your brass. The smoked shoulder should still have a flat black appearance. If it's shiny black then back the die out further and smoke another case head. If it is flat black turn your die down 1/8 turn. Keep making 1/8 down turns until the smoke on the case head looks shiny. Once it has a shiny appearance back out 1/16 turn. I am sitting in the hospital with my wife that had spinal fusion, so can't get at my owners manual to see how much of a turn you need to make per .001 inch. That information should be with your dies. My old memory can't remember that right now. If you follow the directions for setting your dies that came with your dies you will be anywhere from .001 to .005 off from your chamber. That would only give you two or three reloads out of your brass.
 

SDMF

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Tip a candle to the side until it smokes, and smoke a case head. Raise the ram on your press and screw the sizing die in until it contacts the shell holder. Screw the die out 1/2 turn and resize your brass. The smoked shoulder should still have a flat black appearance. If it's shiny black then back the die out further and smoke another case head. If it is flat black turn your die down 1/8 turn. Keep making 1/8 down turns until the smoke on the case head looks shiny. Once it has a shiny appearance back out 1/16 turn. I am sitting in the hospital with my wife that had spinal fusion, so can't get at my owners manual to see how much of a turn you need to make per .001 inch. That information should be with your dies. My old memory can't remember that right now. If you follow the directions for setting your dies that came with your dies you will be anywhere from .001 to .005 off from your chamber. That would only give you two or three reloads out of your brass.

Or use a sharpie instead of candle smoke. Holy crap man!!
 

2400

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I bought a Remington 700 SPS in 7mm Rem Mag last summer.
From day one I've had problems with cases sticking in the chamber after firing. Both factory and hand loads.

One thing I noticed is there seems to be excessive headspace. Using a headspace comparator, the shoulder on once-fired brass is about 7-8 thousandths longer than unfired. The twice-fired brass is about ten thousandths. It seems odd though. I guess I wouldn't expect extra room in the shoulder to make it swell and stick just above the belt.

I'm about ready to send it back to Remington. Any other thoughts?


I think sending it back to Remington is the best solution. You shouldn't have to "fix" a problem in a fairly new rifle.
 


SupressYourself

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I know very little about reloading but if t gets worse as your brass sees more use and your neck gets longer with more use, you should probably trim down your case necks. Plenty of other guys on here who would know better than I.

I do trim it down to speck after resizing.

- - - Updated - - -

Try neck sizing only, or even better, a partial neck size that creates a slight crush fit. Having the case-head all locked up with no place to go upon the bolt face is comforting.

I did a full length because otherwise the empty "sticky" cases would still stick in the gun. Also, I had it adjusted so that the shoulder wasn't getting bumped back at all. In fact, the shoulder grew about .002 on resizing. They still chambered fine when loaded, so I don't think the shoulder was too far forward, but stuck on firing.

- - - Updated - - -

Sell that piece of crap and get a Savage. Jiffy would appreciate this. Lol

I was definitely having some 'buyers remorse' last night looking at the Savage 116 weather warrior. For some reason, at the time I was looking, I thought my only left-hand Savage option in 7mm was the 111 Trophy hunter, which does not impress me. I have a Savage heavy barrel 22-250 that has always shot lights out with no modifications.
 

PrairieGhost

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Or use a sharpie instead of candle smoke. Holy crap man!!

Tried it and don't like it. I will maybe have to buy a front sight smoker.

i don't even know why people buy Remington's anymore! Just junk.
They do have a strong action that is easy to work, and rifles like the Sendero have nice stock. If you can find an older rifle they had a great trigger.
 
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Bed Wetter

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They do have a strong action that is easy to work, and rifles like the Sendero have nice stock. If you can find an older rifle they had a great trigger.

This is what I learned from talking to others and picked up my first Rem 700 this summer, an early 2000's stainless 5R milspec in 308. It was unfired and I paid him what he paid 15 years ago ($875 shipped I think). Still has the original trigger. To be honest, I have little to compare it to as I'm inexperienced with bolt guns. Hope to play with it more this summer.
 

wby257

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Headspace is off the belt on a belted magnum. And he is having problems with new case to.

Lots of times when there chambering a reamer will get dull. So they.sharpen them and when they do that that makes the reamer .002-.003 small but still in tolerance. What I would do is take some valve grinding compound and that 50 caliber brush and stick it on a drill and polish it for 10-15 seconds.

You can send it in to. All they will do is take a finish reamer and just recut it about .004-.005 and they can do that by hand.
 


PrairieGhost

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This is what I learned from talking to others and picked up my first Rem 700 this summer, an early 2000's stainless 5R milspec in 308. It was unfired and I paid him what he paid 15 years ago ($875 shipped I think). Still has the original trigger. To be honest, I have little to compare it to as I'm inexperienced with bolt guns. Hope to play with it more this summer.

With 5R rifling you have a wonderful rifle. You can find directions on line to adjust the trigger. Many of mine are 1.5 pounds. No take up and no travel. Firing pin drops and you feel like your against the wall at the same time. You feel no trigger movement. Adjust the trigger and that thing should group 1/4 inch. My nephew has that rifle in 300 Win Mag and 223 with Nightforce scopes, my brother has the 223 with Nightforce. They dump taxidermy leftovers and skinned animals 300 yards from the house out on the farm. Nice coyote bait.

Bed Wetter that thing is begging for some 800 yard play time.
 

SDMF

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Headspace is off the belt on a belted magnum. And he is having problems with new case to.

Lots of times when there chambering a reamer will get dull. So they.sharpen them and when they do that that makes the reamer .002-.003 small but still in tolerance. What I would do is take some valve grinding compound and that 50 caliber brush and stick it on a drill and polish it for 10-15 seconds.

You can send it in to. All they will do is take a finish reamer and just recut it about .004-.005 and they can do that by hand.

So how is cutting or polishing going to help something that is already oversized?
 

wby257

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So how is cutting or polishing going to help something that is already oversized?[/QUOT

I don't believe it is oversized. I think the reamer was on the low end of tolerance .
 


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