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?
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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