What’s up with my chamber?

[Brother Buckwheat]

I've ran nothing but Rem Coreloct in my rifle since new back in the early 90's.
I ran some Barnes stamped Rem ammo in it since I'm in California and have to use lead free.
Well I get a stuck bolt every time with this Barnes stuff, switch back to Coreloct and one finger operation. When I say stuck bolt I mean I have to use a wooden mallet to get the bolt started back.
Notice the scratches near the belt on the Barnes. Nothing on the Coreloct.
Any suggestions?

 

[tobnpr]

Solids will often result in higher chamber pressures dependent on other factors such as freebore.
That might explain the hard bolt lift. If excessive pressure is the issue, possibly the brass isn't springing back and small scratches in the chamber that might not be causing an issue at normal pressures could be manifesting in an overpressure situation.

Just spitballing so far- what is the chambering, and round count on this 30 year old rifle?

 

[Koda_]

firs thing I would check is for a carbon ring in the chamber throat area.

 

[Brother Buckwheat]

Rem 700 stainless, 300 Win mag., 3-400 rounds max. I have a little over 600 factory core loct rounds left
Bolt.lift is not really an issue, lifts just fine just won't come back without a wooden mallet forcefully "popping" it back. Seems that once past the scratches near the belt the bolt is pinky loose.
The fired Barnes head-stamped empties will not rechamber, the empty Coreloct will. This is all factory ammo shot at around 70 degrees and 5500 foot elevation. I've never reloaded for this gun because I have an abundance of factory coreloct that I acquired when I purchased the rifle. And should I want to reload, I would just neck size and bump back the shoulder which it seems I will be doing with the core loct brass to satisfy the state requirement on non lead bullets.
No carbon ring in the throat, the problem is at the belt area.

 

[338 dude]

Check the length of your cartridge base to ogive. The all copper bullet will be longer to be of equal weight you're probably jamming now and we're not before.

 

[David_h]

No carbon ring, but is there any opportunity to remove copper fouling in the barrel? Then try again. If still hanging up then retire that ammo and try another brand.

 

[Brother Buckwheat]

Bore is clean, used Wipe Out and an Iosso brush until no blue on the patches when groups started to open up and have around 10 rounds through it now so I don't believe copper fouling is the problem.

 

[tobnpr]

Bolt.lift is not really an issue, lifts just fine just won't come back without a wooden mallet forcefully "popping" it back. Seems that once past the scratches near the belt the bolt is pinky loose.

That's an odd one.
M700's are often known for lousy primary extraction- older ones (and the new production ones now) are better in that regard of timing the bolt handle and clearance at the ramp. But you've got no problem with primary extraction...so I've got no clue as to how the case would be hard to extract- after you've already broken it loose from the chamber wall, makes no sense to me.

Any issues chambering and ejecting an unfired round? As 338 suggested, make sure there's clearance. Since you don't reload you don't have a comparator- so take a Sharpie and color the bullet (and I would also do the back of the case where you're getting the scratches), then chamber and eject the unfired round. See what you've got after.

 

[Brother Buckwheat]

Unfired Barnes round chambers and ejects fine. Sharpie shows no contact inside chamber or on the lands.
I can also just drop it down the chamber and tilt the barrel up and it falls right out.
OAL is 3.31 on my caliper.
Would you think overpressure with factory rounds? Though the primers don't show it to me. But I'm not that experienced in that respect.
Thank you guys for trying to help me sort this out.

 

[Koda_]

Would you think overpressure with factory rounds? Though the primers don't show it to me. But I'm not that experienced in that respect.

I once had a few rounds of Hornady factory 30-30 ftx ammo show splits on the sides of the cases after firing.
for what thats worth... certainly not common, but not impossible.

Might be worth contacting your ammo brand to see if they are having issues with a production run.

OAL is 3.31 on my caliper.

I would pull one of their bullets and compare your distance to lands using their bullet. Thats getting pretty close to saami max, you could have a shorter freebore maybe.

 

[hesse]

Yes I do believe so . I had a problem with Barnes ammo years ago the ammo had a 2 and a half grains of powder difference and everything in-between so it would shoot high then low then right on. We pulled every round apart and measured the charge this is a 300wsm. Hope this helps

 

[tobnpr]

If you've got calipers or a mike, I'd check the cases just forward of the belt for the hell of it. Fired/unfired, Barnes vs Rem. I suspect perhaps the Barnes brass isn't springing back after firing as much as the Rem. Like I said, I'm hung up on the fact that you can break the case free from the chamber just fine with "normal" bolt lift- but somehow the case is still stuck after doing so. All I can come up with is the case may still be tight further into the chamber. The scratches are also puzzling- you'd need to section a piece of brass to confirm- but the case should still be pretty thick just ahead of the belt even though it's still supported by the chamber in that area. Trying to figure out why scratches on one type, but not another...

I have limited experience with solids- but I've seen some barrels foul heavily from them. Existing copper fouling will exacerbate this- have you recently stripped copper from the bore?

 

[Brother Buckwheat]

If you've got calipers or a mike, I'd check the cases just forward of the belt for the hell of it. Fired/unfired, Barnes vs Rem. I suspect perhaps the Barnes brass isn't springing back after firing as much as the Rem. Like I said, I'm hung up on the fact that you can break the case free from the chamber just fine with "normal" bolt lift- but somehow the case is still stuck after doing so. All I can come up with is the case may still be tight further into the chamber. The scratches are also puzzling- you'd need to section a piece of brass to confirm- but the case should still be pretty thick just ahead of the belt even though it's still supported by the chamber in that area. Trying to figure out why scratches on one type, but not another...

I have limited experience with solids- but I've seen some barrels foul heavily from them. Existing copper fouling will exacerbate this- have you recently stripped copper from the bore?

I don't believe the case is "breaking free" at bolt lift, as the scratches are straight.
With my cheap calipers-
Unfired Barnes:.50
Unfired Barnes: .51
Fired Barnes: .51, .52. .52
Fired Rem.: .50
on the samples I kept separate.
Perhaps the Barnes aren't springing back.
This is my first experience also with copper. Perhaps pressure or brass thickness as you suggest.
It's going to be a while until I can really experiment as I have a box of Hammer bullets I'm going to reload with the Rem. empties. But that will be after deer season and waterfowl season ends, and finish a remodel, you know life gets in the way.
I'll contact Barnes soon and have a chat with them. I don't think Rem. will be much help as the Coreloct was purchased well before their fiasco they went through.
As I said before the barrel was cleaned well (over a 2-day period) with Wipe Out until No copper showed on my patches. I was previously using an ammonia-based bore cleaner that I would have to go out to the shop and look at the brand.

 

[26Reload]

Looks like you have the same markings showing on the corelok....just not near as bad as the barnes....
Have you checked the area of the chamber scratching with a borescope?
Maybe just a JB polishing of that little area would clean it up...