What is going on with this brass?

[Nmm347]

I'm fighting an issue and could use some help. For background, I have a factory new Rem 700 in 7mm rem mag with about 100 rounds through it. Factory and reloaded ammo loads without issue and after firing the bolt lifts but on some it won't pull back. On half I can get it to pull back with extra force others require a tap on the bolt with a rubber mallet before it will come out. Regardless if the brass extracted fine or not I cannot get any of the fired brass to rechamber. When I try to stick a piece of fired brass in the chamber it gets stuck just shy of two-tenths of an inch from the belt. This spot matches exactly a ring I'm seeing around the brass. Once the brass is FL resized it loads without issue.

What could be going on here? My first thought is the bolt face isn't true to the chamber but I don't want to spend 200 on trueing the action and bolt if it won't fix the problem. The gun shoots great with my last two groups at 100 of .24 and .20 of an inch but a rapid follow on shot is currently out of the question. Attached is a pic showing the marks on the case where it gets stuck.

 

[Georgiashooter]

can you get measurements in the area that's looks bulged in pics? Also with a headspace comparator, pics are a little distorted but it looks to be either an elliptical shaped or just oversized chamber just ahead of belt. Could also be excessive headspace.

 

[CatShooter]

I'm fighting an issue and could use some help. For background, I have a factory new Rem 700 in 7mm rem mag with about 100 rounds through it. Factory and reloaded ammo loads without issue and after firing the bolt lifts but on some it won't pull back. On half I can get it to pull back with extra force others require a tap on the bolt with a rubber mallet before it will come out. Regardless if the brass extracted fine or not I cannot get any of the fired brass to rechamber. When I try to stick a piece of fired brass in the chamber it gets stuck just shy of two-tenths of an inch from the belt. This spot matches exactly a ring I'm seeing around the brass. Once the brass is FL resized it loads without issue.

What could be going on here? My first thought is the bolt face isn't true to the chamber but I don't want to spend 200 on trueing the action and bolt if it won't fix the problem. The gun shoots great with my last two groups at 100 of .24 and .20 of an inch but a rapid follow on shot is currently out of the question. Attached is a pic showing the marks on the case where it gets stuck.

The chamber is rough - have a good smith polish the chamber.

 

[Nmm347]

can you get measurements in the area that's looks bulged in pics? Also with a headspace comparator, pics are a little distorted but it looks to be either an elliptical shaped or just oversized chamber just ahead of belt. Could also be excessive headspace.

Measurements .075 before the line, on the line, and .075 after the line are .5115 .5110 and .5110. It looks like a bulge but I can't find one with the caliper.

 

[Georgiashooter]

I believe cat shooter is correct with rough chamber. The scratches made it appear bulged.

 

[Mikecr]

after firing the bolt lifts but on some it won't pull back. On half I can get it to pull back with extra force others require a tap on the bolt with a rubber mallet before it will come out.

To me this sounds like the action is mistimed, in that the bolt may not be engaging the extraction ramp early enough.
No matter the interference fit of your brass/chamber, by full turn of the bolt handle(even if you have to beat that handle turn) the cases should be freed for removal.
A gunsmith can fix this.

 

[blinderthanascope]

are you full length sizing your brass, try running the FL sizing die down a bit or you can take a long arbor with steel wool 0000 and a good sized brush with a little isso and polish the area lightly, best to have a borescope and look around or use a sharpie and color in the web area on the brass and see what it looks like after extraction, but take a light after cleaning the chamber well and see if you see any tooling marks

 

[CatShooter]

are you full length sizing your brass, try running the FL sizing die down a bit or you can take a long arbor with steel wool 0000 and a good sized brush with a little isso and polish the area lightly, best to have a borescope and look around or use a sharpie and color in the web area on the brass and see what it looks like after extraction, but take a light after cleaning the chamber well and see if you see any tooling marks

Never EVER try to polish a chamber with steel wool - you will ruin the chamber and need the barrel to be setback or a new barrel.

And IOSSO does nothing to steel... it is designed to polish brass, not steel.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Never EVER try to polish a chamber with steel wool - you will ruin the chamber and need the barrel to be setback or a new barrel.

And IOSSO does nothing to steel... it is designed to polish brass, not steel.

yup, a bit of fine wet or dry paper on a mandrel would be my choice... I've seen the catchy brass issue before on belted mags and fixed it this way. This is getting into gunsmithing land but a bit of work with fine wet or dry paper won't hurt if you are careful.

 

[g0rd0]

some good advice, some maybe not so good.
First contact Remington if it is a new rifle they should be able fix the problem. They will want your sales invoice and the brass that was sticking.
Barring that it may just be the brand of brass, I have a Savage 111 in 7rm and the bolt always sticks ( hard to lift ), when I use Remington brass and Remington ammo. Factory, fl sized or collet sized. So I only use federal brass and that solved my problem

 

[CatShooter]

some good advice, some maybe not so good.
First contact Remington if it is a new rifle they should be able fix the problem. They will want your sales invoice and the brass that was sticking.
Barring that it may just be the brand of brass, I have a Savage 111 in 7rm and the bolt always sticks ( hard to lift ), when I use Remington brass and Remington ammo. Factory, fl sized or collet sized. So I only use federal brass and that solved my problem

He doesn't need the sales invoice - just send the brass back with the rifle, and a letter describing the problem.

 

[Gunpoor]

Yep, send the rifle back to Big Green. Call them and get a pick-up order so that they will know it is in-bound and probably pay the shipping charge. 866-662-4869

 

[Mikecr]

it may just be the brand of brass, I have a Savage 111 in 7rm and the bolt always sticks ( hard to lift ), when I use Remington brass and Remington ammo.

He isn't talking about popping extraction. He describes primary extraction failure. There is a difference, and it's fairly common.
Remington will just grab another bolt off the line & swap out that much of the problem.

There is still the issue of interference fitting cases, which may lead to popping extraction as well (bolt click at the top). It's big clearances that leads to this (not tight clearances). When cases yield a lot on firing (from excess expansion) they lose ductility. The granular structure breaks leaving brass harder, but it does not spring back as far. No amount of sizing will ever recover that either. Only process annealing recovers grain structure. On next firing, with big clearances, the brass will go right back there. Back to it's new balance.

So where the brass goes to should not be a problem. It expands to the chamber wall, which should expand way less, and the brass would then spring back more than the chamber, clear of it. But if you don't have enough barrel steel around the chamber pressure per area, and enough breach support, that chamber can expand too much. It then snaps back more than the brass, leaving interference fit (popping extraction). The extraction friction there could be addressed. That's one way to handle a poor plan. You could change brass, and/or find a lower pressure load.
You could change the barrel, going with a chamber that better fits new cases to begin. That's a wee bit more barrel steel around the chamber, and preventing new cases from yielding to problem. Maybe add a coned bolt/breach, which extends tenon threading/breach support. You could change the action to one with a larger diameter & finer thread tenon. That would be departing from Remington finally, and going aftermarket build on an action that is not a Remington clone -for magnum diameter cartridges. Or maybe go Savage.. That doesn't help you, I know, and Remington is not going to help you here either..

 

[CatShooter]

He isn't talking about popping extraction. He describes primary extraction failure. There is a difference, and it's fairly common.
Remington will just grab another bolt off the line & swap out that much of the problem.

It is not a bolt problem - it is a chamber problem.
I own two Remingtons in belted calibres - a 300 WM and a 264 WM... I drive them both hard.

I get nothing like the fugly scratches and swelling that the OPs pictures showed... I get a very small enlargement that you need to work to see.

There is still the issue of interference fitting cases, which may lead to popping extraction as well (bolt click at the top).
It's big clearances that leads to this (not tight clearances). When cases yield a lot on firing (from excess expansion) they lose ductility.
The granular structure breaks leaving brass harder, but it does not spring back as far. No amount of sizing will ever recover that either.

Only process annealing recovers grain structure. On next firing, with big clearances, the brass will go right back there. Back to it's new balance.

None of that makes sense, or fits the OP's situation - these are once, first time fired, cases - there is no issue of memory.

So where the brass goes to should not be a problem. It expands to the chamber wall, which should expand way less, and the brass would then spring back more than the chamber, clear of it.

But if you don't have enough barrel steel around the chamber pressure per area, and enough breach support, that chamber can expand too much.
It then snaps back more than the brass, leaving interference fit (popping extraction). The extraction friction there could be addressed.
That's one way to handle a poor plan. You could change brass, and/or find a lower pressure load.
You could change the barrel, going with a chamber that better fits new cases to begin.

How come Remington has been making M-700's in belted calibres for eleventy million years with no problem, and now, all of a sudden, it is a bad design for belted cases ((((

I think not.

That's a wee bit more barrel steel around the chamber, and preventing new cases from yielding to problem. Maybe add a coned bolt/breach, which extends tenon threading/breach support. You could change the action to one with a larger diameter & finer thread tenon. That would be departing from Remington finally, and going aftermarket build on an action that is not a Remington clone -for magnum diameter cartridges. Or maybe go Savage.. That doesn't help you, I know, and Remington is not going to help you here either...

You need to write to Remington and tell them how their rifles are no good... and offer to redesign theme for a fee (or maybe for free).