Is the bolt lift hard when you cycle it with a fired but not resized case? If so, you may have a die issue. Just a thought.
Paul
Paul
Sticky bolt
- Thread starter SST2500
- Start date
jelenko
Gold $$ Contributor
If the stickiness is coming from the front of the lugs engaging the backend of the remage barrel, blueprinting might not address the condition. [As far as I know, blueprinting doesn't involved the muzzle side of the locking lugs].
If you wanted to see if this is the issue, just coat the muzzle side of the locking lugs with a marking ink, open/close the bolt a couple times and look.
If you wanted to see if this is the issue, just coat the muzzle side of the locking lugs with a marking ink, open/close the bolt a couple times and look.
Freebore isn't where the bullets are in relation to the barrel, but the amount it lets the bullet sticking the case. Short freebores take up capacity which makes more pressure. In other words a 6 Dasher with .104 freebore and one with .155 freebore can both have bullets jumping or in the lands. Usually the one with .155 can run more powder and more velocity without pressure. Matt
You sure It's not just pressure?
I've a 40X and with three different barrels I've not been able to get much more than 2800fps before shiny marks from the ejector. Thats' with 105 class bullets and different powders. If you have a slightly slower burning powder I'd try that or just load a lower charge weight with what you have and see if the sticky extraction goes away. If only to rule that out.
I've a 40X and with three different barrels I've not been able to get much more than 2800fps before shiny marks from the ejector. Thats' with 105 class bullets and different powders. If you have a slightly slower burning powder I'd try that or just load a lower charge weight with what you have and see if the sticky extraction goes away. If only to rule that out.
SST2500
Gold $$ Contributor
There’s no powder capacity issue with the load I’m running. The case is probably 85% to 90% full. This load is nowhere near being compressed in the case with this bullet. If I was shooting a compressed load, I would agree that could be causing pressure issues but this is not compressed. As far as the bolt face rubbing on the barrel, the bolt opens and closes perfectly without a round in the chamber and perfectly with the above loaded round. The bolt does not stick until I have fired a round. Normally when a Remington action is blueprinted, the bolt face, the front of the lugs, the bolt nose and the rear of the lugs are all trued up as a matter of just having the bolt running true in the lathe. Some of it is strictly cosmetic, i.e. the bolt nose and the front of the lugs.
The scope of "Blueprinting" varies widely. If the bolt was not bushed, the bolt body will not stay centered in the raceway due to normal tolerance stackups. Also, I don't believe it is normal to skim cut the front of the lugs. Not sure you have confirmed if the bolt face is touching the barrel, but if it is that is not a good thing.
Already mentioned but, the case, just ahead or the web, has expanded too big for the chamber. Have Whidden make a custom die for YOUR chamber.
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SST2500
Gold $$ Contributor
I may not understand what you are talking about as far as the web expanding too big for the chamber but none of the reloaded rounds are hard to chamber. I measured the web on a new unfired case - .469. Measured a fired case - .471. Measured a resized case - .471. You are correct that the fl sizing die is not resizing the base of the case but I have no trouble chambering any of the reloaded rounds.
??? So you are not FL sizing every time?
DHuffman
Silver $$ Contributor
If you don't have enough freebore for the long heavy bullet you are shooting it doesn't matter if you're jumping .010" or jamming .012" you could still have too much bullet in the neck consuming case capacity and increasing pressure.
I shoot the 105 hybrids with h4895 w/27 grains. Not a fast load. 2,700 but damn accurate. I jam mine .010 into the lands with barly any neck tension. Loaded round measures .269 and my neck bushing is .269. How much neck tension are you setting? If its a lot that could spike when jammed. Also you said this was happening before blueprinted? I ask because i have people i know have issues with bolt timing after blueprinted on actions with s/n with RR in beginning. Mine starts with RR but is not blueprinted.
Ok, maybe I didn’t see this suggestion, Do you have a small base sizer die? Even a 308, 270, or 30-06? If so, try that. My Palma rifle has a very tight chamber and even with mild loads, I get a bolt click, or sticky extraction, from an undersized base. A Small base sizer fixed the issue. And actually I prefer using one of a longer case so that I get full length small base sizing without bumping the shoulder to far back,
Dave
Dave
I suspect that you are getting false indications of high pressure.
Try removing the firing pin assembly and cleaning the threads inside and out. Then a bit of lug grease on the male threads. Screw it in and out of the bolt body to distribute the grease and reassemble. Also lube the cocking cam and follower.
I saw this exact thing some years ago with a new shooter with a new Remington action next to me at a benchrest match, complaining about high pressure. His load and cases looked fine. I keep a disassembly tool in my cleaning kit, so I did the above routine on his bolt for him. After his next match at 200 yds, he was beaming and amazed at the difference. Shot a nice group, and the bolt opened smooth and easy. All "high pressure" signs were gone!!
SST2500
Gold $$ Contributor
That’s something I haven’t heard before. Real easy to try that for a fix. I’ll remove it and clean and lube it back up to see if that cures the issue. I’ll also try resizing the base back to .469 with a die and see if that cures the issue. By the way, I am running 0.002 of neck tension on neck turned cases with a wall thickness of 0.0125.
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While you have the firing pin assembly removed is a good time to check the "feel" of your resized cases to make sure that they chamber easily. Full length sizing can make the case body a bit long if the die is not turned in far enough, and create other false impressions.
Well 2810 + fps with a 109 is an HOT load for a 6BR. Back the lold and you’ll solve the issue.
Things I consider for heavy bolt lift on a new rifle other than over-pressure loads (as determined by pierced primers, ejector marks on the brass, or enlarged primer pockets):
a) Firing brass that is 0.020" or so too short or fire forming brass can quickly build up a ceramic-like carbon ring in the front of the chamber throat. Clean it out with a metal polish called "SemiChrome". Regular solvent won't cut the ceramic-like deposit.
b) When Rem 700 lugs are trued, material is removed from the rear of the bolt lugs and from the front of the receiver lugs for a nice 100% matchup. This is a critical improvement for precision, however the bolt will sit further back in the receiver once this is done. This can cause two issues:
1. Bolt timing: The bolt handle is further than 0.010-0.015" behind the back of the receiver. It does not strike the extraction ramp on the left side of the receiver sufficiently enough to extract the cartridge a few thousandths to break the brass from the chamber. The bolt handle needs to be re-attached with proper 0.010" spacing from the receiver. It was common for new receivers from Remington just prior to their bankruptcy to be mis-timed from the factory and lug truing really threw them off. They also had rounded corners on the outside edges of the lugs with terrible lug alignment so while truing the receiver, you often had to remove a lot of material to get 100% lug matchup. I had two in a row that would have required re-timing the bolt handle even before I removed lug material. I recommend a gunsmith for this repair but you can move the bolt handle yourself with a youtube video, a propane torch, a small needle nosed vice grip and gunsmith's silver solder/flux and emery paper, a sand blaster and paint setup. It is tricky though and can be quite frustrating for beginners. You can also send your bolt in to a guy online that specializes in this bolt timing for a very reasonable fee.
2. The rear of the bolt handle is striking the receiver bolt slot or the stock and the expansion of the brass in the chamber is holding the bolt handle firmly against the receiver or stock as you lift the bolt. Use a small flat file to remove material from the rear of the bolt handle, the stock or the receiver bolt slot until it no longer makes contact when firing. You can patch scraped surface with Cerakote. bluing or flat black paint depending on your finish. You can easily do this repair yourself with a flat file and paint.
b) Tool chatter marks on the chamber throat will catch the brass because the throat is not tapered like the rest of the chamber. Look with a bore scope for machine tooling marks in the throat of the chamber. Carbon ring in the throat from short brass firing could do it too. Check the chamber throat with a bore scope. Wrap an oiled 600 grit emery cloth around a 1/4" dowel and gently hone the throat until smooth. Take only the absolute minimum of throat. If you see a carbon build up in the front of the chamber, use SemiChrome metal cleaner to swab the carbon away (normal solvents will not remove the hard baked carbon). You can do this yourself with a bore scope, dowel and emery cloth. It is easier if you take off the barrel but could even be done with the barrel installed.
c) The depth of the counterbore in the rear of the barrel (the bolt nose inserts into this recess) is cut too deep. These are normally 0.145"-0.150" deep from the bolt face depending on the depth of your bolt face after action truing. Excess protrusion of the case from the chamber will expand the brass right ahead of the rim and make it stick firmly to the back of the chamber. There is usually an "incipient head separation" line just ahead of the case web that that you can feel or see. This condition will not only cause a sticky bolt but may cause head separation after a couple of firings. This must be done by a gunsmith unless you have a lathe. Since you have a Remage setup, you can quite easily remove your barrel and measure the depth of the counterbore. If the depth of the counterbore is greater than 0.150", take it to a gunsmith to check it out.
If you don't have a bore scope, I highly recommend that you get one. It will improve your accuracy because you will be able to monitor the status of your barrel to ensure proper cleaning, throat wear, crown wear, etc. at will. You can buy expensive bore scopes but for the competitive shooter the TestLong product for around $65 does an excellent job in conjunction with a smart phone.
a) Firing brass that is 0.020" or so too short or fire forming brass can quickly build up a ceramic-like carbon ring in the front of the chamber throat. Clean it out with a metal polish called "SemiChrome". Regular solvent won't cut the ceramic-like deposit.
b) When Rem 700 lugs are trued, material is removed from the rear of the bolt lugs and from the front of the receiver lugs for a nice 100% matchup. This is a critical improvement for precision, however the bolt will sit further back in the receiver once this is done. This can cause two issues:
1. Bolt timing: The bolt handle is further than 0.010-0.015" behind the back of the receiver. It does not strike the extraction ramp on the left side of the receiver sufficiently enough to extract the cartridge a few thousandths to break the brass from the chamber. The bolt handle needs to be re-attached with proper 0.010" spacing from the receiver. It was common for new receivers from Remington just prior to their bankruptcy to be mis-timed from the factory and lug truing really threw them off. They also had rounded corners on the outside edges of the lugs with terrible lug alignment so while truing the receiver, you often had to remove a lot of material to get 100% lug matchup. I had two in a row that would have required re-timing the bolt handle even before I removed lug material. I recommend a gunsmith for this repair but you can move the bolt handle yourself with a youtube video, a propane torch, a small needle nosed vice grip and gunsmith's silver solder/flux and emery paper, a sand blaster and paint setup. It is tricky though and can be quite frustrating for beginners. You can also send your bolt in to a guy online that specializes in this bolt timing for a very reasonable fee.
2. The rear of the bolt handle is striking the receiver bolt slot or the stock and the expansion of the brass in the chamber is holding the bolt handle firmly against the receiver or stock as you lift the bolt. Use a small flat file to remove material from the rear of the bolt handle, the stock or the receiver bolt slot until it no longer makes contact when firing. You can patch scraped surface with Cerakote. bluing or flat black paint depending on your finish. You can easily do this repair yourself with a flat file and paint.
b) Tool chatter marks on the chamber throat will catch the brass because the throat is not tapered like the rest of the chamber. Look with a bore scope for machine tooling marks in the throat of the chamber. Carbon ring in the throat from short brass firing could do it too. Check the chamber throat with a bore scope. Wrap an oiled 600 grit emery cloth around a 1/4" dowel and gently hone the throat until smooth. Take only the absolute minimum of throat. If you see a carbon build up in the front of the chamber, use SemiChrome metal cleaner to swab the carbon away (normal solvents will not remove the hard baked carbon). You can do this yourself with a bore scope, dowel and emery cloth. It is easier if you take off the barrel but could even be done with the barrel installed.
c) The depth of the counterbore in the rear of the barrel (the bolt nose inserts into this recess) is cut too deep. These are normally 0.145"-0.150" deep from the bolt face depending on the depth of your bolt face after action truing. Excess protrusion of the case from the chamber will expand the brass right ahead of the rim and make it stick firmly to the back of the chamber. There is usually an "incipient head separation" line just ahead of the case web that that you can feel or see. This condition will not only cause a sticky bolt but may cause head separation after a couple of firings. This must be done by a gunsmith unless you have a lathe. Since you have a Remage setup, you can quite easily remove your barrel and measure the depth of the counterbore. If the depth of the counterbore is greater than 0.150", take it to a gunsmith to check it out.
If you don't have a bore scope, I highly recommend that you get one. It will improve your accuracy because you will be able to monitor the status of your barrel to ensure proper cleaning, throat wear, crown wear, etc. at will. You can buy expensive bore scopes but for the competitive shooter the TestLong product for around $65 does an excellent job in conjunction with a smart phone.
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