Remington 700 - why is my bolt is binding?

[Benelli Shooter]

I have a Remington 700 ADL in 30-06. I have had it for years. I removed it from the stock to clean it. I also removed and cleaned the firing pin.

Now the bolt binds when I go to chamber a round. Sometimes the first round binds. Sometimes the first round feeds and the second round binds. The basic problem is that I can not close the bolt on the round.

When I reassembled it, I made sure of the following (I have taken it apart and put it together several times)

1. The follower is in correctly.
2. I did not over torque the screws to the stock. I used a torque wrench set at 35 inch/lbs.
3. The bolt is not binding on the middle stock screw, I can see it is recessed.
4. There is one small screw on the trigger guard. I did not over tighten this one either. It is finger tight.
5. I put together the firing pin assembly just like it initially was.

Is there any other thing that could be wrong?

P.S. I am kind of shocked at how cheaply made the internals of the 700 look when you disassemble it. Everything seems so fragile.

 

[skiking]

Did you put too long a screw for the front screw causing the bolt lugs to catch the screw?

 

[Horsemany]

Back off the front screw a turn and see if the problem goes away.

 

[Benelli Shooter]

Thanks. I have the right bolts where they should be. I backed things off and it still binds.

 

[Martyk]

Is it binding when you push it forward to battery or when you rotate the handle down to lock it up? If it's when you push it forward, how far before the binding begins, halfway, three quarters?

 

[Benelli Shooter]

Thanks. It is binding when I try to rotate the handle down to lock it up.

 

[Geno]

Now the bolt binds when I go to chamber a round. Sometimes the first round binds. Sometimes the first round feeds and the second round binds. The basic problem is that I can not close the bolt on the round.

I had this with an M700. Check the extractor. I'd bet you are binding there, as the bolt tries to slide the extractor over and allow the cartridge head to be engaged inside of the recessed bolt face. Try to force it a bit...not too much. Then, extract the round and look at the brass. If the base of the cartridge is chewed up, you need a new extractor. It can shave off brass from the first round, then have too much brass build-up to function. Ironically, this happened to a brand new rifle, as in NIB.

Edit to add, remove your bolt and look at the bolt face. Does it have brass residue on it...brass dust, brass shavings?

Geno

 

[dakotasin]

did you remove the base screws?

 

[Benelli Shooter]

Dakotaskin, you hit a home run. The extractor looks deformed, there are marks on the rims of the rounds I loaded, and there are shavings on the bolt face. Bingo.

looking at the extractor, I am amazed that it is soooo fragile. It does not look like a very good design. I am not really a bolt gun expert. But, the CRF guys just became a bit smarter in my eyes at this point.

Is it hard to replace the extractor?

 

[Geno]

Cool! Problem solved! I had mine changed out by the gunsmith. There are two types of M700 extractors. The one type you have to have installed because if gets fixed by rivets. Or you need a proper tool. The second type is held in place by pegs that lie in the rivet holes. I had mine switched from the first type to the latter so I could make future change-outs myself.

I experienced this failure for the first time back in about 1986, while on a deer hunt. I fired off the fire round, and the second would not chamber. Lucky for me I hit the deer on the first shot.

Geno

 

[Benelli Shooter]

I took a small screwdriver and the extractor popped right out. The gun was made about 8 years ago. Is that all there is to it? Do I just buy a new one and snap it in?

 

[Geno]

Depending on the type of extractor, that it popped right out may be the very problem.

The one type must be secured, the other can be ownered-changed. Take a picture of the extractor and post it here, as well as a picture of the bolt-face and post it.

Did you know that you can have a gunsmith install an M16-styled extractor on that bolt? I have considered sending my M700 Tactical for that.

Geno