Remington 700 woes

If the extractor was in when the firing pin was out, then its NOT the extractor.

The trigger interacts with the firing pin. If the FP is not letting the trigger go to where it belongs, it might just hang up the bolt as it tries to cock the firing pin.

I would think you need to run your test with a dummy cartridge fed from the magazine (or placed in the chamber) with the firing pin assy. off the bolt. You are checking to see if the extractor will slip/snap over the case rim. If bolt closes the problem is with the firing pin, trigger assy. interface.

If the extractor will not slip over the rim it may be there is too much extractor exposed or the extractor is extremely stiff. Only the small angled surface of the extractor should be visible when looking at the bolt face straight on. The small chamfer (angle) on the case rim engages the angle on the extractor and pushes it back into its recess in the bolt when you push the bolt forward.

The Remington 700 extractor is a little metal clip in the shape of a crescent moon. The traditional one was held in by a rivet the new one is held in by friction.
I think he has the new style one.if so it's not the worst thing in the world to remove it I see if the rifle feeds with no extractor at all in it.

Rivet, post # 16

Ah. Those occasionally break. But they seldom give any issues, and snap over rims easily. But.... AFAIK, they come in a different size for every boltface diameter. I'm still thinking there's a trigger problem but is it worth looking into just having the wrong extractor. Jeeze this isnt Rocket science.