Did you have to do any grinding or lapping? I don't have the tools to grind, or lap in tight spots is why I'm asking. Well, within reason I should say. I'm actually kind of upset with Remington for ever having this problem in the first place. This 7 mag. came from the factory so tight that it wouldn't chamber factory ammunition, much less extract it after firing. This story goes back to the day my Son returned from Afghanistan and bought that SPS for hunting. We slapped a nice VX-III Leupold on it and bought 4 or 5 boxes of Win. and Rem. factory stuff just so he could shoot it right away, and collect brass at the same time. I did a detail cleaning job on it, mounted the glass, and then it wouldn't chamber but just a few of the factory rounds. The ones that did chamber were so tight, that I became concerned about galling the lugs, so we stopped trying to shoot them. But not only would they not chamber properly, they wouldn't extract, well at least not without having to use brute force on the bolt handle.
I've obviously done a very complete jon of cleaning it and inspecting it for build up, or machining debrie trapped under it.
The very first round fired is when the extractor was deffinitely damaged due to the amount of force it took to even raise the bolt. And then when we had to litterally pound the bolt open is when it probably sheared a portion of the extractor off. I realized we should have used a wooden dowel down the barrel to force the case out, but my Son was impatient and just wanted to shoot his new toy. So not having a cleaning rod with us, we were left with the only other option, beat it open with a towel wrapped around the handle to protect it from damage. It won't hold onto any case head with reliable grip. I've been coping with it by making sure I carefully form all of the brass for it, so there is very little resistence needed to extract them, and I still get cases that require a light tap from a rod, and I mean a very light tap too.
Regarding the tight head space, it's not a problem and actually contributes to longer brass life because I don't have to work the brass as much. When I need to use the FL die, all I have to do is adjust it for a full cam over contact with the shell holder, and head space is perfect. So it's deffinitely convenient in this respect. And it's also a tack driver, so no complaints there either. It has an unusually short throat too, so I never have problems reaching the lands and still maintaining good case depth with any bullet, even when loading the light 100 gr. varmit bullets.
