Remington 700 Bolt - Is this normal?

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bdbecker

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I was cleaning my Remington 700 SPS Tactical .223 tonight, and I noticed this notch on my bolt. As this is my first bolt action rifle, I'm not too familiar with what is good/bad/normal. All I know is that I'm a little worried about this notch of bare metal - can anyone shed some light on what happenend here?

IMG_5676.jpg
 
At 10 o'clock is the extractor
At 8 o'clock is the ejector

9-10 o'clock looks a bit off. I looks like something was in the way and sheared off some metal.

A little bit more in focus and a better angle pic might help.

Looks like a lot of brass shavings everywhere. Post a pick of the cases if you can.

That extractor looks a bit rough also.

I was hoping the notch was just one of the rear ones that belongs there.

Was it working OK? Did you use any steel cased ammo?
 
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The brass is normal, all rifles with rotating extractors do this. They scrape a little brass as they rotate around the rim during extraction. I don't believe the notch is normal, but under normal circumstances, unlikely to cause a problem.

DPSTX
 
I've never seen a 700 with that much brass everywhere. Mine sure don't, even after 125 rounds. I think the "Notch" is scraping brass. The pics does have yellow spots all over as well so it is hard to tell. My extractor is symmetrical (.308). The one in the pic is asymmetrical.

How many rounds? Was the rifle new or used. Someone may had tried to remove the extractor. That is right about where 1 end of it locates.

JDMorris, can you post a pic of you bolt face? Mainly to see the shape of the extractor.
 
I bought the rifle new in January. Only 70 rounds through it, all brass, no steel case ammo.

I'm pretty sure all 30 of the spent cases extracted just fine on Sunday, but I had a few cases that didn't want to eject. Since I load one round at a time and try to keep my brass for reloading, so I just figured I hit them on my hand and they fell back in when I was trying to catch them.

The yellow spots are brass shavings. I'll try to post a picture of the spent brass tonight.

I've never tried to remove the extractor.

Is this something I should contact Remington about, seeing as how the rifle is only 3 months old?
 
Your extractor does look a little worn to only have 70 rounds through it, and that extra notch is certainly not normal.
 
Contact you closest Remington repair center. They will assess and repair it free of charge. Same happened to a couple of my Remington M700 rifles. It is not a safety issue; it's just a short-term pain in the butt. You have a great rifle, just chill and roll with it. When it's fixed, you will be fully pleased.

Geno
 
...You have a great rifle, just chill and roll with it. When it's fixed, you will be fully pleased.

No worries, its pretty tough to get me wound up. I'm already happy with the rifle, and I've worked in manufacturing long enough to know that "stuff" happens.
 
I bought a new 700 in November, noticed my bolt seems to get a lot of brass on it too. I don't have the extra notch though.
 
Actually at about 11 o'clock is the part of the extractor that actually hooks the rim. The part at 10 o'clock is the end of the extractor piece in its groove. I'm comparing to the clock as it sits in the picture. but that end shouldn't be exposed. It looks like that part of the bolt actually chipped off. If you have too tight of a headspace maybe it caused that, which may also be evidenced by all that brass in the bolt head. My 22-250 Mod. 700 ADL Synthetic shears some brass off the case heads because it has a very tight head space, but the go gauge fits fine, so it's within specs. You might have a reputable gun smith check that out before you shoot it again.
 
My 700's .308 bolt gets the brass deposits fairly regularly. After about 150 rounds the brass starts interfering with the ejection of the spent casings. Not a huge deal as it's usually a rogue piece of brass and is easily fixed. A new toothbrush works wonders on removing the rest of the flakes.

As for the piece missing, I'm not sure if it is the same for all 700's, but my .308 does not have a notch in it like that at the end of the extractor.
 
We'll get to the bottom of this on Saturday, I'm headed home to see my Dad this weekend and we're going to stop by his gunsmith's shop.
 
Photo hard to see. Did part of the extractor break off? Here is what a new style extractor looks like. 712057.jpg :confused:
I'm looking at the bolt out of mine right now. It does appear that the bolt face may have broken a chip out of it. Right at that spot is where excess gases are vented through the bolt. If you shine
a flashlight into the front of the bolt you will be able to see the light through the vent hole in the bottom of the bolt. After looking as closely as I can, the extractor may have moved around just a wee bit. Changing the extractor is fairly simple. If the bolt face has a chip out of it, you may have a real safety issue. Taking it to a gunsmith is the best thing to do. Good luck and good shooting.
 
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I bought the rifle new in January. Only 70 rounds through it, all brass, no steel case ammo.

I'm pretty sure all 30 of the spent cases extracted just fine on Sunday, but I had a few cases that didn't want to eject. Since I load one round at a time and try to keep my brass for reloading, so I just figured I hit them on my hand and they fell back in when I was trying to catch them.

The yellow spots are brass shavings. I'll try to post a picture of the spent brass tonight.

I've never tried to remove the extractor.

Is this something I should contact Remington about, seeing as how the rifle is only 3 months old?
bdbecker; sorry about misspelling you name. Anyway, this should have been may first post to you. Yes, you need to contact Remington. But don't tell them that you reload or they will give you a hassle about warranty repair
 
Good advice there WSM. Never admit you reload. There's no way they can tell. And besides, it's a BS ploy they all use to get out of paying for a mistake they may have made.
 
Yes, you need to contact Remington. But don't tell them that you reload or they will give you a hassle about warranty repair

This is my first .223, and since I like to fireform my brass (really I just like shooting...) luckily it's all been factory loads up to this point.
 
I've been out of state for a few days, bd. What did you find out?

Ended up canceling the trip, maybe this weekend if the weather holds out. I'll post a follow up when I get it all sorted out.
 
Glad I didn't send my rifle into Remington...

I finally made it home last weekend, my Dad and I went to his gunsmith to have him take a look at the bolt. I showed it to him and he asked what the problem was. I said that I was hoping he could tell me. Turns out, the bare metal was just the factory finish wearing off the extractor. It happens with the parkerized finish when the round centers itself on the bolt when being chambered.
 
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