Howa 1500 300 Win Mag Bolt Locked and Won't Extract After Firing

[Lefty Dick]

How do uou clean out the mixed steel-wool/rust crud afterwards

Pistol Rod and suitable bore mop, rotate and withdraw.

It’s not like you’ll see crud like a neglected post corrosive ammo milsurp.

BTW, a similar set up with some sort of rust preventative, should be done to all rifle chambers as part of routine maintenance. This keeps you from getting into this predicament to begin with.

A piece of scotch-brite pad, wrapped around a ready for the trash bore brush, and one of those cheapo brass cleaning rods chucked in a cordless drill (just a section or 2), with JB’s bore paste was used to bail a young new shooter out the night before a competition, because you got it, he had his factory ammo locking up his .308….. problem was gone after 30 seconds of slow revolving of the contraption.
He now is far more versed in better maintenance practices after that eye opener..

 

[allthewayaround]

Pistol Rod and suitable bore mop, rotate and withdraw.

It’s not like you’ll see crud like a neglected post corrosive ammo milsurp.

BTW, a similar set up with some sort of rust preventative, should be done to all rifle chambers as part of routine maintenance. This keeps you from getting into this predicament to begin with.

A piece of scotch-brite pad, wrapped around a ready for the trash bore brush, and one of those cheapo brass cleaning rods chucked in a cordless drill (just a section or 2), with JB’s bore paste was used to bail a young new shooter out the night before a competition, because you got it, he had his factory ammo locking up his .308….. problem was gone after 30 seconds of slow revolving of the contraption.
He now is far more versed in better maintenance practices after that eye opener..

I will give this a shot. It's marginally better but still very sticky, and not to the level I would be comfortable enough to take it hunting.

 

[SuperCub]

I stood the rifle in the muzzle and flushed it out with solvent. Brass wool might be a better choice I suppose.

 

[FLHTCUI]

How do uou clean out the mixed steel-wool/rust crud afterwards?

Flush it with either a carbon cleaner in an aerosol can or aerosol gun oil like G-96, Rem lube, etc...
A light polish is all that is required, but myself being a guy who likes to fix things till they break I leave the harder tasks to professionals.
Rob

 

[SuperCub]

A light polish is all that is required

Right .... It doesn't take much to clean up.

.

 

[brybenn]

Hopefully it's just a deep clean issue. My buddy once brought me over a lesser quality bolt gun with the same issue. The screws for the scope rail when torqued down were stopping the bolt. No mark on the bolt but we think it was binding the action. We fixed it with less torque and locktight. The gun runs fine now.
Anyway I hope you post the update from howa and your experience with their warranty. I've read positive things

 

[stubblejumper]

I never fire a rifle new or used, before giving it a good cleaning and proper lube. A rifle can sit for a year or more before being sold, abd the factory lube can turn into crud in that time. And I always run a patch with G-96 gun treatment down the bore/chamber, before storing long term.

 

[allthewayaround]

Quick update: I have cleaned the chamber several more times with several different products and it seems to be getting better. I am going to try to get out and test fire it this weekend to see if it has resolved the issue. It did cycle unfired cartridges before with no issue. It was after they were discharged that the problems started. I will say that the Howa warranty department has been great to deal with and the rep has been quick to respond and very helpful in offering things to try but always letting me know that if the issue persists that I should not hesitate to send it back to them. I will see what shakes out this weekend.

 

[allthewayaround]

Hopefully it's just a deep clean issue. My buddy once brought me over a lesser quality bolt gun with the same issue. The screws for the scope rail when torqued down were stopping the bolt. No mark on the bolt but we think it was binding the action. We fixed it with less torque and locktight. The gun runs fine now.
Anyway I hope you post the update from howa and your experience with their warranty. I've read positive things

I did verify with the Howa rep what the torque specs should be for my rings and I was well within those. And I did check on the scope mounts as i too wondered if they might be part of the issue but the problem was there with the scope and rings removed so that was not it.

 

[Dosing]

1000 grit wet(oil) sandpaper on a dowel, or a chamber mop with metal polish on a slow speed drill used to be the go to back in the days, especially with 762s and BARs people would screw up. Take your time, saw more than one service center pooch a 742 when they way over did it.

 

[156821]

I had almost the exact same problem you reported with a used rem 700 I bought. There was a burr or 2 in the chamber and scratches in the brass could be seen once it was ejected. I sent it back and the chamber was polished on warranty and ran smooth ever since.

 

[allthewayaround]

I had almost the exact same problem you reported with a used rem 700 I bought. There was a burr or 2 in the chamber and scratches in the brass could be seen once it was ejected. I sent it back and the chamber was polished on warranty and ran smooth ever since.

I didn't see any marks or scratches on the brass. I'm going to do another test fire when I get some time and if it doesn't improve Howa said I could send it in.

 

[DaveMachine]

I had this exact same issue with my HS Precision Howa in 300 Win Mag from Tillsonburg. The rifle was 'sticky' with Fed Fusion but not with others when tested by the gunsmith. Rifle was sent to Calgary Shooting Centre under warranty where they touched the chamber with a reamer, Federal ammo now functions fine.

 

[allthewayaround]

I had this exact same issue with my HS Precision Howa in 300 Win Mag from Tillsonburg. The rifle was 'sticky' with Fed Fusion but not with others when tested by the gunsmith. Rifle was sent to Calgary Shooting Centre under warranty where they touched the chamber with a reamer, Federal ammo now functions fine.

This sounds like the exact situation I have as I bought it at Tilsonburg as well. The price was too good to pass up. The Howa rep mentioned it may need a slight touch up with the reamer as well. So it sounds like the batch they had may have had some overly tight tolerances. Thanks for comment. That was helpful.

 

[allthewayaround]

I tried it again this evening and it's no better. In fact, I took a chunk off my knuckle on the scope magnification ring reefing on the bolt trying to get it open. It's going back for warranty.

 

[allthewayaround]

Was sent back for warranty. As another member on here noted, he had the same issue and they touched up the chamber with a reamer. The same was done to mine. I have not fired it yet but fired brass cycles without issues, which was not the case before. The postal strike held up the process but once mailed it was back within two weeks. So no complaints about the service from the Howa rep. and from CSC who did the work. Here is what they said:

" chamber roughness at the neck and belt areas of the cartridge. While not good, we see it across quite a few manufacturers, especially on belted magnums like 300 Win , 7mm Rem Mag etc. Basically, the reamer got dull during cutting causing it to not cut properly. We go in with a new reamer in good condition, remove the roughness and then hone the chamber back to a good finish. Test fired - brass extracts easily now."

 

[todbartell]

Tough fired extraction with different types of ammo is generally a rough chamber

 

[eco]

Was sent back for warranty. As another member on here noted, he had the same issue and the touched up the chamber with a reamer. The same was done to mine. I have not fired it yet but fired brass cycles without issues, which was not the case before. The postal strike held up th process but once mailed it was back within two weeks. So no complaints about the service from the Howa rep. and from CSC who did the work. Here is what they said:

" chamber roughness at the neck and belt areas of the cartridge. While not good, we see it across quite a few manufacturers, especially on belted magnums like 300 Win , 7mm Rem Mag etc. Basically, the reamer got dull during cutting causing it to not cut properly. We go in with a new reamer in good condition, remove the roughness and then hone the chamber back to a good finish. Test fired - brass extracts easily now."

$hit quality control if you ask me. Whatever happened to factory checking everything twice over and test firing it before shipping to dealer/customer.

Never cared for Howa before, now especially after reading this.

 

[allthewayaround]

$hit quality control if you ask me. Whatever happened to factory checking everything twice over and test firing it before shipping to dealer/customer.

Never cared for Howa before, now especially after reading this.

I have never had a Howa but I got an extremely good deal on it, so good I couldn't pass it up. The fit and finish on the rest of it look good, but obviously the innards were not up to standard. Having said that, Howa was excellent to deal with regarding the warranty even though I had not filled in the warranty card and several months had passed since I had purchased the rifle. I agree that quality control was not great and one would expect better but they did resolve the issue quickly and without dispute.

 

[Joel]

Wouldn't be the first company I've heard of shipping out a rifle with issues. If it meant "$hit quality control" across the board, I don't know who we could say has good quality control at this point