rem 700 police bolt hard to close?

Is the ejector leaving a mark on the casehead? Try removing the ejector.
Is the neck expander pulling the shoulder forward slightly when it is dragged through the neck on its way out?
 
Is the neck expander pulling the shoulder forward when it is dragged out of the case? Try a sized case which has not had its neck expanded.
Is the ejector leaving a mark on the casehead? Remove the ejector, and see if the case will seat easily.
 
tiriaq said:
Is the ejector leaving a mark on the casehead? Try removing the ejector.
Is the neck expander pulling the shoulder forward slightly when it is dragged through the neck on its way out?
Click to expand...

Ejector doesnt seem to leave a mark, no.
Neck expander doesnt really have alot of resistance to get out. I would say minimal.

I think my next try is removing the firing pin assembly and trying to close the bolt on factory ammo.
I will try this tonight.

How should the bolt feel when closing on a factory case without the firing pin assembly?
Should I feel some "tightness" or it should pretty much just slip closed like when empty?
 
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Kryogen said:
Ejector doesnt seem to leave a mark, no.
Neck expander doesnt really have alot of resistance to get out. I would say minimal.

I think my next try is removing the firing pin assembly and trying to close the bolt on factory ammo.
I will try this tonight.

How should the bolt feel when closing on a factory case without the firing pin assembly?
Should I feel some "tightness" or it should pretty much just slip closed like when empty?
Click to expand...

There shouldn't be any resistance, if any it would be VERY minimal at least on my rifle.

If you don't have a tool to remove the bolt assembly for the 700, google the shoelace trick.
 
will try it tonight with a shoelace in my vise.

How much headspace should the factory ammo have with the bolt face? 2 thousands at minimum i guess? That means I should not feel any friction or resistance to closing my bolt?

I'll report but my feeling is that there is no headspace, and that a factory round will "barely flush fit with some friction (because the bolt rubs the black marker off the bottom of the case).


If it's the case, that means my headspace isnt enough, right?
And then I would have the option of 1- sending it back to have headspace increased by 2 thousands, or just resize my brass a tad more with my die and be done with it?.
(can a gunsmith adjust headspace by unscrewing the barrel a bit? or it would need reaming?)
 
Kryogen said:
will try it tonight with a shoelace in my vise.
Click to expand...

I use a bootlace tied in a loop. Hook it under my foot, hook the lace onto the bolt and pinch that down with my thumb (keep the bolt at and angle to the shoelace), pull and turn with the the other hand. After a couple turns you don't need the lace anymore.

I can close my bolt on a case with a flick of my pinky on my AAC-SD. Then again, I think the AAC-SD is a pretty loose chamber.

I would much rather send the rifle away to have it done properly than to have to modify my setup to accommodate it.
 
Kryogen said:
.....How should the bolt feel when closing on a factory case without the firing pin assembly?
Should I feel some "tightness" or it should pretty much just slip closed like when empty?
Click to expand...

Apart from snapping the extractor over the rim, and compressing the ejector spring, there should be no resistance.

It would be very much worthwhile to test the rifle with SAAMI spec Go and No Go gauges.
 
bolt even without the firing pin has slight to moderate friction with a factory case.
(drops totally free without a case)
I would guess that headspace is 0 or a tad less.

can a gunsmith adjust this or do I need to send it back to rem?
 
Is it still under warranty? If so, then that's something to consider but you'll be away from your rifle for some time. Not sure how much a gunsmith will charge to fix it but the cost of just a couple weeks wait versus a couple months might be worth it the fee?
 
Have the rifle checked with SAAMI gauges. If it closes freely on the Go, the rifle is in spec. Best practice is to remove the ejector, to get a better feel on the gauge.
 
You can solve all this by not using lee dies lol. Get a quality Redding/forster die set or get the bottom taken off a bit like you said. Like Maynard has already said a million times you need to bump the should back a thou or two. It will solve all this second guessing.
 
Longshot said:
You can solve all this by not using lee dies lol. Get a quality Redding/forster die set or get the bottom taken off a bit like you said. Like Maynard has already said a million times you need to bump the should back a thou or two. It will solve all this second guessing.
Click to expand...

He's used an RCBS Small Base die as well so this is nothing to do with Lee dies.
 
Longshot said:
You can solve all this by not using lee dies lol. Get a quality Redding/forster die set or get the bottom taken off a bit like you said. Like Maynard has already said a million times you need to bump the should back a thou or two. It will solve all this second guessing.
Click to expand...

even factory ammo fits super tight (I would say no headspace). Bolt has slight resistance to close on a factory round.

And then, even rounds resized with an rcbs small base die dont fit.

Since the small base die resizes the body a tad too much, maybe I should just get the lee die grinded 10 thousands, and then adjust for proper headspace until bolt closes without presure.
Cost would probably not be that much to have a die just turned a bit locally.
 
Grinding the Lee collet die will do nothing as it does not touch the shoulder of the case to bump it back. The RCBS SB die should bump the shoulder back as long as the jaws on your press are not interfering, by not allow the case to be inserted into the die far enough to be resized properly. Having a rifle chamber with "0" headspace is a good thing.

Get yourself one of these tools to make sure the locking lug area in your action is clean. A build up of crud and crap in this area will want to force the bolt forward when you close it. Remember you are only talking about a few tenths of a thousands of an inch. The back of your bolt lugs also need to be greased, something that a lot of people do not know.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/gun-cle...clair-action-cleaning-tool-kit-prod35492.aspx

And until you buy one of these, you are just guessing how much you are bumping the shoulder back.
http://www.sinclairintl.com/reloadi...n-mic-cartridge-headspace-tool-prod33476.aspx
 
I was talking about the LEE FL die.
Rifle probably has 0 headspace according to minimum sami spec.

Will buy those things.

Should I have the RCBS SB die cut back, or the lee FL?
I wonder if the small base will resize the case too much when bumping the shoulder back, therefore reducing case life ?
Should I use the lee FL or RCBS SB die to bump the shoulder back?

(And just a lol, on your picture, the cotton rolls included with the cleaning tool are henry schein brand. Those are dental cotton rolls that we use to retract the lip when we do fillings without a rubber dam.
I buy those by the case at the office :p)
 
SB dies will just overwork the case, if you are using these in a bolt gun I would only use them on once fired brass that came out of another rifle. If I had to modify any die it would be the cheapest die that you have.

The cotton rolls work but I like the rectangular felt one better for cleaning the action because they get into the corners a little better.
 
The shoulder of the casing is the issue here. Small base dies don't matter because it's not the head of the case that is the issue. The lee doesn't have enough adjustment to properly bump the shoulder back and to me that is a sign that the dies are probably an issue. I've never run into anything like this with better dies. Either that or (and I'm not trying to be a dink) the op is not using them correctly.
 
Longshot said:
The shoulder of the casing is the issue here. Small base dies don't matter because it's not the head of the case that is the issue. The lee doesn't have enough adjustment to properly bump the shoulder back and to me that is a sign that the dies are probably an issue. I've never run into anything like this with better dies. Either that or (and I'm not trying to be a dink) the op is not using them correctly.
Click to expand...

I'm using it correctly.... I have been reloading for 4-5 other rifle calibers before, and 2 pistol calibers, and never had any issue.
Seriously, how could a person not use a FL die correctly [...] everyone knows that you have to hammer the die on the case.... I am no n00-bee. ;)
newbee.jpg


I'll try to find a place in town where they can machine the die for me.
 
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