sticking bolt

[Big_Les]

I got a problem .
Firstly , i should say that i do know a bit about what a sticking bolt can indicate as i reload . However i dont ever recall having a sticking bolt with factory ammo . So here is the situation , i have bought a new outta the box patriot 7mm prc and a box or hornady 175 grain ELD-x Precision Hunter and taken it to the range .
It was a bad day . Three out of three rounds were really sticky on open the bolt . Much more than you would reasonably expect , especially when you expect no problem at all .
For the reloaders , the fired cases are Not longer than the saami 2.80 inch , the necks of the fired cases are the same as saaami 0.317 . THe fired case head is not greater than saami at 0.530 , the shoulder of the case at the widest point of the 30 degree ramp to the neck is the same as saami at 0.518 inch . But heres something i do recognise , light extracter marks, and the primers are showing a hint of cratering as well . So there are some hints of being mildly hot loads .
So , is this a thing ? are others talking about the same thing with the patriot 7mm prc ? Or is there talk about the Hornady 175 gr ELD-x causing problems like this ?

cheers
les

 

[Jmm14534]

Welcome aboard from upstate New York.
A couple of questions. Did you clean the barrel and bolt as on as you took the rifle out of the box? Maybe there’s some grease or oil residue making the chamber slightly small. Take a stiff bore brush to it.
It sounds like you’re using reloads.
Have you tried off the shelf factory made rounds?
If you are using reloads did you full length size the cases?

 

[Big_Les]

Welcome aboard from upstate New York.
A couple of questions. Did you clean the barrel and bolt as on as you took the rifle out of the box? Maybe there’s some grease or oil residue making the chamber slightly small. Take a stiff bore brush to it.
It sounds like you’re using reloads.
Have you tried off the shelf factory made rounds?
If you are using reloads did you full length size the cases?

HI,
thanks for your input . I should clarify , that the ammo i was shooting was infact the Hornady factory ammo . It was this ammo , that was causing the sticky bolt . The new factory ammo loads "fairly " smoothly . The loading is ( however ) not silky smooth , and some minor extra effort is needed to seat the round in the chamber and close the bolt. However the extraction of the fired brass is where the problem is . The first problem is to lift the bolt its real tight , then the effort of pulling the bolt rearward is quite a surprise as well .
AS to cleaning the rifle before the shooting . I just passed the cleaning rod with a brush a few times , ran a couple of 4x2 rags and , applied a little grease to the bolt and took it to the range .

A note here to readers . I have recieved commentary from another shooter using the same ammo , in the same calibre , telling me he had ( initially ) the same problem . However , after some 80 rounds the problem is virtually non existant . So, it looks like the tight chamber of the specification needs to be "worked " by actually putting ammo thru it ? Maybe there is something like a "breaking in " period thats neccessary ?

 

[Bobster]

Have you looked at the chamber with a bore scope? It might be a little rough from machining and "gripping" the expanded cases. You could try a "hillbilly" polish with some "whitening" toothpaste on a chamber brush on a cleaning rod chucked in a drill motor. Or use actual metal polish... This is what I mean by a chamber brush:



Alternately you could use a combination of different size brushes one for the case and one for the neck.

 

[Larry23433]

I haven't bought many new guns that didn't need to be stripped, cleaned, and polished. Even from reputable companies like Mossberg there is often sticky machining oil, chips, or an occasional burr inside. There is also almost always a break in period before stuff loosens up.

I'd degrease it, polish it up like mentioned above, clean it throughout, re-lube it, cycle the action over an over on the couch, then put some more rounds through it (preferably not on the couch) and see if the problem persists.

I had a Savage .300wm that was really bad with an extremely stiff bolt and cases not extracting easily and although Savage was more than happy to take it back and do the work free, it wasn't worth the shipping time. I did it myself and the gun ran like butter afterwards.

I also had a Savage 17hmr with similar problems but no amount of cleaning would fix that dang gun. I eventually sent it back and they said there was too little headspace. Because those guns use a pinned barrel to set headspace they basically said it trash because they can't redrill and oversize the pins like on an AK. They did send me a whole new gun though. I'm not a fan of Savage anymore after that incident but I digress... if you have a set of gauges though, it'd be worth checking that, I cannot fathom them sending out a gun with bad headspace though. Unless you bought a Savage lol.

 

[old mossy]

Also you could try Hoppes #9 gun oil on a scotch brite pad wrapped around a bore brush.