Rem 700 bolt problem

[725]

Tryin' to fix a Rem 700 long action bolt. Plunger is stuck flat with the bolt face. Have removed the roll pin retainer, wiggled the plunger in and out as much as I could, soaked it in Ed's Red and am about to hit it with compressed air. Any tricks to help me free up this thing?

[Mooseman]

I have never seen one stuck that bad. You might try using a grease gun for a chainsaw that has a point on it to hydraulically force it out thru the retaining pin hole.May have to block one side of the hole with a pin.

[hithard]

Sounds like you have a small burr on the lip of the plunger hole. I would check, as it will take alot of force to push it out past any kind of burr.

[Nobade]

Use a small ball cutter (like made for a dremel tool) that will fit in the ejector hole but not hit the side of the bolt and turn it gently by hand. A burr or brass buildup will make this happen. Next time don't load the ammo so hot.

[725]

No burr on the lip. I checked. Ammo stiff but not hot. I think the problem originated with the shoulder too far out. Snug closure accumulated brass. Will try some kind of grease pressure and spin the plunger in the bolt. Might as well order him a new plunger now 'cause this does not bode well for the future. Thanks, guys.

[Hardcast416taylor]

A gunsmith friend once told me a similar story like yours. A man was loading 7mm Rem. Mag. ammo using the same hot load data he had used from the `70`s. He bought new H4831 and new Fed. Mag. primers and new Speer 145 gr. "J" bullets as he had used all these same componets back then for his 1 gr. over MAX load. On every shot he got hard extraction, pierced primers and a jammed ejector on his Klinegunther K15 rifle. The smith had to replace the ejector spring 3 times for the guy as well as dig out the ejector once. When the evidence was shown for the cause the smith advised the man to start at a lower load level and work up. Powder and primer compounds change over the years due to different batches of chemicals being made and used. These changes can cause "squirrelly" pressure changes and do damage to the firearm. It may be the same brand and number of primer and powder you used back then, but the chemicals used in making them now has changed.Robert

[felix]

Happens all the time. Folks are spoiled by brand names, which says NOTHING about the object being purchased. Thanks to Madison Avenue NYC for the illusions of quality being a function of how well something is advertised. ... felix

[725]

Well, this is a 7 Mag, but the load is less than published max. I've FL sized the brass and then resized in a collet type sizer to address the base near the belt. It only works at the base and not anywhere near the shoulder. What I think that has done is after a FL size and trim is to lengthen the brass to a point the shoulder is causing a tight fit. It's the tight fit I think is causing the brass to (tech term here) smoosh into the bolt face and abraid the base of the cartridge across the face of the bolt. Brass is rubbed into the plunger hole and thus gives the problem.

[fouronesix]

Well if it is just some brass causing the interference then that's a lot better than peened steel! I haven't tried it on the 700s I've had, but can you take a flat punch and push the ejector farther into the bolt? If so, I'd take a small mallet and the flat punch and tap the ejector in lightly and see if pops back up to at least the bolt face. Just keep doing that and it may loosen enough to remove it. Then take care of the problem bur or piece of brass or whatever is in there. That ejector is fairly hard material so would be a bugger to drill/tap to remove. So if the punch tapping doesn't work then maybe JB Weld a short rod the diameter of the ejector directly onto the ejector (acetone or alcohol cleaner on both surfaces helps). Then after curing gently rotate and pull up on ejector. If the JB holds well then maybe even chuck in a drill and rotate and pull. 2 cents

This seems so simple but the bugger is that it is a blind hole with only a small coil spring in the bottom and nothing to get ahold of on top or push on from the bottom

[725]

fouronesix,
GREAT idea! Thanks. I'll give it a go. Have been "plunging" the button with no effect. There seems to be soooo much brass in there. It moves ever so little. The positive extraction force might work. It's a tiny surface, but I'll try.

[fouronesix]

725,
Really hope it works! The JB weld idea would be the least drastic thing to try first. Also, hate to think of it, but the other possibility for the problem is that a piece or part of the coil spring has wedged between the ejector or ejector pin raceway and the bolt- if so then more drastic measures may be needed. The only thing then would be to use a very small carbide drill bit, drill into the ejector then use a tap or EZ Out directly into the ejector for more purchase to remove.- brute force option. For sure want to avoid messing with the bolt body itself.