Guys.. I’m beyond frustrated with this rifle. It is a brand spanking new, never fired , Rem 700.
I bought it for my brother ( Sgt USMC ret, Scout/ Sniper, Counter Sniper Spec, Quantico Scout/Sniper Inst ), so the closest I could get, to his beloved M40, within my own means, was a new Rem 700.
It will cycle and chamber factory j-word ammo, no problem. For the very life of me, I cannot get it to fully chamber ANY of my half dozen .30 cal cast boolits…
I have not fired it, and I have not slugged it, as I want to give it to him PRISTINE and factory mint.
I tried sets of dummy boolits sized in steps of .311, .310 and .309 . Every piece of brass carefully processed … sized, trimmed. I have the .309 and .310 neck expanders, and have made separate sets with both sizes. I even tried to go straight from Small Base sizing die, to seating die, with the slightest bell possible, barely enough to accept .309 sized cast boolits. Every single cartridge attempt easily passes cartridge case drop in block, even after loading.
I got so frustrated, I bought some Sierra 175gr HPBT ( his beloved “hogs tooth”) and some Hornady 150gr BTSP. I made up two dummy rounds of each, in the same carefully processed brass, without doing any neck sizing… going straight from SB sizing die, to seating die ( as they are all boat tails).
All of them feed, cycle and chamber very nicely.
I sat down with those j-word dummies and the .309 cast dummies , in both .309 neck sized and non neck sized. I can’t find any variations in neck measurements that exceed .005
To anger me even further, half of the cast bullet profiles ( the lighter ones ) are even smaller , in exposed profile, than the J-words , in diameter and length.
POI: when I say won’t chamber, I mean they feed from mag, enter the chamber, and start to seat, but just can’t get that last little < 3/16” to close bolt.
I tried to use excessive pressure on the bolt, hoping to mark the powder coat or brass… and have not found any marking at all.
After any dummy has failed to go to battery, I even ran it back thru SB sizer die, with boolit in place, and still won’t chamber.
I do not have these issues loading 30-30 nor .300 BO. I do not have 30-06 to try and compare.
I am at witts end. I actually just ordered a .308 push thru, well … because… it can’t hurt to try, at this point.
I am running out of time, to try to figure this cast issue out, before I have to give him the gift.
I know frustration leads to complications and compounding problems… so any help is more than appreciated.