Need Expertise Please To My Mystery

[Rare Breed]

The bolt issue sounds like a shoulder issue to me. I experienced it on reloads and finally determined the resizing die being dirty inside from lots of use combined with lube that wasn’t cutting it was stretching the brass and pulling the shoulder forward when bringing it down out of the die. I cleaned the die and switched lubes and the problem was solved. I know you stated factory ammo but I’ve have had and seen others have issues with factory loads.
The scope issue seems to me to be misaligned bases.

you are correct on scope. it is 100% okay…not the issue

 

[Rare Breed]

Do you have a bore scope? I would look inside the chamber the belt area, extractor claw area, and the throat. Reloads, how are you sizing your brass? How many reloads on your brass. Reading what you wrote, I'm not 100% sure you don't have two separate issues. Since you have been back home have you tried factory ammo?

have not. rifle going to my gunsmith in morning for cleaning and complete check out. thanks so much everyone for your help!!!

 

[Rare Breed]

Lol!!! Last night i cleaned the rifle for potential carbon then copper. Spent an hour taking my time. shot it 12 times this morning and absolutely no problems with loading or bolt open. Not trying to make excuses just being honest…when one of my rifles shoots MOA i don’t want to touch it except to run a lightly oiled swab through it but as they say there comes a time where you need to give it a thorough cleaning. My first three shots were fouling shots then she settled down nicely. thanks again everyone for your help!!!

 

[flatwater bill]

No insult intended, but will it feed rounds from the magazine OK? (and I did not read this entire littany).....can be hard to snap extractor over the rim on a single feed...................FWB

 

[Rich s]

everyone need your help please. i have a beautiful custom mauser in 375 H&H. On my last Africa hunt this year i shot it with Federal Premium ammo with Swift A Frames. After a shot suddenly despite practicing with it for months I could not get the bolt open until later. i thought it was a one time thing. today after using my Quick load to make some rounds for my leopard hunt i loaded 73.5 grains of IMR 4350 coming in at 2500 FPS at way under max PSI and after just two shots suddenly i struggled to close the bolt on the next round. to be clear, i was loading only one round at a time. i might understand if i had 4 loaded but one at a time. i have no idea what could cause this.
so greatly appreciate the great expertise far above mine on AH. what is going on please?

Have you cleaned the chamber? Could be some dirt or other build up in it.

 

[Berettaco]

Lol!!! Last night i cleaned the rifle for potential carbon then copper. Spent an hour taking my time. shot it 12 times this morning and absolutely no problems with loading or bolt open. Not trying to make excuses just being honest…when one of my rifles shoots MOA i don’t want to touch it except to run a lightly oiled swab through it but as they say there comes a time where you need to give it a thorough cleaning. My first three shots were fouling shots then she settled down nicely. thanks again everyone for your help!!!

Excellent! Glad it was easily sorted

 

[Rare Breed]

No insult intended, but will it feed rounds from the magazine OK? (and I did not read this entire littany).....can be hard to snap extractor over the rim on a single feed...................FWB

no worries ever with me my friend nothing ever insults me. i did go ahead and load four in the magazine and it performed flawless after the three fouling shots

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

I’m glad it’s working now, just a question though re the action, someone said it was a commercial FN action, but with those two screw holes it looks like an interarms/Zastava action, I was wondering which it was, lovely looking gun regardless
gumpy

 

[Inline6]

Lol!!! Last night i cleaned the rifle for potential carbon then copper. Spent an hour taking my time. shot it 12 times this morning and absolutely no problems with loading or bolt open. Not trying to make excuses just being honest…when one of my rifles shoots MOA i don’t want to touch it except to run a lightly oiled swab through it but as they say there comes a time where you need to give it a thorough cleaning. My first three shots were fouling shots then she settled down nicely. thanks again everyone for your help!!!

So are you able to get your scope zeroed now?

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I suggest shimming one side of front base. It won't take much. Most use brass shims. Don't use aluminum. It may react with steel and corrode. As I said, I used a strip of black plastic from a Peters shotshell hull. Black color blends in and it resists corrosion. Also, it won't expand and contract like metal shim. Use a bit of glue stick to hold it in place on underside of base while you torque it down. The strip should be full length of the base.

 

[Inline6]

I suggest shimming one side of front base. It won't take much. Most use brass shims. Don't use aluminum. It may react with steel and corrode. As I said, I used a strip of black plastic from a Peters shotshell hull. Black color blends in and it resists corrosion. Also, it won't expand and contract like metal shim. Use a bit of glue stick to hold it in place on underside of base while you torque it down. The strip should be full length of the base.

I can't speak for @Rare Breed , I track my speeds. If he had a carbon issue that was causing pressure spikes. His velocity was faster than where he started. When you speed up, the impacts will shift. That is why for myself I track speeds as much as possible. You will learn when a barrel breaks in, gets dirty (then you have a round count as to when that happens). Most here don't like to shoot past 150ish. I'll shoot well past double that, knowing speed matters to me for multiple reasons (some listed here).

 

[Rare Breed]

So are you able to get your scope zeroed now?

i am…i just recenterd both turrets, re bore sighted then all good

 

[Rare Breed]

I’m glad it’s working now, just a question though re the action, someone said it was a commercial FN action, but with those two screw holes it looks like an interarms/Zastava action, I was wondering which it was, lovely looking gun regardless
gumpy

commercial FM

 

[Dewald]

I’m glad it’s working now, just a question though re the action, someone said it was a commercial FN action, but with those two screw holes it looks like an interarms/Zastava action, I was wondering which it was, lovely looking gun regardless
gumpy

All my FNs in my collection have those holes. They were compatible with a peep sight.

Zastava baught the FN production equipment when they moved on to the Browning Safaris, so they look identical. The FNs were just better finished and much more smooth operating

 

[John Telford]

Did you full length resize the bass or only neck size?

 

[Rimbaud]

I've experienced the hard to open bolt a few times. Once, on a Sako 85, shooting factory 270 loads, turned out that the chamber was dirty and had to be scrubbed a bit better. Dewey's makes a special chamber cleaning kit and I used it once and never again. On another rifle, a Tikka 300 WSM, the handload was hot, and was adjusted and everything has functioned well ever since. Maybe just give the chamber a good cleaning for extra measure.

 

[86thecat]

Have found it difficult to find modern cleaners that are really effective. A quick clean may remove loose fouling but leave copper and hard carbon behind. Patches may come out clean but leave a carbon ring and lots of copper. If 20 rounds are causing high pressure, might be best to start again with a completely clean bore.

 

[Inline6]

Have found it difficult to find modern cleaners that are really effective. A quick clean may remove loose fouling but leave copper and hard carbon behind. Patches may come out clean but leave a carbon ring and lots of copper. If 20 rounds are causing high pressure, might be best to start again with a completely clean bore.

ThorroClean Bore Cleaning System is what I use. It takes everything out, I'm pretty OCD when it come to accuracy. So when a barrel starts to open at 50 or 400 rounds. I then have that data, after cleaning the rifle it might take 2 to 20 rounds to settle the barrel back in. After the barrel is fouled, I'll put it in the safe knowing the bullets will go where I want them to go for a given amount of time.