My new Rem 700 won't fire

[Aardvark]

It scared me today at the range. I took the new 700 classic to the range for the third time. Click! No fire. Another bullet, another click.
I stripped the bolt down to look for problems, all was well. I scratched my head and thought some more and noticed that the bolt was not closing all the way.Hmm.
I took a rod and wire cleaning brush to remove any possible obstacles. No change.
I thought why, then started thinking about what I had done to the gun since the last trip. All that had been done was to remove the leupold scope rings and base to put some loctite in the screws that had worked loose and put it back togethr with the same scope on board.
Upon taking it apart again I noticed that one of the screws was a tad longer than the other two.Hmmm.It had found itself in the front hole,thus blocking the bolt from closing all the way and being the problem.
Putting the long screw in the back hole where it belongs and the two short screws in the front fixed the problem and I breathe a sigh of relief....

 

[keens]

Good info. to know...Thanks.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Thanks for posting this tidbit. I'm moving it to Smithy.

 

[scottys1]

I've also seen this problem. Thankfully not often.
A similar problem can occur on rifles or shotguns where the buttstock is retained with a single bolt through the rear of the stock into the rear of the receiver. If the bolt is too long, it can interfere with proper bolt and/or hammer operation. Usually easily fixed by shortening the bolt or adding a washer. I've seen it most often when converting a shotgun from a buttstock to a pistol grip or converting one back the other way.