New Remington 700 ADL 7mm Mag Bolt Getting Stuck

[FinalJenemba]

Finally got the 7mm Mag out to the range today, happy to say it was accurate as hell and I didn't get a scope to the eye

Had an issue with the bolt though. After 6 shots it started getting hard to open the bolt and on the 8th it siezed, I could rotate it but not pull it back. I was able to get the bolt open by tapping it lightly with the but of my screw driver. I let it cool down (the barrel was HOT), cleaned it with a little hoppes, and oiled it with some break free. After that it fired and cycled beautifully until another 8 shots and it seized again.

I was shooting Federal Power Shok 150g Soft Point ammo. Is it just because its a new rifle and needs time to break in? Was I letting it get too hot? Or was it just the cheap ammo? I cleaned it last night and couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but im not an expert by any means. I wish I would have saved some brass to look for signs of overpressure but I wasn't thinking about that at the time. Just seems weird it was doing it every 8 shots.

 

[Picher]

Firing 8 shots out of a new magnum without barrel cooling might have caused a problem, but I'm wondering whether you left lube in the chamber, causing the brass to push back against the bolt harder.

You should also have checked the brass to see if it flowed into the ejector hole, causing it the bolt to open so hard.

Check the chamber to see if there are any rough spots, reamer marks.

If nothing else, try different ammo and let the barrel cool after three shots.

 

[PVL]

You are letting it get way too hot. Much more of that, and the barrel will end up being damaged.

Give it a little time to cool down between shots at the range, preferably with the bolt open so some air can get in there.

If it's too hot to grab and hold onto comfortably, it's too hot.

What happens is the area immediately in front of the chamber gets crystallized, develops cracks - and there goes your accuracy.

I have a 30-06 which was ruined that way, it's sitting around waiting for a new barrel.

 

[FinalJenemba]

Thanks guys, that makes allot of sense, i'm still new to much of this. This is the first rifle I have of this type and have allot to learn. I was definitely letting it overheat, and probably had a little oil in the chamber as well, I didn't know the chamber needed to be dry. The only other high powered rifle I have is a mosin nagant that I usually run pretty wet and hot, but they were obviously designed with looser tolerances and battle conditions in mind so they stand up to the abuse.

I only ran 13 rounds through the Remington and let it get too hot twice, hopefully I didn't do any damage to the barrel, it certainly didn't lose any accuracy while I was out.