New rifle, tough bolt

S

sig220mwxxxx

New member
I bought myself a new rifle last week. It is a Howa 1500 in 308 Winchester and has a stainless barrel and action. I have not fired it yet. I have followed the written instructions and cleaned it only with solvent soaked patches and not a brush. I don't have it scoped yet and will follow the breaking in instructions probably before I scope it. I hand load but the instructions say to break it in with factory ammo, probably due to pressure. I have some factory ammo and will do so. The problem I have run into is that when I have placed the factory ammo in the magazine and worked it through the gun, on some of the rounds it is quite difficult to both close and open the bolt. This happened quite a few times. I rubbed some oil on the flat surfaces of the bolt and High Tech grease on the lugs and also the rails of the gun. Now that I have worked a few more rounds through it again it seems to have gotten better but is still not 100 %. I suspect that the more I do this the better it will get. Have any of you had this problem with any Howas or any other rifle for that matter? If so what did you do? Is this a common thing with stainless guns? I have never had anything but blue steel guns and can't remember ever having this happen.
 
As read it sounds like a head space issue. Could try some other brand of shells first. But once bought. Cartridges normally can't be returned unless their defective in some way or another. If the same issue is again experienced on that seconds box of shells. Time to consider taking the rifle back to where you bought it. Or contacting whom ever is listed in its Owners Manual as a suggested Warranty Repair station. For the time being. Let others try to resolve your rifles issue first. Like you I'm into blued rifles too.
 
Could be a gun problem, but I'd try another type of ammo first. Most rifles have chambers cut with slightly loose tolerances for reliability, some are not.
 
If you didn't use a short rod and bigger patches to clean the chamber and clean the lug recesses, you probably should. Then relube the bolt lugs and work the action 50 or 100 cycles. A new rifle should be snug and some ammo may be at the upper end of specs(especially military or foreign made stuff). I'd certainly rather see it tight than loose in the beginning.
I don't follow your logic for "breakin" w/o using sights. Such a waste of ammo. Most of the time, I shoot breakin rounds as part of the sightin process. By the time 20 shots are gone, the scope is set and the rifle ready to perform.
The only time I shoot a rifle w/o aiming is when I think there's a good chance it may self-destruct. In that case it's covered with a tarp and sandbags.
 
Does the bolt close normally without the facotyr ammo?

If it does you have a head space issue.

If its getting better, what you have done is compress the shoulder of the ammo and its not springing back as much as it was. That does not solve the problem.

How bit an issue that is I am not sure. The bench shooters seem to be going in that direction to ensure there is no cartridge movement when shooting removing a variable

Not what I would want in a hunting rifle though and the bench rest types have things dialed to the 9s and know exactly what they are doing with their rounds and the pressures involved.

I would get it checked out and see where it falls with a head space gauge.

It helps to know if a mfg is typically tight or not. You can accommodate some of that with the re-load process but you may wind up with short life brass and or a case rupture.
 
I have a Howa and it has one of the smoother bolts out of all my rifles.

Color the bullet of one of the rounds with a Sharpie marker, chamber it, take it back out. If there are 6 little marks around it, it's getting into the rifling and the chamber is cut too short or your ammo is longer than the max OAL. The latter is unlikely since you're using factory ammo.

If that doesn't work, pull a bullet out of the case, pour the powder out, and chamber the empty brass in the rifle. If it is still tough to close/open the bolt, the shoulder of the chamber may not be cut deep enough. In either case, if your ammo is within SAAMI specs then a gunsmith is going to have to take a chamber reamer and clean the chamber up. Not a major task, but if you contact Howa, they will more than likely tell you where the nearest gunsmith is that they have a contract with, and you can take/ship it to them and get it fixed on Howa's dime.
 
on some of the rounds
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@sig220: Since you said on some, I would try a new and different brand of ammunition. If there's still a problem, then follow stevenchunter's advice.

For what it's worth, my .300 win mag, howa seems to have a minimum chamber. It chambered factory brass snugly but I couldn't re-size enough for once fired brass to enter the chamber. I had to send a fired case and the resizing die back to RCBS for modifications. (I assume they ground a few thousandths off the die bottom.) Anyway, the howa works fine now.
 
IMHO- You could do this ,you could do that. Point is- This is a new rifle with no rounds down it. Take it back to store of purchase and hand it back to them. Get a different one. You should not have to deal with this issue. Howas are very nice rifles. You deserve one that works right.
 
IMHO- You could do this ,you could do that. Point is- This is a new rifle with no rounds down it. Take it back to store of purchase and hand it back to them. Get a different one. You should not have to deal with this issue. Howas are very nice rifles. You deserve one that works right.
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The store is going to tell you that all firearms sales are final and to contact the manufacturer. Especially since it's already been fired several times. But regardless of that, they have sold you that firearm with that serial number, it has been transferred from their FFL to you. You are the original owner of that rifle and if that rifle changes hands again, Howa's obligation to do anything to fix that rifle is gone. If you/the gun store bought the rifle from an importer like Legacy Sports, they can probably get the ball rolling with Howa to direct you to an approved gunsmith that will be paid by Howa to fix it at no cost to you.

Yeah, it's kind of aggravating, but once you buy a firearm any issues you have with it will be between you and the manufacturer. The gun store is just the middle man.
 
Steven- That depends on where you purchased it. I got one from Scheels here in Fargo ND. Took it to the range shot about 30 rounds down it. Decided I did not like it. Took it back ,told them I just want to get something different. No questions asked. As long as you are not looking foe money back ( which once I did ) and they took it back also. They will let you try a different one. All they do is send it back to The Manufacture and get a refund. Because they sold you a rifle that does not work, Does not make it your problem. A good store will honor the sale.
 
I guess there aren't any good stores around here then. Stores around here have always been helpful with telling you what # to call, what to say, what to do, etc. but I've never seen them take one back. That's great if you have a store that's willing to do that.
 
Thanks for the replies. The rifle has not been fired. Only loaded factory ammo worked through the action. No marks on the bullets so I don't think it is touching the rifling. I plan on going in to see the dealer tomorrow and discussing it with him unless I get called to work unexpectedly. Now it seems to be working much better. I read a review of a Howa once and the reviewer did mention that the gun he was trying out initially had a stiff action which got better after about one hundred rounds were fired. I still plan on taking it back to have the dealer have his smith look at it though.
 
Ok I reread it just now. I thought he said he had done the break in procedure already.

That's great if they will take it back. Either way, you shouldn't have to pay a cent to have it made right. Howas are great rifles especially for the money. But every brand has a few bad apples slip through.
 
An update on my Howa with the tough bolt. I called the dealer I bought it from and he said bring it in and we'll send it back. I went back in and while there I asked him to run some factory ammo through it to confirm what I had found. Lo and behold three different brands went through without a hitch. A couple of rounds were snug but only that. It seems that I had a box of really out of spec ammo. I bought some from him to break it in and did so the next day. All is well in new rifle land. Thanks again to all of you for your advice and help.
 
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