On a whim, I had a gun smith break down and disassemble the bolt of my Remington 700 just to check it out and examine the firing pin. This is something that I've never done over the 10 or so years that I've owned this rifle. He disassembled the bolt, took a quick look, and said, "looks pretty gloppy."
And it did. There was a thick layer of what looked like very dirty oil covering everything. It was bad enough that he took it to a separate part of his shop and dunked it in a cleaning tub. Then he sprayed out the firing pin channel with something and used compressed air on the channel and the rest of the bolt.
It was so filthy that I could imagine it turning to sludge and preventing the bolt from firing in very cold temps, which happen a lot at 9,000 feet in the Rockies.
So disassemble that bolt (or have a smith do it for you) and inspect and clean the bolt and firing pin! And go easy on the oil when oiling the bolt. Just a suggestion before elk/deer season.
And it did. There was a thick layer of what looked like very dirty oil covering everything. It was bad enough that he took it to a separate part of his shop and dunked it in a cleaning tub. Then he sprayed out the firing pin channel with something and used compressed air on the channel and the rest of the bolt.
It was so filthy that I could imagine it turning to sludge and preventing the bolt from firing in very cold temps, which happen a lot at 9,000 feet in the Rockies.
So disassemble that bolt (or have a smith do it for you) and inspect and clean the bolt and firing pin! And go easy on the oil when oiling the bolt. Just a suggestion before elk/deer season.