Big disappointment, what to do now?

[WildRose]

Over a year ago I picked up a stainless 700 LA fitted with a pretty well new and unused Sendero II 300 Rum barrel.

I was hoping to do a little bit of work on it, get it bedded and have it ready to shoot for this season.

Well I finally got it all together last week and was going to put it in the truck tonight to take and shoot tomorrow.

The bolt even after lapping is pretty smooth but lots of pressure from what I was told was an improved spring (Tubbs I think) which is supposed to be much quicker on the lock time than a factory spring. I'm ok with that.

I did however think to myself since I'd had a gunsmith add a thicker recoil lug and asked to be sure he'd check and set the head spacing correctly while he was at it. I was assured he would.

The bolt being stiff still had me wondering so I decided to just load a round in the magazine, work it, load it and see if there was any difference in feel before firing it.

To my disappointment I find the rails on the action do not allow the RUM case to pass between them!

I also had difficulty just single loading it laying one on the follower and attempting to close the bolt. Apparently not only do I need to have the rails opened up for the Rum Case but I also need a different follower!

I'm thinking it's back off to the gunsmith.... Maybe I'll see it by Christmas IF I have time to drive all the way to Lubbock to drop it off, a mere 2hr, and 45 minute drive each way!

I am sharing my disappointment with you not for sympathy, but as a head's up for the rest of you who might want to build something using a RUM case on an existing magnum (not RUM) action.

The good news is, the round once started into the chamber manually went just fine with no "tightness" so I'm thinking I'm at least ok on the head space issue!

If I'm in error I'd appreciate any of you gunsmiths straightening me out as I would be quite happy to be shooting it sooner rather than later.

 

[marioq]

There u go!!!! Always trying to make something small........ BIGGER!!
It didn't always work
Anyway rose, with all your nice guns, that one can sit at the smith for a. Few weeks without a problem!!!

Hope you are well buddy!!!!

 

[Deleted member 46119]

Wow. I'd double check the head space. May be the tape over the end of a case method.

The rails. It's not so hard. I used a file on my Hall E to open it from belted magnum to RUM. I'm sure some of the smiths on here can give you more experienced advice but I looked at all the 700's I have, measured and measured and decided that was all it needed. Of course it's nice to have a factory Rem 300RUM to check dimensions.

Box and or follower, cheap. Rem factory RUM follower is at Midway but in a word Wyatts.

 

[WildRose]

Wow. I'd double check the head space. May be the tape over the end of a case method.

The rails. It's not so hard. I used a file on my Hall E to open it from belted magnum to RUM. I'm sure some of the smiths on here can give you more experienced advice but I looked at all the 700's I have, measured and measured and decided that was all it needed. Of course it's nice to have a factory Rem 300RUM to check dimensions.

Box and or follower, cheap. Rem factory RUM follower is at Midway but in a word Wyatts.

Yep I'm going to double check the mag box tomorrow when I have some daylight to work with.

I actually thought about taking the dremel and a file to the rails but thought better of it. I'm hoping this thing will be a great shooter and I'd hate to be looking at those rails for life seeing I didn't get it perfectly straight.

If I do need a bigger mag box I'll probably start over completely and go with Wyatt's bottom metal and a DBM.

Frustrating but I'm just not one to go to the field to hunt with a single shot bolt action rifle.

Like Mario Said though, I've got no shortage of nice rifles to shoot so it's not going to in any way ruin my season.

It is in fact reminding me I need to finish up one of my other 300wm's so I can start shooting it.

The biggest problem I have when going hunting is deciding which rifle to take rather than only being stuck with one so I'm pretty spoiled in that respect.

Like most things in life this is just a good reminder of why it's wise to always have a backup plan.

 

[WildRose]

Well went ahead and brought it in and checked the mag box. I have at least a good 1/4" with factory 180's so I'm probably ok there.

I wish I had another Rem Magnum bolt around to try in it and see if it works any easier but I'll just have them double check the head spacing while it's in the shop.

Curiously it seems to work easier with a round chambered than without... Hmm.

It does work very smoothly even though it's tight so I'm not too concerned.

 

[Deleted member 46119]

I actually thought about taking the dremel and a file to the rails but thought better of it. I'm hoping this thing will be a great shooter and I'd hate to be looking at those rails for life seeing I didn't get it perfectly straight.

Forget the dremel part. Draw file and that will keep it strait.

The biggest problem I have when going hunting is deciding which rifle to take rather than only being stuck with one so I'm pretty spoiled in that respect.

Like most things in life this is just a good reminder of why it's wise to always have a backup plan.

That is how I get into having multiple rifles with the same or similar chambering.

 

[Canadian Bushman]

You can even wrap the file in sandpaper, this puts even pressure on the paper, without the small area clogging of a file, lets you adjust the rate of metal removal, and leaves a good finish. Little machinist trick.

Word of warning it will take metal off faster than you might expect.

 

[bigngreen]

All I've been doing with WSM/RUM's in a mag action is opening up the feed lips, mostly on the back and barely touching the front till the round fits from top using a file. Then I cut the LH side out of the box down about 3/8ths of an inch so that case gets under the feed lip better. So far they feed like butter slow or racking them.

 

[WildRose]

BG I want to thank you for your suggestion. I was looking at it like this. "Do I try to save a hundred dollars ad risk ruining a 700.00 action".

Well here's an update. After about 3 or 4 hours of work I figured out the problem with the bolt had nothing to do with the outside bearing surfaces I was lapping and everything to do with the internals.

Field stripping it is no big deal even without tools and when I did I discovered the firing pin and spring were bone dry filthy, and rusted!

Tried cleaning it good with a brush and solvent and then oiling and reinstalling but it was still severely binding and still squeaking just a bit.

Repeated the whole process 3 times and it was little better.

Not having the right tools to disassemble the firing pin assembly I was hesitant to do so because I hate having to carry a box of parts to someone else to reassemble when I can't so I thought of just taking it again to the GS and letting him figure it out.

Well, those who know me well will tell you I'm not one for giving up and somewhat pig headed so of course I decided to muscle it and break it down.

What I found was that the firing pin was rough as hell so I stuck it in the drill and used the drill as a lathe and ran it for a good long time with a piece of emery cloth smoothing it down.

Following that it was still rough so I put a sanding disk on the dremel and continued turning it with the drill while lightly sanding at the same time.

After five or ten minutes it was done and roughly satisfactory for a test run.

Worked it quite a bit in the bolt assembly minus the spring and found a few stiff places, broke it back down and repeated.

Finally got it good and smooth.

Reassembly was a real chore lacking the right spring compressor but having very strong hands I muscled it down and held it with a par of pliers, and actually managed to get it back together and get the pin reinstalled without splattering parts all over the room!

Oiled it up and put it together in the bolt body, reinstalled and guess what? Yep it is vastly improved and I'm convinced now that it will eventually wear to a point it runs perfect.

That got me thinking of your advice because nothing inspires like success. Not having what I considered to be the right file/files I used the same sanding disk and quickly and easily opened it up enough to get a round through easily the opened it up just a bit more.

I will still need to replace the follower to get it to run perfectly but I was able to load two in the mag box and single feed another and then work it to eject 1, and successfully feed and eject 2,3. Repeated four times all working well so I'm going to declare success and go shoot it!

Thanks again.