Bolt won't close on bergara with factory ammo

[WildRose]

Not too long ago on this site there were pictures of Berger ammo that was damaged. 300 win mag. New ammo. maybe they are slipping. Hard to believe, but maybe they are having quality problems.

It's going to happen occasionally with any mass produced ammo. It's unavoidable as long as humans are part of the QA/QC process.

 

[hunter0528]

Well I'm a dummy and didnt save one to measure. When the cousin showed up with a rifle they would chamber in I shot up all 40 to get the brass.
Sitting next to a couple different hornady factory rounds they all appeared to be about the same OAL, just eyeballing them. Like Barrelnut said, Noslers just had a crazy long bearing surface.

Too bad you did not save one. have you tried the Hornady seating depth gauge to see what the max length of your rounds?

 

[birdiemc]

Please, just pick up a phone and call Bergara tomorrow and don't do anything else until you've spoken with them unless you're ready to just box it up and send it back.

Anything else could end very badly for you.

Spoke to Bergara just now, they basically said what Susquatch said. Added to check with go no-go gages ( which I never did because the hornady ammo chambered just fine) as long as that's good he would be comfortable firing it. So I will check headspace since I have the gages, and then get on with my life. The guy I spoke with actually sounded like he knew what he was talking about, and saying the same things that guys are here are saying, who definitely know what they are talking about. I'm satisfied, it is safe.

 

[jpope02]

I had either a bergara or tikka. I misremember which that had the same problem. I finally figured out I had the wrong screw in the rail. There were two lengths and the short one went up front or the bolt wouldn't close.

this has happened to me. Now I make sure action and scope screws don't extend to the chamber. If you still have problems with the Nosler ammo have your smith check your freebore it could have a very short throat. Also check if the OAL is in saami specifications

 

[archp625]

I had the same thing happen to me with factory Nosler BT ammo. Mine were the 140's. The gun I was shooting was a Winchester XPR. I have shoot other factory ammo and zero problems. I shot Hornaday American Whitetail 129 gr, Precision Hunter 143 gr, and Federal Fusion 140 gr. all worked flawlessly in the gun. Not all good groups but no issues closing the bolt.

 

[KHildy19]

Just had the same issue making a batch of 129 Hornady's for my 6.5 B-14 ... if the primers on the first stroke weren't set just perfectly they closed very hard on the bolt ... another quick press on the old rock crusher and it sorted out the problem ... I could see factory ammo not having perfectly set primers ... just my theory

 

[25 Otter]

I'm thinking Bergara runs on the small side for chamber dims as well. My brass shows no swell line at all. I recently bought some once fired brass from a friend. Fired in a custom chamber in his PRS rig. They won't come close to a bolt close in my Ridge. On the other hand,my throat is plenty generous. I haven't found a bullet yet that will engage the lands at mag length. Still shoots like two sonsabitches. I like it.

 

[birdiemc]

Nothing like dragging up a year old thread, but I wanted to report back on what I've discovered. After speaking with Bergara in February, I got busy with life and put this rifle in the safe and haven't given it much thought until today. I just got done putting together another 6.5 creedmoor so I dragged out the Nosler brass that I was going to use for this rifle, but didn't fit, and started prepping it. I figured it was worth a check after full length resizing to see if it would fit in the chamber and sure enough it did not. So I grabbed my GO Gauge and no luck. The bolt will not come close to closing on the gauge. So I've sent off an email to Bergara to see about getting them to fix it. I know I should have done this back in Feb, but like I said, life happened and I'm just now getting back to this. Hopefully they'll take care of it for me and I won't have to wait too much longer till I can let my wife finally shoot her new rifle I bought this time last year lol.

 

[WildRose]

Nothing like dragging up a year old thread, but I wanted to report back on what I've discovered. After speaking with Bergara in February, I got busy with life and put this rifle in the safe and haven't given it much thought until today. I just got done putting together another 6.5 creedmoor so I dragged out the Nosler brass that I was going to use for this rifle, but didn't fit, and started prepping it. I figured it was worth a check after full length resizing to see if it would fit in the chamber and sure enough it did not. So I grabbed my GO Gauge and no luck. The bolt will not come close to closing on the gauge. So I've sent off an email to Bergara to see about getting them to fix it. I know I should have done this back in Feb, but like I said, life happened and I'm just now getting back to this. Hopefully they'll take care of it for me and I won't have to wait too much longer till I can let my wife finally shoot her new rifle I bought this time last year lol.

Hey glad you checked back in. It always helps when people let us know what the actual issues prove out to be.

 

[dennisinaz]

Checked with cleaning rod and confirms 1:8 twist as advertised. Being factory chamber I'm starting to wonder if this was just the very first one cut with brand new reamer, likely right at the tightest end of the tolerance, has not had a chance to wear out and get sloppy yet.

HUH???

A brand new reamer would cut the LARGEST chamber. When a reamer wears out it gets SMALLER and makes a smaller chamber.

 

[birdiemc]

HUH???

A brand new reamer would cut the LARGEST chamber. When a reamer wears out it gets SMALLER and makes a smaller chamber.

Never really thought that through...but what you say makes a lot of sense. I don't have any experience with "worn out" reamers so was repeating what I've read many times in various threads about factory reamers getting worn out and cutting sloppy chambers. But regardless, I'm happy to discover the problem and hopefully get it taken care of.

 

[birdiemc]

I heard back from Bergara today, they got a shipping label sent over, so its going back to get checked out. 4-6wk turn around

 

[Canuck308]

I recently had this start happening on my Bergara - 6.5 CM have been shooting it for 2 yrs. Factory ammo is on the tighter side to close the bolt (not hard just firm - always has been). Prior to a month ago reloads were the same as factory. Now fired brass (Peterson 4x, Winchester, Hornady & Federal 1x) FL resized (once, twice and three times in case of "spring back") is tough to close (even with die all the way down, and trying several dies). Even empty cases do this. Cases are all trimmed, de-burred and chamfered. I am wondering if there may be build up on the receiver where the lugs lock in or a carbon ring in the chamber/throat?

 

[rld346]

I do not have a Bergara, but a few months back bought a new Rem 700 5R in 6.5 CM and while breaking in the barrel I had problems with Nosler 140 BT also. I had 4-5 boxes in 2-3 of the boxes NONE of the rounds would allow bolt closure. The other boxes...everything was fine. The rifle shot various brands fine, i.e. Hornady, Winchester, Federal, etc. with no problems. I emailed Nosler about it and was totally ignored.