700 problem

[Beers]

    I just nabbed a new (to me) 700 bdl from the local shop. It seemed to be in pristine condition, I looked it over very carefully before I took it home. First thing I did was take it down and clean it thoroughly.

The action functions smooth as glass... until you try to chamber a round. The bolt is rather stiff on closing, and once you get it closed with a round chambered it's extremely difficult to open. Once I got the bolt handle up I had to tap the action open with a rubber mallet. What could be causing this and what can I do about it?

[wareagleguy]

I would take it back.  Problem solved.

[Graybeard]

Hard to argue with the take it back idea. If nothing else they should make it right and return it to you or give you the money back but chances are if they do they'll just sell it to someone else in as is condition.

Are you using hand loads or factory ammo? If factory then clearly there is a problem. If hand loads they might be the problem. The situation you describe can occur with reloads that have not been full length resized to fit your chamber. Trying factory ammo should fix the problem if that's it.

Otherwise there is a chamber problem I suspect maybe a head space issue. It might be something else tho and a good gunsmith can likely identify and fix it either way fairly cheaply.

[TXSPIKE]

Check to see if the action screw that holds the stock on is too tight(the front one by the recoil lug).I've got one that did the same thing.I had to shim it up and bed the action,otherwise when I tighten the screws on the stock it would lock the bolt and you couldn't open it.I hope this helps you out.

[Beers]

Good call Graybeard, Bought a box of factory ammo and everything works as it should. Thanks.

Gonna get her to the range tomorrow and see how she does.