Has anyone had experience with a non-concentric breach in a 700 SPS?

Wombat,
Please describe what the problem is. I build custom 700s.
Ed

Ed, I started to NKS Winchester and Remington brass that were fire formed in the chamber (.243).

I then found that these would then have difficulty chambering and the bolt handle locked forward, requiring a good thump from an ammo box (one time in the field a projectile came away from the case - just what you need out bush!).

A mate of mine suggested FLS, but even so, these too would become "sticky".

The seating depth for the projectiles was taken from a factory round, pending a more scientific approach (I have since been able to measure the OAL on the 87gr V-Max).

I have used a length gauge on several cartridges but they have come up ok (having only been fired a maximum of 3 times).

In a last ditch effort before I head back to the store I've bought some brand new Lapua brass to put through the action.

I hope this all makes sense.

Cheers
Ed

The only way you can pull a bullet with the bolt is if the bullet is engraving the rifling. First check the bullet seating depth of your reload, use a black magic marker, color the bullet, all around, try to chamber the round. The bullet should have no marks on it from the rifling (243 headspaces on the sholder). If you have marks, the bullet is set out too far, turn the seater plug in on your die until the marks disapear. Forget what the manual says if you are having problems, every gun is a wee bit different and the ogive and bearing surface of bullets change with style and mfg.

You may also try this, to rule out a bad chamber, can you chamber a fired cartridge without a bullet and without the cartridge being resized at all? If you really want to check this, insert a loaded round with headstamp in one position, fire, remove and turn the headstamp 180 degrees out, reinsert the cartridge. It should chamber OK with just slight resistance (no chamber is perfect). If you can chamber the fired cartridge without any difficulty, your problem is the cartridge OAL for sure.

Changing brass will not solve the problem, as long as the brass is new in both instances. If you are using once fired brass, from another gun, and you have a tight chamber, you may need to discard the used brass and start with new brass fired in your gun. I have never found brass fired in a loose chamber to work satisfactorly in another gun with a tight or match chamber.

Once you have tried the obvious corrections, as listed above, and if you still have no sucess in solving the problem, then take the gun back to the shop.
Ed

Ed, thanks for the advice. I hope it's operator error on the OAL so we can avoid a warranty claim as the rifle shoots a treat.

Cheers
Ed

I hope it is the OAL, also, that is an easy and hassle free fix.
Ed

Unfortunately it wasn't an OAL problem, we had a warranty job.

Went back to the gun shop with once fired, fire formed Lapua that wouldn't rechamber.

They identified a burr in the breach which has now been cleaned up. Pardon the pun, but she's now firing on all cylinders.

Gidday Wombat. Sounds like you have fixed the problem with your rifle. Where did you purchase your rifle? Did the gunshop remove the burr or did they send it out for the warranty work?

With a .243 I would suggest that you FLS everytime you reload.....even better if you use a Lee Collett Die. I also measure and trim my cases regularly. A tool I have "made" to check for stretching of the case in the web area gives me the chance to check for this problem and hopefully avoid a head separation. The tool I made is simply a paperclip straightened out, one end smoothed off and bent to 90 deg, with the bent end about 3mm long. I use the bent end to feel for any abnormality inside the case that may indicate excessive stretching.

Cheers, Vince

Hi Vince. Yep, she's back in the game. Horsley Park were quite helpful getting it all fixed up. They sent it off to the agent's gun smith and it came back in good order. Unfortunately prior to that I had a heap of mucking around to properly identify the problem (which has browned me off a bit with Remingtion).

Thanks for your tip on reloading. Part of my search for a fix was getting a box of Lapua brass - gee they're nice gear. I've got an assorted array of Winchester, Remington & PMC brass which I'll save for spot lighting in order not to lose the good stuff. At any rate, I'll see how the paper clip goes but I'll certainly be measuring and trimming regularly.

wombat wrote:

Hi Vince. Yep, she's back in the game. Horsley Park were quite helpful getting it all fixed up. They sent it off to the agent's gun smith and it came back in good order.

David Abela is very much like his Dad Peter, rest his soul. I have always found HP to be extremely helpful...and cheap. I wouldn't sell the Remington short mate. I'd be surprised if it came out of the factory with the burr there. I wouldn't mind betting that someone has had a play and said nothing.

wombat wrote:

Thanks for your tip on reloading. Part of my search for a fix was getting a box of Lapua brass - gee they're nice gear. I've got an assorted array of Winchester, Remington & PMC brass which I'll save for spot lighting in order not to lose the good stuff. At any rate, I'll see how the paper clip goes but I'll certainly be measuring and trimming regularly.

Smart move on the quality brass. I use Remington brass, projectiles and primers in my .243, and load AR2208. I hate loosing brass, regardless of the brand. The idea of checking the inside of the case was given to me by a mate who grew up in Nowra. We shoot together regularly and he is a mine of information. He said to me that the .243 has a habit of stretching a bit and the place that will fail when it has stretched as much as it can is just above the case web....hence the small "tool" to feel for a hollow or roughness there.

Bagged quite a few bunnies in the past between Kiama and Berry, up in Foxground. a magnificent part of the country. Dad lived in that area between 1932 and about 1950.

Cheers, Vince

Glad you got the 243 sorted out. Hope we were of a little help. Drop us a note from time to time with load results.
Ed

It certainly has been a learning process!

Despite the hassle I do like the no nonsense 700 action. I reckon I'll go another SPS when I'm after a belted magnum.

As for the 243, my go-to load is the Hornady 87gr V-Max with 42grs of AR2209. I've had suggestions that I need to warm it up a bit but given that it groups sub-MOA I'm happy.

wombat wrote:

As for the 243, my go-to load is the Hornady 87gr V-Max with 42grs of AR2209. I've had suggestions that I need to warm it up a bit but given that it groups sub-MOA I'm happy.

Sounds like a nice load mate. I experimented with AR2206, AR2208 and AR2209 and settled on 2208. I found that it was a little more consistent and gave me great accuracy using Remington 80gr PSP projectiles. Another upside to it is you don't use as much powder so it works out a wee bit cheaper.

However, if 2209 works well for you, which it certainly seems to, then run with it mate. As for warming it up a bit, the ADI Manual lists 45.5gr of 2209 as max for the 85gr projectile, but that is a compressed load. The Manual lists 38gr of 2208 for the same projectile and only 2fps slower. Food for thought.

Cheers, Vince