Hello, I'm back from the dead and beginning to piddle with toys, I mean GUNS again.

snake284

I finally took my new to me 7mm Mauser out and shot it. But the bolt was stuck after each shot with factory loads. I shot it 4 rounds and it was getting worse each shot. I know, I shouldn't have shot it more than once but like a dumb A I kept thinking it would get better or hoped it would, but it didn't. I thought maybe I had a head space problem so I called my gun smith. He said it sat so long in my safe he thinks it probably rusted a little and when I fire it the rust in the chamber is causing the case to stick.

I've never had any rusting issues in any guns in my safes because I have central air and heat and it keeps the air dry in the house. I hate to second guess my gun smith because up 'til now he's been pretty close to 100%. In my opinion their's no way the chamber could have rusted unless the metal was completely dry of any lubricant and I 'm sure when he chambered the barrel he would have left it oily. He always has before.

He told me to wire brush the chamber and try shooting it again. I'm going to do it this week but before I go to that trouble I thought I'd run it by y'all and see what you think. Just looking with a flash light I cant tell if it's rusted or not. I know I'm being anal here but it's a brand new barrel and I don't want to mess it up. Also, if I lived closer to his shop I'd take it to him to look at it with his scope. I don't have one or access to one here. What y'all think? 

Big Al1

Welcome back!! You've been missed! Take a good look at the chamber, if it's rusted you will see it!!

I've polished rusted chambers by wrapping some 400 grit wet/dray paper around a split dowel and chucking it in a drill. Polish slowly with some lube like Kroil to cut the rust! If you don't feel comfortable doing that take it back to your smith!! 

zorba

Good to "see" you again - where have you been?

Antonio

Can't recall if your 7mm. Mauser is a surplus rifle, a sporterized military action or a factory one.

Scrubbing the chamber is a good idea. Sometimes hardened carbon residues or even a small metal flake can cause such issues. Some years ago another of the local State-sponsored shooting clubs had some spare 7.62 NATO FN-1935 Mausers and they gave us one to allow our members to also shoot (We use our own ones); it was in sound external condition and bore looked clean but showed the same issue as yours. Only after scrubbing the chamber  A LOT with homemade Ed Red solvent and a .45ACP brush the problem disappeared for good. Before this procedure you had to whack the bolt with a piece of wood after each shot to open it.

You mentioned factory loads.....which brand? Might be wise trying to find another makers (So far other than surplus you can buy Norma, Prvi Partizan -PPU- and I THINK Sellier & Bellot) and also test them to see if it's rather an ammo issue. Also check your spent cases for clear marks of rim scratching from the extractor claw specially, but also the case body to see if there's something in the chamber itself "grabbing" to the hot, expanded case.

Also check closely your bolt face and extractor for adhered or stuck carbon or metal residues and add a tad of oil to the locking lugs. Using a dental pick to scrub the lugs' channel in the receiver to remove any potentially stuck solid residue could help too. A complete tear down, cleaning & lubing of the bolt can't be ruled out also.

Once I used a chamber insert to convert a Remington 1903 in the locally scarce and expensive 30-06 to the more abundant and cheaper .308; once glued in place a friend of mine used his chambering dies to check porper headspace and it was OK but despite this it kept showing the same stuck case problems that your rifle has with every ammo brand, factory or surplus I tried in it. Took it back to my pal and he used a chamber finishing reamer to give it just a couple of slow turns; hardly a very fine almost unnoticeable metal dust showed in the tool, gave it a cleaning, took it to the ranve and fired without issues from local production 7.62NATO to Chinese steel-cased surplus up to Norma Match ammunition. No more stuck cases at all even after firing it so much to the point of not being able to touch the barrel with bare hands.
Maybe that could be your solution too! Are you able to chamber and extract your unfired ammo? Are you dropping single rounds in the chamber or loading them to the magazine?

Justsomedude

Swab it with a cleaning rod and paper towel with oil on it. It'll either come out orange or clean.

Ernie Bishop

Crocus paper would work too.

Stay away from the throat area, and ditto what Al said about taking it to the smith, if you are not sure.

Diver43

I sure can't add to the advice given, but I will add another WELCOME BACK
Where the heck have you been?

Big Al1

If I remember this rifle is one you had rebarreled!! Make sure there's no burr left over from chambering. This is where a bore scope comes in handy!! You would see a scratch on the fired case.

CHIRO1989

How did it go for you in the Turkish prison?

Diver43

Did you ever decide on Marlin or Winchester?

Ernie Bishop

Big Al1 said:

If I remember this rifle is one you had rebarreled!! Make sure there's no burr left over from chambering. This is where a bore scope comes in handy!! You would see a scratch on the fired case.

THIS^^^^^^^

Ernie Bishop

And FWIW, it is good to see you start back with a 7mm

earlyagain

Check everything. Including fired cases, the factory cartridges, everything. Step by step.

Zee

Good to see you using a better caliber these days. 😁

GunNut

All good advice has already been given.  Just wanted to say welcome back!

Spk

Welcome back Snake. How was the trip to Mordor?

You missed out on some good 270 talk. We missed you. 🐍

And polish out that chamber.

https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=180

NN

Welcome aboard

Freezer

Welcome back Snake! There is some discussion about  a new round,  the 6.8 Fury it should make the 270 a good coyote cartridge. 

Uncle Fester

Good to have you back.  

Ernie Bishop

Snake,

Have I ever mentioned I have a left hand 6.8 AR?????

Diver43

I have a 6.8 SPC upper
Isn't that a .270 short?

Bigslug

"Getting worse after each shot".

I think roughness/fouling in the chamber may not be the issue, but it's a logical place to start.  A few spins with a .45 brush and some solvent will likely do the trick if that is the problem.

Also worth tearing down the bolt for a cleaning and inspection of it and the action cam surfaces.

Is it scoped?  Check for scope base screws protruding into the locking lug recess and bolt raceway.  Seen it before.

snake284

Big Al1 said:

Welcome back!! You've been missed! Take a good look at the chamber, if it's rusted you will see it!!

I've polished rusted chambers by wrapping some 400 grit wet/dray paper around a split dowel and chucking it in a drill. Polish slowly with some lube like Kroil to cut the rust! If you don't feel comfortable doing that take it back to your smith!! 

Big Al1 said:

Welcome back!! You've been missed! Take a good look at the chamber, if it's rusted you will see it!!

I've polished rusted chambers by wrapping some 400 grit wet/dray paper around a split dowel and chucking it in a drill. Polish slowly with some lube like Kroil to cut the rust! If you don't feel comfortable doing that take it back to your smith!! 

Thanks Al, Youre a classs act as usual. I have both a 45 brush and some 400  grit. If one othose doesn'tdo the trick I'm taking it back to the smith.

snake284

zorba said:

Good to "see" you again - where have you been?

Hey Skirt  Guy, HOWS IT HANGIN'?

I've been busy with other things. We needed a roof on our lodge building so we had a fund raiser so I was busy for about 3 months with that. We made $13,000 so I've been drunk on success, LOL! Also been having computer and phone problems. My computer key board crapped out and I couldn't get on here with my phone. Too cheap to buy a new computer I finally got a key board with a USB plug and that's how I'm here now.

I forgot to ask, did y'all have a shoot at teaches in October? He told me to come but that was right before I started having problems.

snake284

Antonio said:

Can't recall if your 7mm. Mauser is a surplus rifle, a sporterized military action or a factory one.

Scrubbing the chamber is a good idea. Sometimes hardened carbon residues or even a small metal flake can cause such issues. Some years ago another of the local State-sponsored shooting clubs had some spare 7.62 NATO FN-1935 Mausers and they gave us one to allow our members to also shoot (We use our own ones); it was in sound external condition and bore looked clean but showed the same issue as yours. Only after scrubbing the chamber  A LOT with homemade Ed Red solvent and a .45ACP brush the problem disappeared for good. Before this procedure you had to whack the bolt with a piece of wood after each shot to open it.

You mentioned factory loads.....which brand? Might be wise trying to find another makers (So far other than surplus you can buy Norma, Prvi Partizan -PPU- and I THINK Sellier & Bellot) and also test them to see if it's rather an ammo issue. Also check your spent cases for clear marks of rim scratching from the extractor claw specially, but also the case body to see if there's something in the chamber itself "grabbing" to the hot, expanded case.

Also check closely your bolt face and extractor for adhered or stuck carbon or metal residues and add a tad of oil to the locking lugs. Using a dental pick to scrub the lugs' channel in the receiver to remove any potentially stuck solid residue could help too. A complete tear down, cleaning & lubing of the bolt can't be ruled out also.

Once I used a chamber insert to convert a Remington 1903 in the locally scarce and expensive 30-06 to the more abundant and cheaper .308; once glued in place a friend of mine used his chambering dies to check porper headspace and it was OK but despite this it kept showing the same stuck case problems that your rifle has with every ammo brand, factory or surplus I tried in it. Took it back to my pal and he used a chamber finishing reamer to give it just a couple of slow turns; hardly a very fine almost unnoticeable metal dust showed in the tool, gave it a cleaning, took it to the ranve and fired without issues from local production 7.62NATO to Chinese steel-cased surplus up to Norma Match ammunition. No more stuck cases at all even after firing it so much to the point of not being able to touch the barrel with bare hands.
Maybe that could be your solution too! Are you able to chamber and extract your unfired ammo? Are you dropping single rounds in the chamber or loading them to the magazine?

Thanks Antonio. It's a commercial 98 made by Zastava. Also, the barrel is new, never been fired before me. I bought the barrel from Mile High Shooter.

Also, I can open the bolt without hitting it but it's pretty hard. I

m going to give polishing the chamber a whirl and if it's still sticky It's going back to the smith.

BTW what is Ed Red? What's the recipe? Soundsw interesting.

Also, I can cycle ammo ejecting the fired and chambering new, it's just too hard to lift the bolt for comfort.

The ammo is Selliier and Bellot 140 Gr. Round Nose. It looks like quality ammo. Shouldn't be sticking. But something I noticed was the spent brass wasn't real shiney for once fired condition. It looks like the chamber might be rough. Anyway, thanks fpr cpmmenting and tell me more about Ed Red.

snake284

Justsomedude said:

Swab it with a cleaning rod and paper towel with oil on it. It'll either come out orange or clean.

You know, that's right. If it's rusty and you put oil on it it's going to get red or orange. I'll do it right after breakfast. Thanks.

snake284

Ernie Bishop said:

Crocus paper would work too.

Stay away from the throat area, and ditto what Al said about taking it to the smith, if you are not sure.

Good advice. I will stay away from the throat with abrasives.I used to use cr\ocus cloth on crank shaft journals and other fine surfaces when I pulled wrenches for a living.

Thanks Ernie

snake284

Diver43 said:

I sure can't add to the advice given, but I will add another WELCOME BACK
Where the heck have you been?

Hey Ron, good to see you're still upright and still kickin'. I've been around. Just couldn't get on here with the electronic junk I have, LOL! I'll try not to get so scarce again.

snake284

Big Al1 said:

If I remember this rifle is one you had rebarreled!! Make sure there's no burr left over from chambering. This is where a bore scope comes in handy!! You would see a scratch on the fired case.

Yes, I need to get me one just for such occasions as this. I've got a little mad money now thanks to Creepy Joe's latest hand out. I bet he an' da Ho would turn a tripple back flip if they knew I was usin' it for guns, LOL!

snake284

CHIRO1989 said:

How did it go for you in the Turkish prison?

Oh man, it ain't near as bad as people tell it, and after awhile you do acquire a taste for camel dung. Only problem is Abdulla likes boys, LOL!

snake284

Diver43 said:

Did you ever decide on Marlin or Winchester?

Diver43 said:

Did you ever decide on Marlin or Winchester?

Looks and ease of handling, Winchester-Accuracy, Functionality, and Practicality, Marlin.

I love 'em both!