Remington 700 bolt release problem

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speakerguy79

New member
OK, so I got my rifle back from the smith. It had a small burr from the factory that was leaving scratches on cases, and the my smith took care of it from me. Anyway, I get it back and the bolt action felt a little 'gritty'. Definitely not smooth. So I cleaned out the action and lubed it with a little RemOil. It didn't help much so I tried cycling some rounds through the action. This helped and smoothed it out a good bit, but it still doesn't feel quite like it should. Do I need to lube/grease anything, or is there something I can do to smooth out the bolt action? It's OK now I guess but not like it was/should be.

And unfortunately, after cycling maybe 60 rounds through it, the dang bolt release button inside the trigger guard loses its tension. It's just loose, and the bolt can slide/be pulled out of the action. Is this something I can fix or is it back to the smith? I figure a spring probably came loose, but I have never seen the internals of a 700 action.
 
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speakerguy79

New member
Well, I went ahead and disassembled the rifle. It was just two allen bolts to get the stock off from the action/barrel assembly. Trigger guard, floor plate and magazine box came off as well. So it's in pieces now, surprisingly easy to take apart.

Looking at the trigger housing I see where the bolt release button moves upward and against a black piece of metal that slides up into action and actually locks the bolt. There's just nothing causing any tension on that piece. It flops around, and the bolt release button can move up and down freely. What's supposed to be keeping tension on this thing?
 
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James K

Member In Memoriam
It sounds like the gunsmith accidentally removed the bolt release spring and should replace it. It doesn't sound like the OP wants to totally redesign his rifle.

Jim
 
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speakerguy79

New member
I called my gunsmith, and he said he had those springs in stock and to bring it on by tomorrow and he'd fix it. He's a real good guy and I trust that this wasn't his fault. His daughter was on the Olympic Skeet team and he works on her guns, so who am I to complain about anything :)

Low and behold I find the dang spring on my floor tonight when I was cleaning up the room! I'm having trouble trying to figure out how it goes back in. I can still take it by the gunsmith's place tomorrow but I'd feel a bit silly. Still wondering how the darn thing came out in the first place. I'm guessing it came loose inside the gun when I was cycling the action, and then when I pulled it apart the gun (my first time to ever do so) it must have shot out without me noticing. It was on the carpet near a pile of stuff (well actually a pile of dirty laundry.).
 
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sadsack

New member
Speaker: The only way for that spring to fall out is if the rear trigger housing pin had a problem. If that happened the the bolt lock would have to come loose first. The trigger pins are a tight fit and should have to driven in so its not likely that it worked loose. It could be that your 'smith put a pin for the front(which is shorter) in the rear. That would allow the pin to be driven in too far. If he reversed the pins, the longer pin in front would interfere with the bolt lock or the action bedding and would be obvious.
 
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speakerguy79

New member
When I talked to him I asked how far he took it down to work on the burr and he said he just removed the stock and that he didn't get in to the trigger housing / bolt catch. Which makes sense and I believe him, as the burr was where the cartridges load into the chamber from the magazine. I managed to re-install the spring, bolt catch and pin and it's working fine now. I will check to make sure the right pins are in the right places (I have a set of calipers so I can check the length easy).

It's fun pulling apart your own toys :) I like knowing how these things work. Anybody know which screw on the X-mark pro trigger is the one that adjusts weight?
 
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