I went to the range today to put a few rounds down range since I haven't shot since last year.

I was shooting some factory Winchester PowerPoints and federal powershoks (150gr soft points)

After every shot the bolt would stick and I would have to damn near mortar the rifle to eject the brass. I'm some cases that is what I had to do. The spent primers didn't look out of the ordinary and the groupings were terrible.

After 20 rounds I packed it up and sent 6 rounds down range with my AR and can hold it in a inch if I really tried.

Any help or ideas? The gun is old and id consider trading it in (maybe)

I've had the exact thing happen on a 700. Lots of post online about it. I ended up having to send it in to Remington and got it fixed. Never told me why but that was on a new rifle. Have you checked the chamber for any markings or build up?

Look at the base of the brass for ejector marks. If the ammo was hot from being left in car it could cause an over pressure situation that might cause tight bolt. I blew a primer out the other day shooting ammo that was left in truck.

Ammo was sitting on the counter for a few days before shooting

Dirty chamber will cause hard extraction.

I cleaned the hell out of it. Will try to go Saturday and put some rounds down range

Still doing it

Any marks on the brass? Maybe a dinged up chamber? Can you close the bolt on fired brass and easily eject?

Ejected brass looks good and the primers aren't blown, I tried 3 different brands of factory soft points.

People smarter than me have suggested due to its unknown round count and it being an older sendero it may have some chamber deformation since it's a magnum caliber.

The bolt cycles fine empty

The bolt cycles fine on unfired bullets

Once a shell is fired I can lift the bolt up but not bring the bolt back to eject unless I hold my mouth right or mortar the butt on the shooting bench.

If the bolt does come out of battery when I try and manipulate a fired round and I try to put the fires round back in the chamber it does so with out problem. If it try to pull the bolt rearward to eject then it's sticky to move back without some extra kind of violence.

A strange thing though was the first round yesterday (and the day before) cycled flawlessly

It was bad on any subsection rounds

I did lots of things to it

I can now get the bolt to close on a fired round and extract it without having to beat the gun up

If anybody is interested in a remington sendero with a geiselle trigger and magpul bottom metal That's been beded and floated in 7 mag I may have one for sale soon

That Bergara is really scratching and itch

Prob not the best thread for a FS post but good luck with sale.

I'm going to take it out Wednesday or Tuesday and make sure it works


If so then I feel very comfortable with selling it

Who cleaned it? I mean really cleaned it by a pro. If I got questions I take mine to McBride in Austin.

A rifle that has fed, fired, and ejected rounds normally for years does not suddenly develop an ejection/extraction issue, especially a low round count bolt action rifle.

Check your ammo, and switch to a different brand. And don't shoot reloads, unless you rolled them yourself.

If the bolt lifts easily, no extractor marks or primer cratering I would bet it's a dirty chamber. Also inspect the brass with calipers and see if there is a swollen area that might be hanging it up when it fire forms.

How much do you want for it?

As was speculated it was a dirty chamber


I used some oversized brass brushes so I can get the chamber really good and just ran 5 rounds through it as fast as I could on the FIL's back 40