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Remington 798---Mauser action ?

Sig220_Ruger77
I bought a Remington 798 in .458 Winchester a while back. Have not gotten the opportunity to shoot it yet, but was planning on getting it out this weekend. I have given everything a good scrubbing and thurough cleaning and it seems to have smoothened up that kinda rough bolt a little(heard this was common with these).

Anyways, I bought a couple boxes of ammo from a local cartridge company recently. Went to run some through the rifle last night and they really seem to have a heck of a time chambering. If I completely fill the internal box magazine, pull the bolt completely back and try to chamber a cartridge, it seems to want to catch on the round lip just in front of the chamber. I try being gentle with them, then tried chambering one fairly hard and fast. She "cocked" sideways and shaved some of the bullet and put a small dent in the case up towards the neck. It also shaves a very small amount off of the rim of the case.

If I manual slide a cartridge in the chamber and close the bolt, it will close, but does so fairly hard.

I measured the loaded factory ammo and it meets all specs as far as OAL, etc.

Now, the first issue could simply be the internal box mag, but I don't think that is the issue. The 2nd issue with the tight chamber though really worries me. Anybody heard anything about any of these 798/799's have out of spec chambers? Any other ideas as to what is going on here? Don't relaly feel comfortable with it not feeding reliably and all either.

Jon
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • Emmett Dunham
    Take a very close look at the follower and see if it is worn out. The follower spring most likley is worn out. Could be reloaded ammo, you checked that. If you think that the chamber is rough get a chamber brush and gun cleaner and scrub the crap out of it. If cleaning it does not do it take it to a gunsmith and have him polish it. I would not be loading any live ammo in the chamber of this rifle. Some of these rifle are set with a light trigger on top of that it is not being able to be pointed down range and fired.

    Emmett
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  • Mobuck
    Just the new not worn off. If you could get hold of some dummies and just run them through over and over, I'm guessing the rough edges will smooth somewhat. If you want a ready to go dangerous game rifle, a gunsmith tune and smooth is likely in order. I got a slightly used 799 in 7.62x39 and I bet it was moved on due to the roughness of the feeding cycle. While the 798 will close on a round inserted in the chamber, it's not the best for the extractor.
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  • Sig220_Ruger77
    Thanks guys, good tips.

    I really like the looks and feel of the rifle and the sights line up great for me. If I can get that action and chamber smoothened out a little more, the only thing I would still have to complain about on it would be that dang long 26" tube. I think 20" or 22" would be great.
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  • wilmamae
    The 458 is a hard round to get to feed in most factory rifles. Sometimes the feed ramp needs to be polished. Another trick is to extend the extracter so the belts dont hang up on each other.Shoot me an e-mail if you want more info.
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  • perry shooter
    Make sure the box that is part of the trigger guard is seated into the action itself and than make sure the cartride follower is fully seated on the spring Load 2 rounds and then one round and try feeding less then a full magazine.
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  • huntsman53
    I agree with some of the other suggestions! Quite a few new rifles chamber a little rough until the new is wore off (after chambering a few rounds). Usually problems with chambering on a new rifle and being hard to close the bolt are a result of a rough chamber and throat and debris either from manufacturing or from shavings off chambered ammo, will get in the troat and chamber and make closing the bolt hard. I think that a good cleaing and polishing of the chamber and throat should solve the problem! It is possible that there could be a problem with the follower and if so, the rifle should be still under warranty and you can return it to Remington for a fix.

    quote:Originally posted by Sig220_Ruger77
    I really like the looks and feel of the rifle and the sights line up great for me. If I can get that action and chamber smoothened out a little more, the only thing I would still have to complain about on it would be that dang long 26" tube. I think 20" or 22" would be great.


    Once you get the rifle to the Range and begin shooting, you will understand the benefits of having that loooooong 26" barrel! The .458 is one big bullet and needs that extra 4 to 6 inches of barrel and bore to stabilize the bullet and give optimum performance when it comes to accuracy.
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  • nononsense
    Sig220_Ruger77,

    The situation you describe has nothing to so with most of the suggestion made above. And it is not uncommon to run into with any action let alone a Mauser-style action.

    Since you didn't tell us the style of bullets that you selected, we are left to presume that your factory load came with a fairly short and stubby bullet since that's what usually comes on .458 Win. Mags. for dangerous game hunting. The feed ramp needs to have the geometry corrected for your cartridge and bullet selection. It might also need to have a small radius put on the lead edge of the ramp. Then it needs to be polished and tested through several dozen magazine loads.

    While working on the feed ramp, it is generally necessary to do some work under the feed rails as well. It helps fine tune the geometry for getting these cartridges in the chamber. The follower can also stand some minor polishing sometimes but it's usually the rails and ramp which get the most attention.

    Use a good gunsmith to get this done properly since any mistakes will result in a ruined action. I won't tell you how many amateurs have brought in Mausers and other actions that they thought they could fix by doing their own corrections and ended up with a trashed receiver.

    Ask more questions or use my e-mail if you prefer.

    Best.

    ADDED:

    The 26" barrel is superb when it comes to squeezing every last inch of velocity out of this cartridge. However, it is NOT necessary. This cartridge has been and will continue to be used in the shorter barreled dangerous game rifles. The shorter 22" barrel is not uncommon at all and 20" will work nearly as well. The difference comes with the increased noise level for the shooter and those around him. It is literally a blast, painful when you're behind it or in front of it and one that can minimized with the longer barrels. If you find it handier, have the barrel cut off and and the front sight replaced. The loads for this cartridge can be very efficient in the shorter barrels.

    Best.
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  • Emmett Dunham
    I have had two Remington rifles that had the same problem, the tip of the bullet was hitting just below the feed ramp. The 3006 would always hit the ramp when it was loading from the left side of the magazine the 22-250 I don't remember. The 3006 I tried to replace the spring first and it did not help and second the follower, the problem stopped. The spring replacement on the newer 22-250 corrected the problem with feeding. I tried polishing the feed ramp and cleaning and played around with 3006 for quite a while until I replaced parts. Both the of the rifles I fixed had good chambers so luck was smiling on that question.

    Emmett
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  • tsr1965
    Nononsense has pointed you in the proper direction. Being a Mauser style action, I noticed you said...
    quote:If I manual slide a cartridge in the chamber and close the bolt, it will close, but does so fairly hard.


    This is something you should NOT do with a Mauser style claw extractor. The rounds should be fed from the magazine, as it is a controlled round feed, that when the bolt picks up the round from the magazine, the rim of the cartridge slides up between the extractor and bolt face. It purposely traps the round so it cant fall out(a dangerous game thing). That extractor was not designed to snap over the rim of a round manually fed into the chamber. To do so, can break, or weaken your extractor.

    Sounds like your rifle needs a good polishing and tuning of the feed system, as Nononsense prescribed.

    Best
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  • Emmett Dunham
    I don't have this model Remington but I do have a 3006 with a claw extractor and a few others and all of the feed ramps start in the magazine or on a ramp in the receiver and his description of a lip lead me to believe that the round were not making it up the ramp to the chamber (the round lip just in front of the chamber). So it seem that the rounds coming out of the magazine was not making it to the chamber at all and once they got there they were hard to chamber. Sounded like two problems to me that is why I posted the second time because the 3006 with the claw had the problem of not getting up the ramp and it was the tip of the round hitting it at the wrong angle that was stopping it from feeding. The wrong angle was caused by the light spring tension on the follower and it would get on the wrong angle with the ramp and get stuck there. I cannot get the 798 out and look at it because I do not have one so I will pass on this one.


    Emmett
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