bolt closing problem

tommyboy26

i have notced lately on my howa .308 that sometimes when i close the bolt on a round it can be very difficult to close the bolt and then after i fire i can be just as hard to open the bolt again.


is this because of the round or the bolt or me?


tommy

intershoot

sounds like the bolt is binding up!

Take it apart, clean it and just smear some decent gun oil over the contact faces.

Then.....I'm no expert! might just be you :cool:

bunny shooter

Try a different brand of ammo maybe what your using doesn't "suit" the chamber

carlos93

tommyboy26 wrote: »

i have notced lately on my howa .308 that sometimes when i close the bolt on a round it can be very difficult to close the bolt and then after i fire i can be just as hard to open the bolt again.


is this because of the round or the bolt or me?


tommy

Tommy,

If it’s a standard factory cut chamber then all factory ammo should fit as it would be cip sammi spec.

I would hazard a guess that the bolt needs stripped and cleaned, aswell as the chamber.

What ammo are you putting through it?

Carlos.

.243

does it happen when turning the bolt up or down? sounds like girt in the recoil lug area in the action,if not at worst it could be a headspace issue

ormondprop

i was having the same problem with my .22 cz, took apart the bolt and gave it a good cleaning and cleaned the rifle aswell and now its back perfect again

ejg

Is it the stainless howa? Howa have a stainless bolt lugs running against stainless which sometimes galls a bit. If this is the case I'd polish the lugs a bit or lightly sand with 600-800 grit wet paper. Check if it is only one sided.
The stainless - stainless needs a bit of good grease on the lugs. I like a teflon grease, then they work well.
Other than that the chamber might have crud in it, as mentioned by others.
A good scrub could help.

edi

happyjack

Hi,
I've never handled a Howa, is it push feed or controled round feeding?

I've seen bolts with sharp extractors, that used to shave small bits of the bullets case rim, then these little bits of brass work into small areas and cause, bolt to bind, or firing pin to fail to contact the primer.

It's best to get a gunsmith to look at it, if its under a year old why not bring it back to guy you bought it from. I've seen modern gun parts with metal problems, after all most guns are mass produced.

I'm a mauser nut myself, to my mind you cant beat a controled feeding
bolt. I've had a few CZ/ BRNO rifles that needed tweeking to stop the extractor shaving metal off of case rims.

Push feed actions to my mind are crap, ie Remington, tiny bit of dirt on the bolt face and they stop working, mauser bolt heads are self cleaning, so that cant happen. Also if you work a push feed ( Remington ) bolt a short stroke, that is change your mind half way, then the extractor because it hasent gripped the case yet will leave a live round up the breach, thats the reason folks that kill dangerous game use 1898 actions, they work best.

Just my opinion.

HJ

Johnny_Coyle

Am I the only one hear concerned with head spacing? Even if it is not the likely culprit, it should be taken seriously.

Tommy, take your gun to a pro and have them look at it. Is there an authorized dealer around?

.243

Johnny_Coyle wrote: »

Am I the only one hear concerned with head spacing? Even if it is not the likely culprit, it should be taken seriously.

Tommy, take your gun to a pro and have them look at it. Is there an authorized dealer around?

got there before you see above

tommyboy26

went to a gunsmith he checked head space and reckons all is fine put it down to the ammo i was using (cheap chinesse crap wont make that mistake again)



tommy

Half-cocked

My HOWA 1500 won't close on the occasional Federal round - maybe 1 in a 100. No problems with any other ammo. When I compare the problem cartridges side by side with others, I can actualy see a difference in the dimensions! It seems that the HOWA is very tight on head space tolerence.

sharpshooter murphy

If your using CCI rounds there nearly always tight to close and open, same goes for that guy with the .22.