Re: new rem 700 wont chamber a round
Cobyb, let’s start over.
1: Have you fired this gun previously?
2: If yes, was this with your reloads?
3: If no, I assume the brass was fired through your DPMS?
5: When you say “the bolt would not close all the way” do you mean the bolt is not far enough forward to turn the bolt handle down at all???? Or does it turn down a little and stop before it should.
5a:You say you have not put a scope base on the action, but have you touched the set screws (if there is any) in the mount holes and possible this is the bind? If the bolt handle turns a little and abruptly stops before it should this may be the culprit…
6: “i measured the diameter of the snap cap and it came in at 0.462, and the loaded case measured 0.469 and the reloading book i have says not to exceed .473,” where was this measurement taken on the case, the rim size or the web (just forward of the extractor groove) ?
7: Do you have a tool to measure your shoulder to judge shoulder set back/bump when resizing?
If not get one, Hornady makes a cheap one and in the long run it will save you money by helping you set up your dies correctly and not overtaxing your brass which will lead to short brass life. There are better tools but this works well enough without the larger price tag.
If the brass was fired in the DPMS and loaded into the bolt without full length resizing I can just about guarantee that it will not fit as semi auto chambers are cut a little more generous to aid in extraction. This is where a small base die “MAY” solve the problem.
8: When you say “i looked at the case and it had a few scars near the primer end of the case” was this from your efforts to chamber during this test or were they there previous to that?
9: Could the scars be from high/over pressure loads fired previously? Such as ejector swipes, a small round circle in the area of the head stamp lettering? Or on the rim from the extractor from the DPMS
I have some real crap brass that was fired through my AR several times that has all sorts of marks from hot loads that even when full length sized to fit my bolt require more effort to close the bolt because they change the case dimensions ever so slightly they throw off head spacing in the chamber.
Before I would buy ammo I would just get some new brass (because you are going to use it eventual anyway) and see if it will chamber. If you purchase the Hornady (or other) headspace/shoulder length measuring tool expect the new brass to grow .002-.004” after firing, if you have a neck sizing die use it on your second loading and then take the measurement on the twice fired brass. Reason = sometimes it takes more than the first firing for your brass to fully expand to the full size of your chamber. This would be the time to set the full length die up to push the shoulder back just a little over .001 but not past .002” now retest the resized but empty cases in the rifle. If the bolt closes with just a hint of resistance vs. no resistance when the gun is empty you are good.
Something we didn’t cover is bullet seating depth, but I doubt that is your issue in a Remington chamber…
