Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Remington 700 Ejector Problem!

I am a BIG proponent of Remington bolt action cenetrfire Rifles - especially the Models 700, 7, XR-100, 722, 721 and the 40X line.
I often relay their virtues and my happiness with them on this, and many other forums.
I have been using them for just a tad longer than 50 years now and currently own many dozens of them.
Yesterday I had my first REAL glitch with one of these Rifles!
And I feel somewhat obligated to relay the particulars of this "failure" and my attempts at a fix.
Earlier this week I bought a used but recently made Model 700 SPS Rifle in caliber 223 Remington.
This Rifle had been purchased by a local fellow and he decided to send it back to Remington to have a "heavier barrel" installed on it.
The barrel Remington put on this "parkerized" receiver was a stainless fluted 26" style that is the type that comes on a 700 VSSF model.
The Rifle then eventually came to me with Leupold rings and bases and a trigger to die for!
I invested a tad under $400.00 and took a chance on the gun.
Yesterday at my friends private range I obtained rather good accuracy throughout a string of 16 rounds fired - I had two groups (5 shots at 100 yards) that measured just under 3/4" apiece.
But the range session was clouded by the Rifles inability to "eject" spent shells out of the breech.
The spent cases would extract from the chamber well enough but the ejection function was unsuccessful.
Virtually every spent casing was spun around in the breech somehow and would end up laying atop the magazine follower, "backwards".
I tried ejecting some factory loaded rounds that were unfired - nearly the same results.
On to the attempt at a "fix".
I took apart the bolt and then the ejector system (spring, retaining pin and ejector rod) and I cleaned, lubricated and inspected everything.
I put the bolt back together and had the same results - extraction but no ejection from the breech area.
I measured and compared things - and the flawed ejector assembly was compared to another SPS Rifle in caliber 223 and the top of the ejector rod protruded .010" LESS into the bolt face than that of the Rifle that worked fine?
THEN, I got a brainstorm and decided to "switch" the ejector rod and the ejector spring from the "good" Rifle to the "bad" Rifle.
This only took several few minutes and low and behold the "bad" Rifle began ejection functioning just fine!
So, I ordered a new set of the ejector rod and ejector spring (under $7.00) and hopefully this will solve my problem.
I switched the "good" ejector rod and spring back into the correct Rifle and will get back to the "problem" Rifle once the new parts arrive.
One of the reasons I wanted to quickly try another ejector rod and spring was on the off chance that the "extractor" was worn and not holding the spent casing hard enough or tight enough to properly assist in the ejection process?
Apparently the extractor in thei Rifle is fine?
I have, over the years, heard other folks on occassion talk of ejection and extraction problems with Remington 700 type Rifles but this is the first instance in which I have been involved personally.
At this point I am not positive that Remington "put out" this flawed Rifle (as it had the one previous owner) but I tend to think that is what occurred.
Long live Big Green though.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Sounds like the previous owner trimmed a bit too much off the ejector spring.....

dale--a nice, informative, and useful post.

my first guess when starting to read of the problem was that the ejector rod was too short...

several years ago, i bought a used rem 788 that would chamber one round, then wouldn't chamber another--these were factory rounds from several different manufacturers--the bolt simply would not fully close.

i removed the ejector rod from the bolt, took a few thousandths off of the face of the ejector rod, then reassembled it, and all rounds chambered from then on, including all handloads.

it makes a guy wonder how many rigs have been sent down the road--when the offending issue was exceedingly minor....?

What he said. You can cut a piece of drill rod and insert it in the ejector hole under the spring to increase the tension.

Aalf: I have heard of folks "altering" the ejection systems on their Varmint Rifles so the fired cases won't fling out into the deep snow and grass?
IIRC?
I have never done so myself (trim the springs or the rods).
Could be that was what has happened.
Thanks
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Hi_Vel: Thank you very much for the kind words and for sharing your experience.
I will say this the "bad" ejector rod in my Rfle had a more "rounded" face than the "good" ejector rod which was noticeably more "squared" on its face.
I am hopeful the replacement parts (which should be "in the mail" as we speak) will solve this situation for me.
That non-chambering situation with your Model 788 is an unusual one, I believe.
I hope you got a good deal on it and your ingenuity in correcting the problem was well rewarded.
Reminds me of a FACTORY brand new Weatherby MarkV Rifle in 257 Weatherby that freind of mine bought several years ago out on the west coast - just as he was heading here to Montana on a 2 week Mule Deer Hunt.
Once he got here to Montana and decided to fire and sight in his brand new Rifle, it would not fire the factory Weatherby ammo he brought along!
Turns out the brand new firing pin in his brand new Rifle would not touch the primers upon trigger pulling!
He had to re-route to Missoula, Montana where a Weatherby factory fix it station (Sportsmans Surplus) luckily fixed his problem by swapping out a new firing pin from an in stock Weatherby MarkV they had and ordering a new firing pin for their in stock Rifle!
My friends original firing pin was not broken - it was just way out of specs and would not contact the primers at all.
Live and learn.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

BangPop: Thank you for that suggestion - I think I follow it?
Are you suggesting that a person cut a "very short" section of drill rod and drop it down the hole in the bolt face creating a new and shorter over-all length of the ejector rod hole?
Sounds like it would fix my problem IF I could get that very short (waffer-like at around .01" long) piece of drill rod down to the bottom of that hole and have it lay flat while I insert the spring and the ejector rod down onto it.
Do I understand your premise correctly? And you mine?
Your fix would probably come in handy for the person needing an immediate correction to the non-functioning 700.
But alas I am well fixed with 223's and can wait for the arrival of my replacement parts.
Thanks again.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Dale--

thank you for the good words--coming from a person of your knowledge and experience, they mean a great deal.

the 788 was a good buy indeed, and i suspect it was in fact sold due to that very issue--for as it was, it would chamber a few (4 or 5) rounds out of every new box. some chap must have surely figured he had a lemon. i bought it on gunbroker.

quite a fix for your friend to be in with that weatherby--and a very nice solution to the issue, especially in order to save a hunt...

hoping those parts that are coming will cure that ejection issue on that rig of yours. a guy always wants a rig to work, but when they don't, that's an interesting situation, as it allows us to learn even more...

keep swatting those yotes with those swifts !

The amount of spring removed is usually longer than the .010 that you mentioned. I would suggest you start with something in the area of .060. Could be longer or shorter depending on how much was removed from the spring. Find a twist drill that you can sacrifice that is a slip fit in the hole and cut a piece off and try it. I think you will find that it will solve the problem.

BangPop: Thank you for the clarification and your time.

All: My new parts came in from Remington yesterday (Saturday the 13th) and I got to install and try them out today (the 14th).
Not a perfect fix but they work slightly better - although now with the new parts installed I MUST work the bolt action very BRISKLY to get the fired (empty!) cases to barely clear the breech.
Same with an unfired, complete, loaded cartridge - the ejection is only successful when the bolt is worked briskly.
When the bolt is worked in a normal fashion the fired cases still end up laying in the breech backwards.
SO... I guess I am going to have to remember to work the bolt on this particular 700 very briskly.
I am certain that the ejector rod and spring from my other Rifle worked "better" than this new set when I tried them???
I am puzzled at that - why I wonder is that so.
MAYBE... if I get time I will see if the newest parts work well enough in my "other" 223 and swap its parts out for the improved functioning with those old parts for my new Rifle?
Puzzled here.
Thanks again all - if I get time to swap out the parts and try that as a permanent "fix" I will let you all know how that goes.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

The extractor in your bolt HAS to be holding on too tight to your cases for the new ejector to not eject 2 feet from the gun. On all of my bench rem 700's I have removed the standard ejector spring and added weaker springs to allow me to not chase brass from the bench. On my most recent 700 in 17 fb I found the extractor was holding the case too well.


Try removing your bolt, insert a case and see if it sticks, or flies out of the bolt. I suspect a condition exists where with the ejector installed a case may "stick" in the bolt and hold itself in somewhat alignment with the bolt vs flying out to the side like it should do.


If you depress the ejector button and compare it to a "correctly functioning" rem you may see what is different in this problem bolt.


Good luck


Allen

Without looking at the bolt in question, there is no way to know what the true issue is, but I have seen several over the years that did what is being described because the extractor is actually not tight enough. In other words the hook is too far away from the bolt face. The case is pulled from the chamber, and with a sloppy fit, it looses control of the case and the case falls out of the bolt face leaving it in the loading port. VG, you can check for this condition by snapping a case in the problem bolt and seeing how much clearance fore and aft the extractor has relative to the groove in the case. Compare that to a bolt that works properly. This condition also results in poor primary extraction.

Hemiallen & BangPop: I am printing out both of your latest postings and plan on getting back to this situation/problem/malfunction just as soon as I finish with the upcoming Elk/Deer/Wolf season hereabouts.
I very much appreciate both your inputs!
Thanks again
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

The extractor is bad. Remington has been shipping out bad extractors in the 223 family boldface for at least 10yrs now and have done nothing to correct it. I've run into 2 different rifles from them with the same problems. Remington sent me 5 extra extractors and all were bad. The leading edge that actually clips over the cartridge rim is oversized. I ended up taking a Dremel to mine. Take a look at your spent brass for marks from the extractor.

Wareagle: Thank you as well for your input.
Maybe I have been barking up the wrong tree trying to fix my problem.
So you think that my extractor is to large?
I will go inspect my recently fired brass from this Rifle and assess that.
I have heard of this problem, like I mentioned before, but I have not run up against it myself in any of my Remingtons.
Thanks again.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

The first of the two I had was so bad it wouldn't chamber a round. If you took the bolt out and manually clipped the cartridge in and fed it, smooth as glass.

Dale,

ultimately, it could even be possible that your extractor is ok--afterall, you mentioned that it worked ok when you swapped out the ejector rod and spring parts from your other rifle...

compare the new ejector rod you got from remington to the one that worked--is the "scalloped seat cut" where the retaining pin engages it to hold it in place while also limiting it's fore/aft movement--is that cut exactly the same in both?

if not, you could remove a very slight amount of metal from the rear end of the scalloped cut, to allow the rod the ability to "project forward" out of the bolt face a few more thousanths.

just a thought.

Yep, I would guess trimmed spring to make a nice little pile near the gun as well. Works great for guys shooting prairie dogs on a bench and not wanting to pick the brass up off the ground.

a post for a problem that does not exist