Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Bolt Swap Question?

Sounds like it's either dirty or your firing pin spring is weak. I'd take it to the gun smith and take the '06 hunting. No way I'd swap bolts and shoot it without a gun smith checking the head space first.

Have you ever re-barreled a rifle? Not put together an AR,
What if the "head space" is off? then what? You stretch a case, similar to fire form,

Think of an AR Build: The barrel sits in the upper and it "head spaced" by a an alignment pin; the bolt is a 2 piece design, mass produced.

Ever been to a gun maker's business, The guns are put to together like sexing machines, vacuum cleaners, or auto mobiles. Assembly line styled.

Go ahead, spend the money on head space gauges - it's you r money,

BTW the gauges for the '06 family is all the same gauge, so make sure you ask for one for '06 and one for a 280, just to be safe.

Same head space gauge, 308/243/358 are all the same also, But what do I know??

So, I should swap bolts, or definitely don’t swap bolts, maybe try a Howa bolt, check headspace with some masking tape, buy a few different headspace gauges....one for each-06, stand behind a tree with full body armor and a mask, then pull the trigger with a 20ft rope, and lastly, disinfect the rifle and look for signs of pressure. Sound right?

Don't do it. It may work but it may cause you more trouble than you'd think. Case separation, rupture, stuck bolt. You wouldn't have one working rifle.

Maybe stop asking for advice on the Internet from anyone who can type.

Says the man with 4,000 posts.....probably none of which were offering or asking for advice.

I sure hope you were able to see my sarcasm.

I've done it several times......

Take one of your pieces of fired brass, knock the primer out, pull the firing pin assembly out of the bolt, and chamber the brass.

Then, take your other bolt, pull the firing pin assembly, and chamber the same piece of brass.

If it closes easier, tape a piece of scotch tape on the base of the case, & trim to fit. Tape is around .002" thick. If it won't chamber with the tape your GTG.

If pressure on closing the bolt is about the same with either bolt, I'd go ahead and use it w/o worry.

Final test would be to fire a round, deprime, and measure headspace, base to datum line on the shoulder, if you have the tools, and compare to brass fired with the original bolt.

Easy way to check.

Trade bolts and chamber a fired 30-06 case with the 25-06 bolt and vice versa.

You think a 30 cal neck is gonna fit in a 25 cal chamber?

I had IT&D re-barrel a 308 700 Rem. Sent the bolt AFTER this work to AK to have a new bolt handle welded on. USPS lost the bolt on return to me. I bought a new bolt, had the handle welded again then sent the rifle back to IT&D to check headspace. Maybe I was lucky, but headspace was fine. Seems the bolt specs are pretty close on mass produced rifles.

Do as Jordan says or find someone with a headspace guage. I'd prefer the guage route.

Wow

Yep they are all close. Within thousands of an inch. Which is enough to blow your rifle into toothpicks.

Someone, maybe several someones said "Or just use the 30-06."

That is never a bad idea. If a 25-06 will kill whatever you are hunting, a 30-06 surely will.

Shot today. Went off like it should. Think tearing it down and cleaning everything well did the trick.....until the buck of a lifetime steps out broadside at 75 yards!

The 280 headspace gauge is NOT the same as the other '06 based cartridges. Jordan's recommendation to check the headspace with tape is a viable method but I don't recall ever seeing an unaltered 700 where bolts couldn't be interchanged and still be within acceptable limits. I've rebarreled hundreds of them. GD