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I just got a new Remington 700 SPS chambered in 257 wby. I haven't fired the gun. when I chamber a round the bolt takes some effort to close? The rounds are handloads with new Norma brass. Its hard to close no matter what....new brass without being resized and new brass that have been resized. The vanguard that I had chambered the same rounds with no problem. Whats going on? Is the headspacing too tight?

My immediate guess is the bullet is not seating far enough in the case.
When you try to close the bolt, the bullet is hitting the rifling, as you force it forward and down, the bullet is being shoved into the barrel.

Try loading the case with no bullet in it, that should tell you something about whether your cases are the right size.

Then adjust your cartridge OAL, i.e. insert the bullet farther into the case and you should be good.
I am new to reloading and found this to be the case with my two 30-06's, one length was fine in one gun, but wouldn't close in the other.
Both cases were the same, when I seated the bullet farther in the case, making the COAL length shorter, all worked well.

weatherby cartridges are "freebored" meaning the bullet has to jump to the rifling. It's impossible to touch the rifling while still having the round fit in your magazine. I did try chambering a case with no bullet and it made no difference

Wipe down an empty piece of brass with alcohol and let it dry. Then paint it all over with a permanent marker. Try chambering and removing it and then look it over for rub marks to identify the trouble spot.

tried the colored brass trick and got nothing? There were some brass shavings in the bolt face after chambering a dozen or so brass

I would call Remington. If your brass if full lenth resized and still no joy thinken its head spacing. Can you get a (go), (no go) gage?

It would not be the first case of incorrect headspace I have seen or heard of in factory rifles. I would screw in my sizing die and keep trying to bumping your shoulder a bit more to see if that helps, yet I don't know if the belt is implicated as I know nothing about belted rounds. In the end if bumping the shoulder more does not help its the headspace. The chamber could just be cut a bit tighter than the vanguard and if bumping it a bit more helps then you should be good to go.

I had this very same problem with a brand new CDL 264 winnie a couple years ago. I was using handloads with virgin brass and the bolt was just tighter than crap. I tried all kinds of resizing things and nothing helped. My brass was also coming out of the chamber scratched.

Called Remington and per their request took the rifle to Scheels in Omaha. They sent it to the Scheels in Des Moines who does their 'smithing and I had the rifle back in about a week and a half working fine. I did have to pay the UPS bill which I thought was bogus since it was their problem.

I remember they wanted me to run a factory round through it also. Well I didn't have any factory rounds and wasn't about to drop forty some dollars on a box just to find out what I allready knew. So I humored them and told them it wound up the same. They'll probably want you to do the same, I'd tell them that's the what you started with.

I had tweeked my trigger down to 2 1/4 lbs before it went in, it came back at 4 lbs with a note explaining the perils of such a dangerously light trigger.

A similar thing has happened to me too. Only mine was set at 3.5 pounds and they replaced the whole trigger.

The first thing I would do is take it to a local gunsmith and have him check the headspace. He should have the right tools since most of the belted magnums use the same gauges. It will take about 5 minutes. I would then send the rifle to Remington. If the headspace is AFU, then send a note referencing THEIR faulty QC put a potentially unsafe rifle into the market. I would also state that they should be repsonsible for all shipping charges. Remington will make it right but sometimes you have to nudge them in the right direction.

If the headspace is OK then still send it off to Remington but you'll be at their mercy for the shipping charges.

RH

It's one of a couple of possibilities.

First, take one new brass and check the length. Refer to your manuals and ensure it's within the 'trim-to' length. If it's there or a thou or so shorter, try chambering that round. If it's still difficult, then take the rifle to your smith for a quick headspace check. Like posted above, it takes about five minutes. If it closes on a GO gauge, but not on the NO-GO, I would then check one more thing: the ejector.. Ensure it's not extremely stiff or nearly frozen.. That can give you those same indications...

It could also be out of spec brass. No matter how far you bottom out the sizing die, it can not move a belt on a magnum case. A friend went through the same thing and the headspace was fine. It ended up being a bad batch of over the counter ammo that was out of spec. Have the headspace checked

I picked the rifle up yesterday, so today I took it back to the retailer with my brass. They replaced it on the spot. One of the guys was asking if I was using weatherby brass or not and that could be the difference. I knew they were going to ask something like that so I brought one of each ( wby and Norma ). They were both equally hard to chamber. I think he was surprised that I had both brands of brass because he didn't know what to say. As far as I know Norma makes all the wby brass anyway. I'm very glad they exchanged the gun though.

Wow, that is good customer service. As you probably know, the retailer is not responsible for qc issues such as what you are experiencing, but when one steps up like that, they win my immediate loyalty.

There is a shop that happens to be fairly close to me, and they don't have the best prices. But, they do go out of their way to address any issues, even beyond the scope of their responsibilities. I buy from them for that very reason.

Glad your dealer is treating you right I agree when you find someone like that you stick with them. Good luck with your new toy.

That's exactly why I buy just about everything from them.....the service. There are times I can get stuff a little cheaper somewhere else, but I buy from them. I have to say I was surprised when they just replaced it.