Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters troubleshooting bolt action feeding problem

I have a 70's vintage Model 70 push-feed 30-06 that almost always mis-feeds the last round out of the magazine.

Every other round feeds perfectly, even empty brass, so I don't think it's the feed-rails, its just the last round that is against the follower.

The cartridge releases too early and the back end will ride up over the bolt.

What are the most likely culprits? follower spring?

The follower itself doesn't look damaged in any way

It is my first center-fire from years ago and I am not sure when it started, I havent ever really shot until I needed that last round, so I can live with it, but it would be nice to fix.

Probably the follower spring is a little weak. That's why the last round is the problem: The spring is stretched to its limits, so isn't holding the round firmly against the feed rails.

Sometimes the problem can be easily fixed by stretching the follower spring a little, but sometimes the spring needs to be replaced.

thanks MD, I'll try opening the spring up once and see if that works. If thats all it is or a new spring that would be great.

I will give you the benefit of all the experience I have had with the last cartridge not feeding.

I had a 1903 Springfield, made, I think, in 1917. It would not feed the last cartridge. A new follower fixed the problem. Comparing the original follower with the new one, I could not see any difference, but the old follower must have been worn just enough to prevent the it from working properly.

I can't remember for sure, but I think the last cartridge would jump out when pushing the bolt forward, or maybe jump out when the next to last cartridge was fed.

Another possible problem is the follower being slight tilted to one side or the other. That can also sometimes be solved by bending the spring slightly.

Its happen to me with mostly remingtons . The last thing Mule Deer say, was the thing 99% of the time on mine

Ruger,
how does that gun shoot? I bought one at my club from a guy who got it at an estate. It has a nick in the feed ramp of the barrel that had to be smoothed out. But mine still seems to group around 2 inches or a bit more.
I am headed toward measuring case run out after firing. The stock has been changed to a syn. and bedded. That helped over the original wood that had a lot of tip pressure. But still not like the 308 1963 that I have when it comes to the paper.

well, through trial and error bending the spring it is feeding dummy rounds much better, but not 100%, I'll keep tinkering or maybe I'll look up a spring. Thanks for the help guys.

257, it's actually a Sears and Roebuck 53A which translates to a Winchester 70a with blind magazine. The barrel stamp is a pleasant reminder of a time when I could walk into Sears and buy a gun.

This one shoots good enough for a deer rifle, I've shot groups under 1.25 inch, but mostly I'd call it an 1.25-1.5" rifle.


Very consistent though, it shoots most any 150 or 165 grain bullet/load I've tried to the same place mix and match, and it shoots a 125 grain speer tnt load about 1.5 inches higher for groundhogs although I havent used it for groundhogs for some time, other toys for that.
It's the deer rifle I'm most comfortable with and is the one I grab when serious about getting a deer.

While we're on the topic, I bought a K98K last week that has a feeding problem. About 40% of the cartridges don't get picked up by the extractor while chambering. Bolt speed and left or right side of the magazine doesn't make a difference. I've never had a mauser with a feeding problem before. What are the first things to look at?

Hmm. I once bought a military Mexican Mauser in 7x57 that wouldn't feed, either. It happens, but not too often.

The feeding problems of Mausers (and CRF actions) can be due to all sorts of things, and can be hard to pinpoint without actually seeing what's happening. Do the rounds that don't slide under the extractor pop up in front of the bolt too easily?

There is no indication that a particular round failed to feed until the bolt wont turn down. All seems normal until after the bolt face has disappeared. I haven't been able to make it malfunction on demand. Of course it always works when paying careful attention in order to diagnose the problem.

Probably the best advice I can give is to pick up a copy of THE 1891 TO 1898 MAUSERS: A SHOP MANUAL, by Jerry Kuhnhausen. It's relatively inexpensive for such a great collection of info on trouble-shooting and gunsmithing Mausers.

Dang! Actually it isn't inexpensive, apparently. Used copies are a minimum of $50 on Amazon. Still worth it, though.

If you have one, Please scan the pages on "Feeding Issues" and post for us po' folk.

The only feeding issue I ever had was with a Browning .22 Auto. If the nut wasn't tight or the bbl. was positioned wrong, it would hang about every 3rd shot.

I never understood why they didn't make a version of that rifle that wasn't a takedown.

Boy, I'm reluctant to even speak up about this since I'm just an amateur, but I've had SEVERAL CRF Model 70s, including 2 of the new ones from SC, that apparently had the extractor adjusted too close to the bolt face so that the round coming up out of the magazine would only slide about halfway up onto the bolt face. This left the round cocked upward and they either hit the top of the back edge of the barrel or sometimes they went into the chamber hard. The diagnosis wasn't hard. Just look to see if the base of the case came all way up onto the bolt face. And the cure wasn't hard either, just bend the extractor body out a wee bit to slightly move the extractor claw away from the bolt face.

I have the manual, but I just haven't gone through it yet. I discovered the problem earlier today. It wasn't quite as bad as I said, only 8 to 10 of 37 rounds failed to feed. I'll look at the manual and the extractor.

There was a burr on the cartridge side of the leading edge of the extractor. Five file strokes removed it, and cured most of the feeding problem. I could only make it misfeed once. The real problem though is that the rifle is a late war model. The bolt has no guide rib, and it seems to make a big difference.

I checked the extractor tension on that rifle and three other mausers for comparison. The other rifles were a Turkish, a Yugoslavian, and a J. C. Higgins built on an FN action. The manual says about 0.004" deflection. The three military rifles were about 0.008" and two of the three worked fine. The FN was about 0.002" and seems to work fine, but I've never shot it yet. Interestingly enough the FN is the only rifle with an extractor that will hop the rim.

Domhnall
I have a old GSA mauser 98 in 30-06 and it will do what you describe but only for the first and second rounds with a full mag. With just two rounds it feeds fine. So whe you talk about bending the extractor body out are you talking about right at the bolt head? and what are you using to bend it out

I was measuring from the side of the bolt lug to the exterior of the extractor with and with out a resized case seated on the bolt face.