Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles weatherby vanguard bolt lift problem

after every single shot my bolt is very hard to lift. it will go halfway then stop and i got to use alot of force to get it open.
so what could be causing this?

i clean the rifle thoroughly after every outing.

i have only been shooting HSM brand fmj rounds out of the rifle. so i do not know if its just the ammo or the actual rifle that is the problem.

Ammo problem.

Agreed.

Excessive pressure IMO.

thanks. i didnt plan on shooting this ammo anymore

hopefully that is just the problem.

Does it do this when shooting other loads?

i have only shot this load out of the rifle so far.

One of the causes of high pressure is residual oil in the chamber. Make sure that after your cleaning process you wipe out the chamber.

Got the locking lugs lightly lubed (rear of them only!)?

If I recall, there was some mention of problems with HSM ammo in one of the forums awhile ago. I don't remember the particulars, but it may be better to pick up a box of Winchester or Remington ammo just to see if the symptoms go away. I do believe HSM is commercially reloaded ammo.

bankwalker,
My Vanguard 30-06 bolt does the same thing with Hornady Superformance 165, but the Superformance 180 is no problem and have had no problems with other ammo.
So, change ammo and if the problem still occurs take it to a warranty station gunsmith.

There was a Vanguard bolt recall some years ago. I sent mine in and it fixed a similar problem...

The Vuanguard bolt recall was to fix the shroud on the bolt that would alow the bolt to be inserted into the action at the wrong angle. If the shroud was at the wrong position the rifle would fire when the bolt was lowered. Sent three to be repaired myself. All they did was replace the bolt shroud with one that was shaped like the one on the Howa instead of the one that came on it that was shaped simular to the MK5.

Weatherby told me the original bolt was not in danger of firing, unless I took it apart to clean, and reassembled incorrectly. I don't take bolts apart... Again, my "re-shrouded" bolt extracted my spent casing easier, from my experience!... It wasn't any big deal to begin with! Several of my friends chose not to participate in the recall, because Weatherby told them the same thing, they did me.

thanks guys.

i havent gotten around to shooting anything new out of the gun yet. i do have a box of hornady 150gr sst's that i will try next time i go bear hunting

HSM is reloaded ammo,and the rule is don't shoot other people's reloads ! I have seen a partial seperation of HSM ammo that made me glad the boy was shooting a Rem. 700 ! You couldn't give me a rail car full of it !