Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles New 300 wsm bolt gouging cartridges

Hello everyone, brand new here. Looks like a great sight.

I just pulled my Sako 85 stainless with synthetic stock out of the box, cleaned her up and lightly oiled everything needing to be oiled. I mounted a Leupold vx3 and headed out to dial her in.

When I dropped the first cartridge in the mag and cycled it into the chamber, the bolt was very difficult to close. I mean, not a little sticky but real hard. I did not fire the round and tried to extract it. If it was hard going in it was impossible to get out. I thought there was something up with the safety and it was holding the action closed. When I did manage to get the cartridge out, using two hands on the bolt as my buddy held the rifle, I found a gouge on the rim of the casing with a tang of brass hanging off. YIKES.

I put in a cartridge from a different brand. Same thing. Tried another brand. Same thing. Tried 10 various cartridges from the boxes, same result. The material seems to be coming from the area of the bolt exactly opposite the ejector pin. Also, the casing faces are marred a bit when ejected, like the headspace is very tight.

What's up? Doesn't sound normal at all. Should I try shooting it? Anyone had a similar experience?

Rick

No it's not normal and no don't shoot it.

Yikes No don't shoot it, take it back to where you got it.For the money you paid for that sako they should replace it for you

Yep, sounds like a headspace issue. Have it checked with a Go-No Go gauge. DO NOT SHOOT IT!

clean the chamber and check for debris...and try again

Yep! Don`t shoot it...Doesn`t sound like a cartridge issue, but rather a spacing problem with that particular rifle. Check for debris and clean the chamber and try to slowly chamber another round. If too much resistance, then back off before you get another round stuck.

A wide variety of factory ammo not chambering properly? Imo, there is a definite spacing problem somewhere with that rifle.

Buy the rifle from a distributor? From a local dealer?

Hopefully in your case, from a dealer. That way you can walk right in with that rifle including all the ammo you tried to chamber and show your dealer, and either order another or take home the same identical rifle if on hand.

And from a new Sako too.

Make sure the lug recesses and chamber are clear. One of my Sako 85's had a spent primer roll out of the action when I took it out of the box. Apparently Sako uses warm proof loads.

Great news, I used a brass brush for my 12 ga, compressed air and a plastic pick and cleared the chamber. I worked on it for almost an hour. Whatever was in there finally dislodged and blew out with air. The bolt is snug but I am able to close it with one finger. Nice!!! Off to the range in the morning to dial in the Leupold and maybe an afternoon of bear hunting.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Good man

Yeah, like I said, headspace issue! :-)

Next time when you say you cleaned the gun, CLEAN THE GUN!!

Glad it was that simple!!