I have a Remington 700 Youth in 308. It’s from the J-lock era (early 2000s) with the bead-blasted/Parkerized finish. The factory ADL stock is an early injection-molded Tupperware version.

It’s hard to get four cartridges in the magazine. When I do, I have to really ram the bolt home to get the first one into the chamber. The second and third feed normally. The last one often won’t feed at all because the back of the cartridge sits below the bolt face so the bolt doesn't pick it up.

I have a stainless 700 in 308 that feeds four cartridges with no drama, but it's an ADL that's been converted to BDL.

Any thoughts on how to fix this?

Thanks,


Okie John

The follower and spring in correctly?

Look at the follower in your 308 and see if they are installed the same.

Not sure whether they're in correctly. The stainless gun is a 308 BDL so the magazine spring goes into the floorplate. The ADL doesn't have a floorplate.


Okie John

Correct. Open the bolt on both and look at the follower from above.

Compare the 2 and make sure the ADL follower matches the BDL follower.

As everyone stated, look where the spring is attached on the bottom of the follower. The flat of the spring (or follower) slides forward or backward.

Have to disassemble for that.

If someone dropped the follower and spring in backwards on the ADL it will be visible from above with bolt open.

Still may have to disassemble to see if spring is in wrong but follower backwards will be easy to see.

So, I have a .300 WM version and had very similar issues when I bought the rifle. I called Remington and they sent me all new internal mag parts and nada. Come to find out, the internal magazine of the ADL held one less than the BDL version. Try three rounds in the mag instead of four and see if it changes any.

Pretty sure belted mag versions hold 1 less anyway.

I have a 700 ADL Youth 243, and it holds 4 in the magazine and feeds flawlessly. I can put one in the barrel and leave the 4 in the magazine as well with no problems. Sounds like the OP has a spring or follower issue.

Kinda thinking along the lines of M-1 enbloc first round friction then the rest feed easy. Op rod forward assist first round. If you load the enbloc with the last round to the left it’s difficult to insert the clip in the receiver. If the last round is loaded in the enbloc to the right, it’s much easier to load in the receiver.

I agree to focus on follower and spring but also consider the receiver rails. Maybe a little rough? What does the brass look like after you load it?

Yes, I know now, but Remington must not have as my paperwork with the rifle when I bought it new said it held three in the mag.

If it only held three he wouldn’t been able to fit the fourth at all.

Thanks to all who replied. Fortunately, I did not have the follower in backwards.

I compared the two followers and magazine springs as advised and found major differences. In the pics below, the ADL follower and magazine spring are on the right.

The two have different profiles, and the magazine spring in the ADL rifle is significantly longer than the one in the BDL rifle.


Okie John

Also, the follower in the ADL rifle is stamped, while the follower in the BDL rifle was milled like an old-school Mauser follower.



Okie John

Your BDL follower appears to be a milled while the ADL looks to be stamped. I much prefer milled followers.

The springs can make a difference as well but you can tune them if you're handy.

I would try to pick up a milled follower for your ADL. I'm perfectly fine with 3 down but still want a milled follower...they're worth the effort.

Swap them out and see if that fixes the problem. If so duplicate it.

This ^

I could squeeze a third one in mine, but it was so damn tight it wasn’t funny. I was just wondering if this wasn’t the same issue.

I’ve owned over a dozen non-magnum, synthetic ADL’s and they all held/functioned with three rather than four. If you try four, it’s extremely tight and I’ve run into problems such as you have.

All that said, they all feed extremely well using three with no fiddling required. Comparatively speaking, an A-Bolt II, Kimber Hunter, and a bunch of Savages come to mind that I needed to work on to get proper feeding.

Swapped the followers last night and test fired this morning. Problem solved. Thanks to everyone who replied.


Okie John