Savage 7mm Rem Mag with a stuck bolt?

[RocketFoot]

I worked on a friend's 7mm Savage Thanksgiving night. It was jammed shut after firing a round. The bolt would rotate but would not pull back to eject the shell. After disassembling the gun and inspecting the safety and bolt release, my only thought was to bump the bolt with a nylon mallet. It worked...the bolt dislodged and the shell popped out. I oiled it up for him and out it back together. The shell looked like it come up from the Titanic...is it possible the corrosion on the shell jammed the bolt up or is more likely that the shell was a reload and the magnum band was out of spec? Has anyone else ever experienced this with 7mm mag loads? Just curious. I have a 7mm Remy 700 but never experienced anything like this. The Savage's owner is not sure where the ammo he had came from...it is old!

[P-11 shooter]

We had similar problems with a 8mm mauser. Everytime it was due to crappy ammo. Either old ammunition, or bad handloads. It hasen't happened with factory ammo.

[Chazman321]

Corrosion on the shell with cause that to happen. Once while squirrel hunting I had a mildly corroded .410 shell that I put in on my 3rd or 4th squirrel of the day. It went in fine, no problem. After I shot it though, it would not eject... I ended up having to find a thin, long branch to stick down the barrel to dislodge the shell. Any amount of corrosion can lodge the brass in a barrel. Always use new, factory ammunition in good repair.


Chazlearnedmylessonman321

[Warners Surplus]

One thing everyone needs to check is the chambers!! It seems that many many guys got caught in the rain and snow last year during hunting season. They immediately cleaned and oiled the guns to prevent rust. The problem came from very few realizing that a bore brush, mop, bore snake does very little to nothing for dampness in the chamber. You need to use bigger patches or a larger mop to properly clean and oil the chambers. I am seeing alot of rifles come in this year that have light rust in the chamber because of the above. The first time they shoot the rifle to check zero or function, the rust holds the brass like a sand paper lined vise.


just a heads up on what I'm seeing happen that causes the above problem.


Rich W.

[Lycanthrope]

If the casing isn't sized right it'll be tight going in...the bolt will close hard.

If you have problems on the other side it was likely, corrosion on the chamber or casing...or a hot load.

Lycanmybetisitwasdirtythrope

[ScaredOnce]

Very interesting post (&replies).

My youngest brother's Savage 7 had the same problem last week (he's finishing up buck season with a shotgun). The bolt was very stuck. Our father did a little early morning gunsmithing and ended up breaking the safety due his method of forcing it open.

Here's the interesting part. Someone mentioned the poor conditions last November and a lot of rifles comming in with unkept chambers. This wasn't our case as I personally disasembled & cleaned all 5 of the rifles we used last year, including the 7mm. I'm the designated sight-in person in our family. I love long range practice. My youngest brother's rifle was shot all afternoon a month ago by me. Our pumpkin harvest was abundant and we wanted to see a real world example of "fall" (ps. I ran out of mil dots with my .30-06, but the 7mm was the champ). So, the chamber issue wasn't the culprit.

It's such a well-established rifle. Is there something that we're missing? Oh, and the obvious... The ammo. The ammo was factory and the same ones that were takin long-range pumpkins... I don't get it...

[Lycanthrope]

Was there lube left in the chamber? Grease?

[ScaredOnce]

None. It'd been shot a lot just weeks prior. I understand the safekeeping that an acuracy-prided rifle needs. This one got it.

[Lycanthrope]

Check for copper build up in the throat?

[ScaredOnce]

None, man... It was perfect, then it broke. I don't know what to say. I've never seen a decent weapon break like that. I makes no sense. I've treated my brush rilfe(Rem 760c in .30-06) terrible and it still's been flawless...I was stunned at this failure. They are good rifles too. I'm afraid that we may have gotten one that evaded QC or something...