I have an older (late 60's) Remington Model 700 in .308. After cleaning, on the first usage, the bolt was pretty tight on some commercial loads. Afterwards, I determined that the bolt would not close on a go gauge. Unfortunately, I did not check much of anything before cleaning but I am positive there is no residue in/around the bolt and chamber. My guess is that after 50 years of sitting on a rack, something is slightly swollen from corrosion. However, I just cannot find it.

Any ideas? Anybody have any experience with a manual chamber reamer (the kind you place in the chamber and use the bolt to force forward).

Does the ejector fully depress?  

Could be crud and rust there if your chamber seems to have shrunk.

Also as odd as it sounds gages can vary brand to brand or even within brand and they shouldn’t.  I was told to not buy Forster as they had the most variance when checked by the Marine armorer’s metrics and gaging folks.  Was told to go with Clymer so I did.

Try another go gage. Edit- and pull the ejector if you can manage it then measure.

And yes I have used a pull through reamer on a tight chambered M1a.  Long story short is that Springfield didn’t properly cut the bolt roller clearance which leads to busted or ejected rollers and causes the bolt not to fully close.  I fixed the bolt roller clearance only to suddenly be short chambered.

Thanks for the tip. I double checked the ejector and all seems fine. If you hold the cartridge in place while extracting with the bolt, the cartridge can be allowed to lift, and pushed back into place with appropriate tension.

Anybody have one of these they want to loan out '-)

http://pacifictoolandgauge.com/pull-through-chamber-reamers-nopix-showcart-/410-308-winchester-saami-headspace-pull-through-reamer.html

Has the gun made it 50+ years with a tight chamber? If it aint broke, don't fix it, Tight is better than too lose if it chambers decent quality ammo.

Make the sure the ejector can seat to flush or below on the bolt face (its not the pressure, its the overall length of the ejector + spring that may be an issue)

If the head space is only .001-.002” too tight you might lap in the bolt lugs a bit to increase headspace

You're supposed to remove both the extractor and ejector when you test with a go or no-go gauge.  

The rifle in question is a Remington 700 with a riveted extractor. Why remove it? (I agree with removing the ejector)

Load with factory ammo and shoot it.  If it works and extracts and ejects it could be a tool error.  Someone said it, if it's not broke don't fix it.

kwg