Bolt Etching Bullets Problem

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Went to the rifle club today.... and to my surprise there were no marks at all left on the bullet. I tried Fed bulk, Fed match, Rem GB, CCI Standard, CCI mini mag, Augila match and Wolf match. No signs of scratching the top round in the mag. All cycled well. I didn't shoot on paper (too much fun shooting at steel plate and soda cans) but maybe I'll toss one of my 3-9x scopes on it and see what happens at one of the club's paper ranges just for the heck of it.

I'm still not sure what SW did to address the tearing up of the bullet, but no matter... They fixed it.

 

[Slider_]

So then neither of you can tell what S&W did? No polishing of anything or replacement parts? That just seems weird to me. It's like it somehow magically fixed itself just by going back to s&w. Have you guys checked the piece of the bolt that I polished? Maybe they ground it at a different angle?

 

[grimreaper21]

yeah thats funny, maybe they switched a few parts that had ever so slightly different measurement tolerances.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

yeah thats funny, maybe they switched a few parts that had ever so slightly different measurement tolerances.

I got the same bolt back with the same OOB scars in it... same old worn hammer... same old scared polymer upper, beat up mags and worn down ejector. The extractor might have been changed... I duknow. The only thing I see different is blue springs. Oh yeah... almost forgot.... They didn't return the dirty underwear I used to pack the rifle to ship. I'll call em next week and ask what they did.

 

[Scuds03]

Yea I really can't tell what they did other than the spring and the fact that my gun now slings bullets all the way across the room like they are being shot from a rubber band. I could'nt go to the range because of two days in a row of bad things happening. Friday my mother in law backs her car into mine in the driveway then Saturday morning I find my Beagle dragging his back legs around. Somehow he managed to jump or do something stupid and compressed his spine he's going to be a cyborg/charriot dog now. Half animal half wheels.

If i get my car back from the shop by next weekend I will get it out to the range promise haha.

I sent mine in all pro, wrapped in bubble wrap. I got it back just in a cardboard box with the rifle on top of the mag and the mag scraped some of the paint off. Oh well.

 

[scootle]

I finally had time to take my new DUR-series 15-22 to the range this afternoon. No major malfunctions other than some difficulty chambering the first round in the magazine (twice with two different 10/10-magazines) the first time I put them each in. Literally, the round got stuck about half-way chambered and the bolt was out of battery. Once I ejected that top round, the rest of the magazine seemed to load and fire fine though. It was weird it really was only the first round of each magazine, so it might be something related to everything being new (including the magazines). Subsequent use of the same two magazines for the rest of the hour seemed OK.

But I digress... I did notice some light etching on some of the subsequent topmost rounds when I spot checked the magazine over the course of the hour so I had to shoot. I'll have to check more religiously next time I get out to the range, but it seems like the bolt is definitely contacting the top round in the magazine from time to time.

I wonder if there is some kind of tolerance build-up going on that is creating a contact point. I'll report back if it continues and/or causes any other problems. I want to let the new mechanicals settle in a bit since it's all brand-spanking new.

Other than that though, first go-around at the range went pretty well. No FTE or FTF issues really. I spent most of my time zeroing the irons and my RDS, so next time I'll be able to put more rounds through it and look for other issues.

Thanks for all the great information in this thread!

 

[scootle]

Hmm... quick update. I put another 130 rounds using 2x 10/10 magazines tonight without any issues. After chambering the first round of each magazine and then checking every time, I only noted very very light etching on one round tonight. I didn't clean the gun since yesterday's short session (90 rounds), so it started and ended dirty.

No incidences of FTE, FTF, etc. tonight either.

In my case, as things break-in and settle down, maybe the problem isn't really going to be a problem?

More later if anything should go awry in the future.