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Bolt action rifle fired when closing the bolt

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#21 ·
Did I see above whether you mentioned if the gun was bought new or used?

If new or used the gun sounds like everyone mentioned above that it is a headspace or throat issue as to why it is hard to close.

The gun going off is a tricky one- even if the trigger is not “light”- someone still could have done something to the trigger to make it go off (someone that didn’t know what they were doing, anyway). That would probably only be in the case if it is a used gun, but I suppose it could have come from the factory like that, although that would be rare.
 
#22 ·
I know they're popular but I have to wonder why people buy Browning products. Any product is only as good as the service behind it and over the years, as clear back as far as I can recall, Browning's service has been horrible. I bought one of the first Citori Plus trap guns strictly because it was a 32" without porting, a factory oversight in the opinion of the dealer from whom I purchased it. It had all sorts of goofy problems, none very bothersome but when I wrote Browning about them, it took two months for a reply to come back and then it read like it had been translated from Japanese. On top of that, it didn't address any of my questions. The gun handled like a club so I didn't shoot it much.

When the BT-100 came out, firing pins were breaking. Two shooting friends of mine had them so I stopped by the Browning building at the Grand to ask about the concern. A person in the showroom told me there were no problems with that gun at all but when I walked back to the service desk and said two friends of mine have BT-100s, the guy handed me two firing pins!

Another friend had one of the old Belgium-made Browning O/U trap guns - I forget the model name - with "salt wood." He sent it back for their recall on the wood and four months later, he received a letter - not a phone call - advising him that they would not work on the gun because it had release triggers unless they removed the release parts first. He agreed but when the gun finally came back another six months later, the release parts weren't included in the box. The worst part of all that was that the man who installed the releases originally was Guy Daniels from nearby Lebanon, Pennsylvania, who had passed away while the gun was in Browning's hands. How's this for irony - when a buyer returned his gun to Browning for their "factory" release trigger option, Browning shipped those guns to Guy who then shipped them back to Browning. In actuality, Browning would not work on a gun fitted their own "factory" release triggers!

Shortly after buying that Citori Plus, another shooter offered me every cent I had paid for it because it wasn't ported. He became the proud owner in seconds and even though some of their rifles are very attractive, I won't buy another Browning product.

Ed
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
Justin L. said:
Did I see above whether you mentioned if the gun was bought new or used?

If new or used the gun sounds like everyone mentioned above that it is a headspace or throat issue as to why it is hard to close.

The gun going off is a tricky one- even if the trigger is not “light”- someone still could have done something to the trigger to make it go off (someone that didn’t know what they were doing, anyway). That would probably only be in the case if it is a used gun, but I suppose it could have come from the factory like that, although that would be rare.
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I bought the gun new at Cabela's.
 
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#24 ·
With the posted 3 shot group with factory ammo take the Gun, remaining ammo, and spent cases to a competent gunsmith explain in detail what happened. For future reference buy a quality trigger pull scale going over the line by 1/2 a lb is an eye-opener
 
#25 ·
Not too concerned on the trigger weight - pretty easy to tell the difference between an 8 Oz., a 3 lb, or an 8 lb trigger.

If the trigger's breaking point were the problem you would have figured that out - easy enough to do through dry firing the gun.
 
#26 ·
When you turn the bolt handle down it cocks the striker moving it back and in position to interface with the sear, sounds like there is a problem in that area of the sear/trigger, it would account for the bolt being hard to close, may have damaged the sear forcing it closed and now it doesn't hold the striker so the gun fires when the bolt fully closes. I don't think you have a problem with the barrel or chamber. It's probably simple to fix but you need a gunsmith who understands bolt action triggers.
 
#27 ·
Not trying to start a firestorm but can anyone here distinguish the difference between a trigger pull of 3.5 and 4.0 when closing the bolt? This is what the OP stated "Rifle discharged while closing bolt fortunately while in a lead sled"
 
#29 ·
Chamber a round, and pull it back out. If it does not fire, see if it pulls out smoothly, and look carefully at the shell and see if there is any scarring. Look at the rim where the extractor contacts the shell or any other marks and the bullet itself.

If nothing noted, time to pull the bolt and look at it to see if there are any deep wear marks already in locking lugs, etc.

As stated, if you can’t determine what it is, or find someone to work on it, bring it back to Cabela’s. I am sure they will replace that gun if it is firing when closing the bolt.
 
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#30 ·
Soycornfrm said:
Your not going to get more headspace by cutting anything other than running a chamber reamer in deeper and the throat is determined by how the reamer was cut. Also it doesn't take that much pressure to jam a bullet into the case if the throat was short unless it was crimped ammo you could just pull the chambered round back out without firing to see if the bullet is hitting the rifling.
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I am trying hard to not comment on what you don't know about saving chambers or making a tight target chamber on an average production barrel.

Yes I didn't specifically say cut one thread off barrel and cut the locking shoulder back that measurement. This well change, shorten, the chamber depending on the manufacturer anywhere from one twentysecondths or .045454545" or 1/22nd of an inch to one twelfth of an inch or .083333333333" or 1/12th .

When you are dealing with .004 @ +.004 and -.0000, those above numbers are huge. If the headspace is only within the no go .008 to the field of .0012. Triming, that's cutting the shank and step by about .006 will save a barrel with a bad chamber!

Target shooters want to use the one thread method because it allows for more control of the depth of the throat while removing any starting erosion on the rifling. Also if working with a marked barrel factory or custom one thread will put those markings at the proper place. This is a buyer be aware thing as it only takes the barrel markings being out place to take a huge chunk out of resale prices.

Al
 
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#31 ·
Oh and only rank novices and opinionated fools, this is speaking from the experiences of my barrel work teachers, knowedgable shooters and myself. Will not see exactly what cutting one thread means.

Al
 
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#32 ·
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#33 ·
Maybe 15 years ago I had a Weatherby rifle discharge when I closed the bolt. Got my attention. No harm anywhere. Sent it to their approved service gunsmith who fixed it. Real glad for safe gun handling practices.
 
#34 ·
cmccoy76 said:
I just bought a Browning X Bolt a couple of weeks ago in 30-06. I have taken it to the range twice. The first time was last weekend and i shot some mismatched factory ammo to site in the scope and break in the barrel. I noticed there was resistance in closing the bolt on almost every shot. There was difficulty closing the bolt on probably 10 rounds, and two I could not get to close at all. The ammo was Hornady American Whitetail in both 150 and 180gn and a couple of Federal rounds I had laying around. I finished after firing about 20 rounds. Today I took it back out, this time with the same Hornady American Whitetail 180grn factory rounds and the bolt was stiff to close on the the first 6 I fired. The seventh was harder and took significant pressure to close. When the bolt did close the gun fired. I replayed it in my head over and over and cant see anyway I could have gotten my finger in the trigger guard while closing the bolt. Fortunately, the gun was in a lead sled and the bullet went safely into the hillside behind the target.

I plan to call browning tomorrow but if its anything like in the past, I'll be on hold for a LONG time, but maybe they will have some ideas. At this point, I'm finished with the gun until I figure something out. Do any of you guys have any ideas of whats going on with this gun?
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You noted that you shot mis-matched ammo to start sighting the gun in. Did you happen to check all of the rounds and specifically the primers? If there was a hotter load and all of the geometry not exactly correct a primer can blow with very small brass pieces being left in the firing pin hole. That will often cause the firing pin to remain forward of the breech face, causing the firing pin to engage the primer as the bolt is closing. Just like pulling the trigger except the bolt is pushing the firing pin forward.
 
#38 ·
Soycornfrm said:
I have benchrest guns, a lathe I thread chamber and crown barrels on so I know whats involved. I cut the whole tenon off to remove throat erosion you loose about an inch rethread and chamber.
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For throat erosion an inch is good.

Al
 
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#39 ·
Before everyone here wants to start blaming Browning.... You stated the bolt was difficult to close on live ammo. If it closes fine on an empty chamber, I wouldn't be so quick to blame the gun. I would go buy a couple of different boxes of ammo. Anything except Hornady. Get some cheap Remington Core-Lokt, and some Winchester white box, or even Federal. Stick to mid range bullet weights, (150 to 165 grain).

Go to the range and set up as you did before. See if that ammo chambers without any difficulty. If it does go ahead and shoot it. I'm betting it will shoot it just fine. I had this happen to a Ruger Model 77 in .30-06. I had a bunch of Greek Garand ammo I got from the CMP. I had the same problem with it. (very difficult to close the bolt). However it chambered other ammo, along with my handloads just fine.

This kind of thing does happen. It doesn't necessarily mean there is something automatically wrong with the rifle. Take the ammunition out of the equation BEFORE you start sending guns back..... And ignore all this nonsense about Browning products being "bad". That's pure crap. I have a total of 3 Browning A-Bolt rifles. And ALL of them operate just fine. In fact that CMP Garand ammo that caused the issues in my Ruger 77, chambered and shot just fine in my Browning A-Bolt Medallion .30-06. I'm betting this is an ammunition related problem.
 
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