Hey gang, took my new riffle out and shot a match with it. It shot well but with only 50 rds on it prior, it is still speeding up. Anyhow, I noticed from the first rounds out of the rifle that it feeds pretty hard (feed lips?). Sometimes I can't feed the first round without pulling down on the mag (release?).
As well, it feels like the bolt wants to bind. For comparison, it feels significantly rougher than my R700 Sendero action, and my Terminus is like glass. I've stoned down a few hard corners around the extractor and even found some small burrs in that area. Now, it did improve a bit today, but only ran smoothly with a very light coat of oil for about 2 stages. Then went back to it's usual self. The machined edges on this bolt are all sharp. Im thinking that a bit of stoning and some polishing to relieve the hard edges and smooth things out may help.
Advice, cautionary tale, personal experience (perhaps with a Solus), are all welcomed. Cheers!
Are you using a Solus chassis? If so, the mag catch is adjustable. Adjust the catch so that the mag sits tight against the action. That should reduce the angle going into the chamber.
MDT chassis, so applicable. But it seems like the mag is over inserting and blocking the bolt. Hence why I'm having to pull the mag downward against the release just to charge the first round. It may just be a matter of me needing to get accustomed to the intricacies of this rifle.
You still need to adjust the mag catch for the mag to sit higher in the chassis. Once the mag sits higher, it will smooth out the feeding.
Probably mag feed lips and general mag height, and the fact that it isn’t a Terminus.
Haha, very true! I was originally going to build this rig from a Terminus, but would have been stuck waiting to afford good glass for an undetermined amount of time. Compromising with the a Solus barreled action afforded me an NX8, so, here I am!
I’ve seen the get pretty slick after a good break in. I don’t have one but I shoot with a lot of people that do. I have Origins and one of mine came unusually rough and bolt open was harder than it should be. I removed the firing pin mechanism from the bolt shroud and lubricated those contact points which is usually done from the factory, and put a small amount of flitz on the raceways and exercised the bolt a few hundred times. It ended up with the same wear spots as my other origin with like 7500 at the time and only took a few minutes. Whether or not this is advised I don’t really know but I’ve gone 5000+ with that action and have had no issues and it’s slick as fuck now.
Here’s a vid of it cycling dummies
https://www.reddit.com/r/longrange/s/AJT1UuWSSn
For rough feeding it depends on the magazines you are using but you might just have to lower the magazine catch a bit if that is available on whatever chassis you have (the Solus chassis is easy to adjust.)
As for the bolt wanting to bind, the Solus action is simply not a particularly high end action. Mine got a bit more forgiving to binding from off-axis force on the bolt handle after a couple thousand rounds and many more dry cycles, but it still is far from Terminus.
I had a suspicion that was the case on the action. I did kinda think that it would at least be smoother than an (older) R700 action though. Granted, the Remington is smoother than my neighbors Seekins. Will try adjusting the mag release and doing a little mag tuning.
I frequently double check my Solus because it feeds so easily in the Solus chassis.
It's likely the magazine, the catch, or possibly both. Try adjusting the mag release first and if that doesn't work, buy a nice metal magazine and tuning the feed lips.
See, that's how the Terminus is, can't even feel it pick up rounds.
My Solus feeds custom-action smooth. The action itself isn't exceptionally smooth, but it feels the same dry firing as it does feeding 153.5 Bergers in a 6.5 PRC. I use Accurate mags now, which are smoother than the Magpul I was using when it was a Creedmoor.
I have two Aero Solus(plural Soli?). 1x 6.5cm and 1 x 308. Actions setup in Aero competition chassis. Both are running Proof prefits. No feeding issues at all. My 6.5cm has been run hard and fast in dusty desert conditions with no complaints. Doesn't solve your problem, but they can definitely cycle and feed smoothly. I don't notice any binding at all.
You can adjust the mag catch height, maybe try lowering it a bit and see if that helps.
Will do, thanks!
I have a Solus in a MDT XRS. I added some gun oil to the bolt and wiped it off, only the surfaces that touch, actually helped smooth it out