Potential side effects of loose bolt head?

Hi guys,

I was tinkering around with my 111 300wm that groups about 8" with every type of ammo ive tried... Sigh. I bought the gun off of an elderly gentlemen who didn't like the recoil of the WM for a good deal and decided to use it as a gunsmithing project.

I pillar glass bedded the action
Installed rifle basix trigger
floated the barrel/tang

Anyways, I did all this and the gun has never since ive owned it shot for a ****. I just had the bolt out of it and noticed that the bolthead and the secondary bolt that slides on it and sandwhiches the washer (not sure exact terminology) were super loose and had maybe 1/32 worth of play back and forth and spun multiple times by flicking it ( would spin maybe 2-3 revolutions on its own).

I disassembled then reassembled and its now quite tight with zero play. I think it was put together incorrectly originally at some point.


Could this have been the source of my accuracy issues or is this totally unrelated? I'm not sure if I should get excited or not yet...

thanks,

Mike.

Savage calls it a floating bolt head. It is meant to have some play. I have seen pics either way, but I think all of mine are bolt head, bolt head baffle, spring washer, bolt body.

First thing I would do is check the headspace. Make sure it is within spec. Next, find a good gun smith with a bore scope and check out the barrel really well. I may just need a really good cleaning. Sounds like you don't handload, so get some good match grade ammo to try (most of my rifles shoot the Winchester Ballistic Silvertips well, my son's 300 WM shoots the Superformance ammo well. Try a couple of different weight bullets too.

You stated you bought it as a gunsmithing project. If you can't get it to shoot, don't worry too much. Since you got a good deal on it, I would get a match grade barrel from Northland Shooters Supply. Either Criterion or Shilen would be a good choice. I would get an new barrel nut and recoil lug as well. You can rebarrel in 300 WM or one of the other Magnums that take the same bolt face. You can get a new bolt head and rebarrel in some other cartridge that suits your fancy. Since you have a long action you have lots of options.

If the chamber is the issue, you could set it back and have a new chamber cut, but then you might as well get a new barrel. The new barrel will be hand lapped and will shoot much better than most factory barrels plus will be easier to clean.

Lots of options and if you can't get it to shoot and don't want to keep working on it, you could probably recoup your investment in the classifieds here.

FWIW,

Dennis

The bolt head should NOT spin. You may have fixed your problem. Shoot it again before spending money on it.

Depending on the age of the rifle the assembly order should only be correct one way. The Baffle should be against the Bolt head and the washer between the baffle and the bolt body. If the bolt head radius has been removed then the washer can go in either place. The front baffle should spin freely, the bolt head should have some "wiggle" to it.