I have noticed that this gun really prefers that the bolt be open when you put a magazine in. I don't really like doing it that way, but I think that's been a large part of the problem. This is my first time working on a sporting rifle. I have had a number of bolt action rifles, but they were all surplus military rifles. I guess what really attracts me in a b/a is wrapped in lots of walnut, with a bayonet lug for a really big bayonet. I'm surprised how many subtle differences in paradigm there really are. One of the things I like about this rifle is the detachable bolt head. If my understanding of the engineering I see serves me correctly, that means you can rechamber this gun just by changing the barrel and the bolt head. That's convenient.