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A tale of two rifles

Doublegunner

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Recently I bought two rifles. One from an online dealer and another from a local large sporting goods store that most of us deal with. the two rifles that I bought were listed as used. From the online dealer I bought a 30-06 Kimber Montana. I got the rifle yesterday and I was very happy with my purchase. Although the rifle was listed as used I don't think it was. The bolt box had never been opened, the rifle has no marks whatsoever and the Sub MOA hang tag was still on the rifle. I saved $500 over what they are currently going for, if you can even find a 30-06 Montana, and the rifle appears fantastic. I did run some ammo through in the backyard (my backyard butts up to forest land) and it functioned great. It's clearly an older model because the muzzle isn't threaded. We will see how it shoots. My other Montana is real shooter so I am hopeful. Now for the second rifle. It's a Remington 700 AWR chambered in 300 Win Mag. When I saw this rifle on the rack I got pretty excited. It's a stainless rifle with a black Cerakote finish put into a fiberglass Greybow stock. It's a nice setup. The price was fair and the rifle appeared to be almost new with hardly a mark on it. My son talked me into buying it so I took it home. I have never owned a 300 Win Mag so I had to go looking for some ammo. Not an easy talk these days but I finally found some Norma Whitetail 150 grains. I just wanted to see how it shot so that seemed good enough for now. I will note that the trigger was not very good so I bought a Trigger Tech trigger and installed it-before I could find ammo. In my mind this thing was coming together as a great elk rifle. I was pretty excited. As is my nature, before I mounted a scope I checked the weaver rail mounting screws that was already on the rifle. I noticed that one of the front mounting screws appears to be stripped. I was a little disappointed but figured it wouldn't cost that much to have a gunsmith bore all 4 out to 8-40 screws size. I mounted the scope anyway and then went outside and tried to chamber a round. It's a no go. the rifle simply won't chamber the round. I am not sure what the issue is. Maybe the headspace is off, maybe there is an issue with the chamber. I really don't know. At this point I am pretty disappointed. I took out the Trigger Tech trigger and reinstalled the factory trigger and took off the scope. I am going to take the rifle back to the dealer and see if they can help me. I am not confident that they will as I bought the rifle as is. I am a long time customer so I hope they will. I don't fault the dealer though. I don't think they check these trade in guns so they probably didn't know. the moral of this story is that buying used guns can be a lot of fun or a big pain in the butt. Buyer beware. I have bought a lot of used guns over the years and have generally been happy. This Remington just happens to be one of the bad ones. I suspect that it came from the factory that way given how good of shape it was in. Fortunately I have other rifles for hunting season and if I don't keep the Remington I can install the Trigger Tech on my .270 Remington so all is good in that area. Here are some photo's of the rifles. Good luck to all of you who dabble in the used gun arena.
 

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Congrats on the rifles. Maybe the fix on the Remington will be something easy. Let us know how it turns out. I’ve always heard that they were good rifles.
 
Probably one of those "factory jobs" towards the end of their existence. Been there. Whats wrong with Kimber Mt?
Nothing as of yet. I just got it yesterday but everything looks good. We will see how it shoots. The fit and finish is excellent.
 
You bought a used rifle and complain about a defect? mtmuley
It was more of a cautionary tale. I have bought a lot of used guns over the years so I know the risk. I was just a little disappointed in Remington. The kimber on the other hand is fantastic. If I was to hazard a guess I think the headspace is off. I don't have a go/no go Gauge for the 300 mag so I can't be sure.
 
One thing to check is to see if the front action screw is a bit proud into the chamber. I had a factory Bergara that had that issue. 10 seconds with a grinding wheel and I was good to go. It was very subtle - I had checked the chamber with a flashlight and hadn't noticed, but it was clear from the bore scope it was proud.

Try turning out the front action screw by one full turn and try to chamber a round. If it works - then you just have a screwed-up scope mount to deal with. If it doesn't then you are only out 1 minute of your life.
 
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I’d be surprised if the AWR was headspaced wrong to the point of not chambering a round. I doubt it will be a difficult fix. The 5R rifling on those barrels is really good according to a couple of friends who own them. You’ll have a nice rifle without much effort is my prediction.

Good score on the Kimber. I have a Hunter and absolutely love it. Mine is a very consistent 0.5-0.6 MOA rifle with a Hammer handloads.

Truth be told, if I had to choose one gun between my Remington Mountain Rifle and the Kimber Hunter, I’m not sure which way I would go. The Remmy would possibly end up looking for a new home.

The trigger on the Kimbers is really nice. I installed a Bix’n Andy on my Remington, which was a huge improvement over the factory trigger.

Good luck with your new additions.
 
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Check that the extractor is properly seated. It could be that the cartridge is riding on the extractor and not seating on the bolt face.
Along this same line, probably worth checking to make sure the ejector depresses. I bet this issue is why the gun ended up in the trade rack, and I’ll bet money it’s an easy fix.
 

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