[2shotal]

Got me 3 dummy rounds to test how it cycles. Loaded first and cycled fine including extraction.
Loaded 1st again, then tried loading the 2nd dummy, and it would not load - while pressing the loading spring, it would only go in to about the bottom of the neck and no further. Tried a different dummy for the 2nd one and same result. Extracted first dummy, used the 3rd dummy as first, and the old first as second same problem. Also noticed a couple of times I had push the 1st round in with the tip of my finger so that the loading spring/gate would go in. I seem to remember someone else had a similar problem or a problem with the plastic red mag follower. BTW, I did not see or feel any burrs on the carrier. Any suggestions are really appreciated. This is NIB mid-2008 338MX. Thanks.

 

[Three_oh_8MX]

I would dis-assemble it until you can get the loading gate out, then try to push 2 or 3 rounds into the magazine. Maybe a burr is holding up the plug?
I noticed that my loading gate is more forgiving since I took the rifle apart and slicked things up ala Mr. Chaps action job.
Having said that, you need to angle the rounds "just so" in order for them to load correctly. I pushed 4 (expected to get 5) live rounds into mine Sunday and sent them down range...

Hope this helps,
-chris

 

[hunter6657]

Use the tip of the cartridge to push the cartridge ahead of it up into the magazine as your feeding the round into the magazine. Its a tight fit to get that fat case and big rim in there.

 

[2shotal]

Well I found the answer to my original problem. I had no primers on my dummy rounds and that seemingly was pushing the first round out of center or getting the 2nd round that would not go in out of center. Put in a couple of shot primers and the 2nd and 3rd rounds went in.

All cycled and ejected w/o problems, albeit not totally smoothly, but that is expected.

However, I then encountered problem # 2 which is once the first round is in, the gate will not go down. I figured it out and ended up doing the same thing that hunter6657 posted (pushing the first one in with the tip of the second round) and got them to load in w/o breaking my fingers. This however makes me somewhat uncomfortable. I don't like the idea of pushing a primed live round in so that the next round loads in, even if they have rubber tips.

Lastly, I found not a problem but an unexpected result. During the test, I probably put through the gate the equivalent of 15-18 rounds, and now the blueing on the gate is practically all gone. My 42 years old 35Rem looks a lot better than this one with 18 rounds and not yet fired

It does look like I'll be able to go to the range on Saturday and fire a few rounds for the first time. I'll post results when I get back. My thanks to hunter6657 and 308mx for their efforts to help me.


See attached picture.

 

[Halwg]

Well I found the answer to my original problem. I had no primers on my dummy rounds and that seemingly was pushing the first round out of center or getting the 2nd round that would not go in out of center. Put in a couple of shot primers and the 2nd and 3rd rounds went in.

All cycled and ejected w/o problems, albeit not totally smoothly, but that is expected.

However, I then encountered problem # 2 which is once the first round is in, the gate will not go down. I figured it out and ended up doing the same thing that hunter6657 posted (pushing the first one in with the tip of the second round) and got them to load in w/o breaking my fingers. This however makes me somewhat uncomfortable. I don't like the idea of pushing a primed live round in so that the next round loads in, even if they have rubber tips.

Lastly, I found not a problem but an unexpected result. During the test, I probably put through the gate the equivalent of 15-18 rounds, and now the blueing on the gate is practically all gone. My 42 years old 35Rem looks a lot better than this one with 18 rounds and not yet fired

It does look like I'll be able to go to the range on Saturday and fire a few rounds for the first time. I'll post results when I get back. My thanks to hunter6657 and 308mx for their efforts to help me.


See attached picture.

Al, it's not a problem at all. Mine does exactly what yours is doing. Those fat, stubby casings cause a bit of a problem loading, but everything will go. My gate has been also shined up and bluing removed. I think that must not have been a very good bluing job. I may have mine reblued with some other parts and pieces I am sending to the gunsmith, or I may just leave it like it is. Wait till you have put 100 rounds through it like I have. All the bluing is gone from the gate. All my older guns have great bluing on the loading gate, even after 100's of rounds.

 

[dpe.ahoy]

I try not to let the round all the way in when loading. It can be a real pain trying to get another started in the gate on some of my rifles, I reach a finger around under the receiver to keep the round from popping out that I just pushed in and use the next one to push that one in. DP