Sticky Bolt on Howa 1500 .308

[chaoscreature]

Hey All,

I am relatively new to Rifle shooting and just bought my first Centerfire rifle about two months ago. It's the Howa 1500 heavy barrel that was on sale at Turners, chambered in 308 Winchester with the Hogue stock.

I wanted to start off on the right foot so I went to The Gun Range in San Diego to perform the break-in procedure.
After just a couple of iterations of shoot/clean the bolt handle became increasingly difficult to raise after firing a round. Ammo was new Fiocchi 150 grain FMJ-BT rounds also purchased from Turners (in the green box)

That night I partially disassembled the bolt, cleaned everything up even though it was pretty clean, and applied moly lube to the cocking cam.

Yesterday I went to The Gun Range again and shot a couple of rounds of TulAmmo .308 in 150 grain with zero issues. I thought "great, I fixed it!"

I then shot 4 more rounds of Fiocchi and each time had to give the bolt handle a good tug or smack to get it to open.

Are these rifles picky with ammo? I wouldn't expect this kind of issue with a brand new rifle and brand new ammo. I called Turners and they don't have any gunsmiths and were not very helpful... They said I would need to get an RMA through Howa USA and mail it to them

What should I do next?

[vintagearms]

Tight chamber or just doesn't like that particular ammo. Try it with Federal american eagle or Federal gold medal match.
Other than sending it back, choosing different ammo it likes or living with it, not much else.

[baih777]

Tight chamber or just doesn't like that particular ammo. Try it with Federal american eagle or Federal gold medal match.
Other than sending it back, choosing different ammo it likes or living with it, not much else.

^^^^^^^^^ this

[JackEllis]

I've run across this problem with a different rifle (Tikka T3 in .243) and different ammo (Prvi Partizan). Ammo may not be within spec.

[sigstroker]

Signs of excessive pressure? Cratered or excessively flattened primers? Ejector or extractor smears on the base of the brass? Post closeup pics.

[MissiontoMars]

Hey All,

I am relatively new to Rifle shooting and just bought my first Centerfire rifle about two months ago. It's the Howa 1500 heavy barrel that was on sale at Turners, chambered in 308 Winchester with the Hogue stock.

I wanted to start off on the right foot so I went to The Gun Range in San Diego to perform the break-in procedure.
After just a couple of iterations of shoot/clean the bolt handle became increasingly difficult to raise after firing a round. Ammo was new Fiocchi 150 grain FMJ-BT rounds also purchased from Turners (in the green box)

That night I partially disassembled the bolt, cleaned everything up even though it was pretty clean, and applied moly lube to the cocking cam.

Yesterday I went to The Gun Range again and shot a couple of rounds of TulAmmo .308 in 150 grain with zero issues. I thought "great, I fixed it!"

I then shot 4 more rounds of Fiocchi and each time had to give the bolt handle a good tug or smack to get it to open.

Are these rifles picky with ammo? I wouldn't expect this kind of issue with a brand new rifle and brand new ammo. I called Turners and they don't have any gunsmiths and were not very helpful... They said I would need to get an RMA through Howa USA and mail it to them

What should I do next?

That's a quality firearm. I would suggest ammo issues or possibly a QC issue with that particular rifle.

Not something you'd have to live with, IMO.

[chaoscreature]

Wow,
Thank you for all the responses!

I will take some pictures of the back of the ammo tonight. I kept the brass from the first break-in period. I don't know enough about what a spent casing SHOULD look like to know if something is wrong.

Turners has some Aguila ammo on sale this week, I will pick up a box of those and see if I get the same results as with the Fiocchi.
I am not a match grade shooter, I bought the .308 because I wanted something cheaper to shoot and easier to find ammo for than my fathers old deer rifle (.300 savage), but with more bang than my rimfires.
I gotta admit I love shooting the Howa. The weight of the rifle and the soft butt pad on the Hogue stock makes it more of a hard push than a punch in the shoulder like the Savage gives.

[American Muslim Gun Owner]

Hey chaos,

Glad you are keeping us updated. I thought you might've found a fix to the problem. I am going to follow your thread to see what ends up being the issue. I too think it is ammo-related since one brand worked just fine and the other did not. I know it sucks having to try all this different ammo as it can become costly.

Good luck!

[ar15barrels]

Hey All,

I am relatively new to Rifle shooting and just bought my first Centerfire rifle about two months ago. It's the Howa 1500 heavy barrel that was on sale at Turners, chambered in 308 Winchester with the Hogue stock.

I wanted to start off on the right foot so I went to The Gun Range in San Diego to perform the break-in procedure.
After just a couple of iterations of shoot/clean the bolt handle became increasingly difficult to raise after firing a round. Ammo was new Fiocchi 150 grain FMJ-BT rounds also purchased from Turners (in the green box)

That night I partially disassembled the bolt, cleaned everything up even though it was pretty clean, and applied moly lube to the cocking cam.

Yesterday I went to The Gun Range again and shot a couple of rounds of TulAmmo .308 in 150 grain with zero issues. I thought "great, I fixed it!"

I then shot 4 more rounds of Fiocchi and each time had to give the bolt handle a good tug or smack to get it to open.

Are these rifles picky with ammo? I wouldn't expect this kind of issue with a brand new rifle and brand new ammo. I called Turners and they don't have any gunsmiths and were not very helpful... They said I would need to get an RMA through Howa USA and mail it to them

What should I do next?

Do the Fiocchi cases show high pressure signs?

[chaoscreature]

I am not sure what to look for here. They look okay to me, but I just don't know.

I am having some issues posting pictures... Imgur had gotten very weird and I'm not even sure if they still host photos and Icloud is also being a PITA...

I wrote Howa and told them what was happening. Their response was "we recommend Hornady ammo" and they gave me a list of approved ammo. Almost funny really, they didn't answer a single question

[chaoscreature]

Alrighty, I figured out how to post some photos finally!

[ar15barrels]

Pictures don't display for people who are not logged into YOUR google account.

Log yourself out of google and then come check what we are seeing...

[LynnJr]

When you were cleaning and shooting did you get the chamber dry?
If you didn't the brass will get a frosted look to it and be difficult to extract.

[Gunsrruss]

Brass

Lets not get to excited here. It could very well be the brass. I had factory 6.5 X 55 brass from FN that was that way. Even after I started reloading only the FN brass was hard to extract. Finally after I got enough Winchester and Hornady brass did I recycle the FN brass, and was glad to see it go

[chaoscreature]

Aaargh, I am so frustrated with technology right now!

What service are you guys using to share photos directly on forums? This is the best I could come up with. I installed Icloud for Windows and that was a giant waste of time too!!!

Gunsrruss,
I think you are right, it is probably just the ammo. Hopefully I will be able to get a box or two of Aguila today (assuming Turners isn't sold out of everything... again...)
LAX is also having there parking lot sale today, I will see what I can get that's not in bulk to try some more things out.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1BxNuV1kxkDJdDif8