IOF Does it again - IOF .30-06 rifle giving problems

[winnie_the_pooh]

TwoRivers,

IOF does not bother about such things as anodizing. All that the receiver has is a thick coat of paint.As it is,the bolt is a sloppy fir in the receiver.A few thousands is not going to make an appreciable difference.

[vivekpeter]

I've had similar problems too. The culprit is not the spring, but the follower plate and the magazine lips.

What I did is remove the follower plate and file off and smoothened the edges on all sides but especially where the bullet tip and cartridge rim would be. Next I filed off and mildly expanded the magazine lips to enable the cartridges to slide in and out smoothly. To test it I would push the follower plate right down with my finger and leave it. It would bounce back in a flat manner, not get stuck on any of its sides.

It now works like a charm.

A similar problem is the bolt movement. That too is hard to work in new rifles. To overcome this the bolt may have to be lapped.

The magazine lips is the culprit. I had the same issue when I bought my rifle (brand new), and the just split the lips enough so that the cartridge slips out easily, and the problem was sorted out.
Don't worry, its very simple!

[addict]

Thanks Katana
I was also facing difficulty in chambering but by slightly widening the magazine lips surprisingly it has been instantly cured. My satisfaction is enhanced because of the fact that after purchasing the rifle I had pointed out this problem to a gunsmith but his efforts only gave temporary relief and the problem had resurfaced again. You guys are great ! hats off to you.
For the fitting of the bolt I have dropped the idea of trying lapping for now for three reasons;
Firstly after the chambering problem was cured it performed decently at the Dusserra outing at our under construction range with the limited resources that we had.
Secondly I experienced the same adrenalin flow that I had experienced while shooting with a few other 30 s of reputed makes.
Thirdly I guess I feel the lack of smoothness as I compare it with the Bolt of my Brno 7mm which is a much older and much more used rifle.

One query for our experienced friends . . . The foreign make rifles that are available in our market with very smooth bolt movement today , is this due to their extensive use over the years?

Another thing worth mentioning - every time iof 30 gives a closer grouping than the 7mm that i got for 4.5
or I look down the barrel of the iof 30 after cleaning
I thank Winnie , Abhijeet, Katana and the others here who have been instrumental in shaping my decision
Thanks Guys

Regards