New 223 build issues

[FowlMouthA400]

Zermatt origin with 223 bolt face
Bsf carbon 20” prefit
Hawkins m5 dbm bottom metal
Trigger tech primary
Manners night stalker
MDT metal 10 round mag
Forester go gauge

Numerous issues here and don’t really know where to start,
1. Bolt will not close at all on the go gauge but will close on a live round like butter.
2. The mag is very loose in the bottom metal to the point if I let gravity hold it the bolt will not even catch a round
3. When putting pressure on the mag if I run the bolt hard as I can forward it feeds. If I run it medium or slow the round pops out the mag and the bolt jams the round at a 45 into the chamber and I have to pull back and then go forward again to load it.

I have another action stock and bottom metal at home I’m gonna try tonight and see if it does it with that setup also. Has anyone ever experienced this before?

 

[gbflyer]

I’d strip the bolt of you haven’t already to try the headspace gage. Also, there is some variation between gage manufacturers believe it or not. If it still won’t close on a go you could be .001 short of headspace which isn’t dangerous at all but it could give you problems in the field.

I have 2). 223bf Origins as well. A left and a right. I have a HS Precison bottom metal and mag in one, Hawkins Hunter M5 in the other. I use the plastic magpul M5 and Accurate mags I’ve modified for longer COAL. Without looking at it in person, I’d suggest trying something other than the MDT before I gave up. Could be out of spec. If not the Hawkins folks have good CS.

These are frustrating things for sure. I wanted a blind mag setup on one of mine but I didn’t read Zermatt’s fine print to get a .223 to work. It was there I just didn’t read it.

 

[HandgunHTR]

I agree with gbflyer on using a bolt that has the ejector removed when checking headspace. Without having it in hand it is hard to say specifically if there is an actual issue. When you say "won't close" are you saying you can get the bolt handle to partially start closing but it stops part of the way down, but you think you might be able to force it closed if you tried, or are you saying it won't even close enough to start engaging the locking lugs?

As for the feeding issues, unfortunately, with the various tolerances between stock inlets, bottom metals, and magazines, this is sometimes the case when dealing with AICS pattern stuff.
The easiest thing to do is to see if you can modify the magazine catch to hold the mag higher. Otherwise try different magazines or bottom metals to get a combo that works. As for the last issue, my only advise there is that sometimes this can be mitigated by tweaking the feed lips, but my advise is always run the bolt like you mean it. A lot of times it is necessarily the speed, it is the smoothness of action of closing the bolt that determines if a round is going to hang up. Run the bolt quickly and smoothly every time regardless and these types of issue tend to solve themselves.

 

[FowlMouthA400]

The origin has a mechanical ejector on the side of the action. The bolt only had the extractor…I’ve tested with and without the extractor. When I say it won’t close the bolt will not go down at all from the highest position it is in when pushed forward….will not engage the lugs whatsoever….i tried putting force on it also and it still will not go down.

 

[HandgunHTR]

The origin has a mechanical ejector on the side of the action. The bolt only had the extractor…I’ve tested with and without the extractor. When I say it won’t close the bolt will not go down at all from the highest position it is in when pushed forward….will not engage the lugs whatsoever….i tried putting force on it also and it still will not go down.

Good info. That means that it is probably more than 0.001-0.002" short. This is a shouldered prefit, correct? What torque value did you use when you installed it? Any anti-seize used?

 

[FowlMouthA400]

80ft/lb, called Hawkins and apparently I have the short latch and need the long latch that makes feeding more reliable so…hopefully I got most of this figured out