Any new ideas on this topic? About 2 mos ago we bought used at Cabelas,a 243 wssm. It has a very hard bolt pull after firing and is very difficlut to even top-feed 3 rounds and then jams when trying to feed one into the chamber.When single top feeding it is also hard to feed and the rounds seem to be out of alignment with the chamber. Have shot only factory Winchester 55-100 grain ammo. Browning says to send it back at $60/hr+parts and that they have had a "few" calls from other customers. Their attitude/tone is evasive.Winchester says send in the ammo for testing and a refund. A local gunsmith that inspected the rifle,declares it safe to shoot and that the spent brass indicates that the ammo is loaded too hot. He offered to change out the gun to a standard 243 and or take the wssm in trade for a 22-250.
I polished the chamber and bolt with no effect. It has always been oiled and clean since we owned it. What would you do?

Get rid of it and get one in a standard 243, 7-08 or 308.

First of all, the WSSM's are designed to operate between 63,000 to 65,000 psi, so bolt lift on fired cases tends to be more firm than with a typical low powered load. This unnerves some people. I have several hundred rounds through my M70 Coyote in 243 WSSM, and I don't give it a thought anymore. It's a great shooting rifle.

As far as the feeding problem, I remember reading about some of the early A-Bolts in the WSSM's occasionally having a problem. I never heard what caused the problem, but the first thing I would look at would be the magazine.

A-Bolts have detachable magazines that slide off the floor plate. First of all, I would check to make sure the magazine is fully seated forward on the floor plate. If it's fully locked in place, then the problem probably has something to do with the geometry of the lips of the magazine itself. I'd suggest getting a replacement magazine, and try that before I'd do anything to the chamber or get rid of the rifle.

If all else fails, then I'd send it to Browning for service.
They should be able to take care of the problem in short order.

Uncle Jerky........Sorry to hear about your gun problem! I would check out that margazine issue first but it sounds like to me you have a problem that warrants a good gunsmith that you trust. Labor on this could cost you more than trading the rifle off on a new rifle wilth a warranty.

I myself would opt for getting rid of ALL doubts by trading the rifle in on a new one. I would also go up a caliber to the 25-06 as it is a far better Dual Purpose type caliber.

Send it back to Browning with a list of complaints. They'll make it right by you.

Just got of the phone with Cabelas.They asked that we return the rifle to them,they'll inspect it and guarantee "100% customer satisfaction,"i.e. refund,replacement or repair. I think that's where we'll strart here and hopefully we can find something in a non-super-short magnum caliber.

Cabelas really came through with a 100% refund.What a relief to "unload" the .243 WSSM.Let the mfg. fix their problem and or abandon their product to extinction.

Glad to hear you got it resolved. Have found Cabela's to be a good company to do business with. Only returned a few items to them for refund/replacement, but they've always responded to my complete satisfaction.