hard bolt lift

eddie

Well-Known Member
I have been loading 150 nosler bt, with 43 grains of imr 4895 for a .308 scout. Occasionally, 1 out of every 12 approx, i am getting a sticky bolt. I am well in the loading chart parameters and my brass/primers are showing no sign of high pressure. I am using geco brass and federal. Any ideas? Regards, Ed.
 
I get a tight bolt on my sauer .243 if i leave a case in the chamber to cool after firing happens with factory loads and homeloads i've always put it down to having a tight chamber oo-er.:D
 
Are you mixing makes (Lots) of brass or are you getting this with any kind of brass? Are you trimming with every reloading? I know that you are in the middle of the loading chart but sometimes odd things happen with pressure that has nothing to do with powder charge.~Muir
 
Are you mixing makes (Lots) of brass or are you getting this with any kind of brass? Are you trimming with every reloading? I know that you are in the middle of the loading chart but sometimes odd things happen with pressure that has nothing to do with powder charge.~Muir
I am using federal and geco brass. I am not trimming unless case is longer than 2.015 inch as per chart in lee reloading manual. I have fired the brass 3 times now and have not trimmed brass as none have gone above the chart dimensions. I am neck sizing only with no crimp.When loading magazine i only use one type of brass, ie 5 geco then 5 federal. Regards, Ed.
 
Next time it happens, remove the offending case from the loading block and set it aside. Keep doing it until you see a pattern; keeping these cases out of the mix from now on. Measure rim dimensions, OAL, etc. If you see no pattern emerging then you can look towards your rifle.~Muir
 
Next time it happens, remove the offending case from the loading block and set it aside. Keep doing it until you see a pattern; keeping these cases out of the mix from now on. Measure rim dimensions, OAL, etc. If you see no pattern emerging then you can look towards your rifle.~Muir
Ok, Thanks Muir.
 
This used to happen with a Tikka 595 in .243 that I had for a goodly time, it would seem that the .243 is prone to this if you neck resize only.. Try Full length resize maybe and check again ?

Best

Peter
 
I had the same problem with reloads that were third timers or more i had to full size to knock the sholder of the case back after that every thing was great.
ps if i am talking crap excuse me i took advice from some one else.
 
Eddie,
Try different brass if you can get some - Norma - RWS - Winchester. These are normally very reliable 'everyday' brass. No one gets excited about the weight or apparent strength of these cases besides the heavier brands, but my experience is that in general they are very reliable.
If they work better - then get rid of the other stuff. I've witnessed a .25-06 get a bit 'picky' with some cases which were hard to extract after firing - some had to be rodded out at home which was a darned nuisance when out at night foxing, and it became the norm to have another rifle with the fellow who was doing the lamping.
A change of case brand solved the problem.

As has already been suggested earlier in this thread, try to put the hard extraction cases aside - in a different pocket, and see if there's any comparison between them - then afterwards - the others which extracted normally. Outside case dimensions at shoulder and base - length from base to shoulder - diameter dimensons at neck - (Inside and out).

Too thick a neck wall, pushed outwards by the seated bullet, might create a crimp effect when the cartridge enters the chamber, especially if the chamber neck is a bit on the tight side. We all length-size the case necks because the brass flows down there - but we seldom think about neck wall thickness.
Remember that during extraction of the case from the sizer die, the neck expander ball on the decapping pin expands the INSIDE of the case neck out to suitable bullet seating dimensions whilst the bullet then pushes the neck that bit further out when seated.
So, there's nothing to govern the size of the OUTSIDE of the neck although all other parts of the case affected by the the die have been squeezed inwards for an easy fit.

I'd start with the brass as Muir says and work on from there. You can see that you could write a small book on its own on this one subject, but one step at a time.

Good luck.
 
Good thoughts on the problem but there is another thought. BRass will adhere to the chamber walls when it is at the end of it's life span. The cases lack the elasticity to spring back on firing and will remain thrust into the chamber and back against the bolt face. FL resizing might help in this instance but the fix will be temporary as the necks will eventually refuse to hold a bullet.

As Eco says, watch out for thick necks. Usually when a neck impinges on a bullet there is a catastrophic demise of the firearm. I've seen it happen. ~Muir
 
Eddie,
I'm back again. This hard extraction problem seems to crop up now and then - but it's a bit like developing a health isssue - suddenly you bump into every second person that has the same problem.
You are certainly not alone and this is one of those problems which has riflemen scratching their heads as there are a number of variables which might be the cause, individually or as a group of small things.

When a chamber reamer gets sharpened a few times it naturally loses a bit of blade cutting diameter - which means that the resulting chamber gets a bit tighter. The amount allowable is controlled of course within recognised limits in the trade.

But you can see where I'm getting at if the neck brass wall thickness is a bit on the heavy side and being pushed into a fairly tight chamber, (favoured by reloaders for less case expansion during firing, and often good velocities for less powder).

If you want to try something - hold the rifle barrel down - bolt extracted from the rifle - and slip a factory round in there under its own weight without pushing. See if you can measure how far the cartridge went into the chamber.

NOW. with a reloaded cartridge made with one of the problem cases, (Dummy if you prefer), and with the bullet seated into the case to the same depth as the factory round, slip that cartridge in and see how far that one goes. (You can measure up from the muzzle end with a rod marked with a fine tip marker pen ).

It would be intetresting to see if there's a difference in seating depth with no pressure applied.

If there's not and the home-made cartridge slips in easily to the same depth - then you are probably clear of the thick case neck problem.

For all I know, some ammo manufacturers might produce their cartridges as 'one-off', batches. Fire and discard without a thought to further case use apart from collecting for scrappage.
Why should they produce a first class, and probably the most expensive reloading item free of further charge for their home-loading competitors after all ?

Once-fired factory ammo cases are pure gold and a freebie if they are good. They are an unwanted pest if they are bad, but we cannot really complain.
It's another matter if you purchase new brass specifically supplied for reloading.
 
:oops: Ooops - forgot. Muir - I've come across this 'putty' brass on occasion where it seems to mould itself into every available corner. I meant to comment on it but discarded the idea because Eddie mentioned that the cases were only fired about three times.

It seems to me that in the first instance, it's either a duff batch, or the brass is so soft that it flows very quickly. To have cases exhibit such symptoms so early in their life is a real pain - and a worry. In the best scenario soft brass could terminate a day's shooting activity with a stuck case.
 
I s'pose I'll add my 2 cents to the pot.

I have a feeling that the problem will resolve itself with a full-length resize. I neck-only sized for quite a while, and this is a problem I would regularly see after about 3 reloads. A FL size and neck anneal would remedy the issue for another three reloads or so.

Finally, I just quit neck-only resizing. The hassle created for ammo that might be used in multiple rifles was greater than the marginal improvements in group sizes, and brass life didn't improve. What I FINALLY figured out was that paying SERIOUS attention to setting my resizing dies up for just barely 'crush fit' on bolt closing did more for brass life and group size than neck-only resizing EVER did.

All of that said, I noticed the "tight fit" on closing the bolt as well. Since this problem was noted as a "hard bolt lift", I am assuming it is not noticed on closing. If that is the case, then a FL resize isn't likely to 'fix' the problem.

Paul
 
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