Advice needed

[N.F.W.M]

I have recently started reloading. Last night I put my first reloads thru my .308. My first loads were taken direct from the Nosler Reloading guide No6.

The start load was 47.5g of W748 Lapua once fired then full resized brass with Federal 210m primer topped off with a 125g Nosler ballistic tip. Brass had been primer pocket uniformed chamfered and flash hole de-burred.

I fired 5 rounds with each load.

First 4 rounds ok, noticed that the primer had moved back in pocket, and was protruding from case and was maybe 5 % flatter than before firing.

5th round fired, then as I cycled the bolt to extract the spent case my bolt came back empty with the round still in chamber. My rifle has never done this before with the 500 odd rounds I have put thru it. Lifted muzzle to vertical and round dropped out

Moved up to next load which was 48.5g of W748 fired 5 rounds, All with primers moved back in case (protruding a fraction) after firing 3 of which did not extract with bolt, but as before dropped out on raising muzzle.

Ok in hindsight I now realise that I should have possibly stopped before this point but...

Next 5 rounds were loaded with 49.5g of W748. Fired 3, as before none extracted and primers protruding. 4 th round and had feeling that bolt was stiffening up on cycling, 5th round not extracted primmer protruding bolt needed a wee tug and push to cycle it.

Next 5 rounds loaded with 50.0g of w748, Fired 1 not extracted bolt stiff, called it a day.

Then had to take wife out for a meal and was crap company thinking I had just spannered my R.P.A. On returning home (3 hours after finishing shooting) bolt was cycling perfectly again. The R.P.A action and bolt has vent holes in them, they were clear and crud free.

At no point were there any signs of high presure on the brass apart from primer issues.

I recently did a reloading course, on the course we were using CCI primers, using a RCBS hand priming tool they seemed to need a healthy amount of pressure to locate them in the brass. When I used the Federal 210M primers on these rounds (using same hand priming tool) they seemed to almost slip in.

Any suggestions, comments and advice would be gratefully received.

Cheers

Sticks

 

[Stand Buck]

When you say the brass had been primer pocket uniformed chamfered and flash hole de-burred.

did you mean you had chamfered the primer pocket?

How old is the rifle and did anyone have it before you?

Primers pushing out of cases is normally a sign of head space issues.

 

[N.F.W.M]

Primer pockets were uniformed by hand, not chamfered by hand.

Rifle was purchased by me from new, 12 months old 500 rounds fired, until last night no problems with it. Apparently the R.P.A Quadlite action is a super strong action.

Sticks

 

[sir-lamp-alot]

i do reload but i'm the 1st to admit im not a reloading buff but i would say its to much pressure. from what you say it seems to be geting worse with more powder so surly it has to be pressure?
dont give up tho mate it will come right i know how heart breaking it can be when what ever you do seems to go wrong but when you get it right it will be worth it

 

[BuckarooUK]

Hmmm, ok 2 thinks that i've picked up:

1. Firstly your primer/brass combo is a dud. Either the primer pocket has been opened too far when you cleaned or the 2 just don't match. I'd def stear towards CCI primers - CCi magnums if you can get them. Federals are a pain in the arse and don't use an autoprimer with federals as it will distort them.

2. You're definately not overpressured - if anything your under! I don't use Win748 myself (get yourself some Vhit man!) but modern reloading states a starting load of 47.6gr of win748 for a 125gr bullet.
i think it's something to do with the mechanism. Can you do 2 things for us and then get back:

a. Take the rifle to somewhere safe and with live and undamaged rounds cycle them from the magazine, into the breach and then out. Don't fire them - just cycle them through. Any probs here will narrow it down to the claw on the bolt, etc.

b. Get ahold of some cheap factory rounds and fire them off. 5 will do - it's just to see how the rifle handles rounds that have never been fired and are 'unblemished'.


If your brass is ok but the prob persists with both your reloads and factory fresh, then i think it'll be the extractor claw on the bolt failing to engage over the rim. Don't worry - it's an easy fix.

 

[finnbear270]

advice

Plus one on the primer issue, stick with cci's until youre further on with reloading, federals can arrive in all shapes & sizes from my own experience, also sounds you may have an extractor claw prob.

 

[Stand Buck]

Forget changing primers Fed210m are as good as it gets.

Looking at your load data the pressures are on the low side. I would try another powder if I were you.

Have a look a N135 or N140

 

[Muir]

If I've read this all correctly. Low pressure is the culprit -not headspace. Your FL resized cases are adhering to the chamber walls allowing the primer to back out of the case. I am not familiar with the extractor system on your rifle but if it is Remington ("Paperclip") style, the cartridge is probably being drive forward off of the bolt face by the firing pin, then the cartridge hangs to the chamber walls allowing the primer to back out. THere is not enough pressure to reseat the round against the bolt face. JMHO, of course.~Muir

 

[Stand Buck]

The extractor is a sako type claw with a free-floating plunger type ejector.

 

[Offroad Gary]

Hi Sticks - if your still coming up to Newbury area i have CCI primers and N140 / H4895 which work well in my .308 with the 125's. your welcome to take some to try or even make up a few.

i just looked at the nosler data online and max is 51.5 gn of your powder - on that basis my starting load would have been 50.5, moving up to 51 and then 51.5. looks like your starting too low - i know it breaks every rule in the book but "the man" said to me - no point in being down at the low end, start near the top and work up.

i will now go and hide and wait for the incoming

48.5gn n140 and 49gn h4895 send em out like rockets from my R93.

ps - i didnt buy the book...and always like to look at this before trying some new loads

http://www.testfakta.se/Article.aspx?a=16350

good luck

 

[willie_gunn]

Sticks

Just a point of clarification - you say the primers were protruding from the primer pocket after firing, but what about before? If you cycle the rounds without firing them, do they cycle okay or do you still get the extraction problem?

willie_gunn

P.S. if you come up to see bucksden then let me know and I can (a) let you have some Federal 150gr factory rounds to try, and (b) let you try some of the 150gr Nosler BT over 43.5gr of N140 that I use.

 

[BuckarooUK]

Buck,

We used to use Federal 210's and had all manner of trouble with them. It eventually turned out that there are inherant probs with specific brass and that federal primers should never be used with lee primers/ auto primers as they deform.

They're just not worth the effort.