Case splitting

[DukeGSP]

I’ve got a savage 12 FV in 6.5CM (Bare with me)

The only thing I’ve done to this rifle was cut the barrel down to 20” and drop it in a MDT chassis. It came from the factory with a 26” barrel and a cheap stock.

Today was the first time shooting it since I got the barrel and chassis completed.

The picture attached is the first 4 shots.

Extractor is broke as well.

I was shooting suppressed and Hornady factory ammo. (140 and 129gr)

Wth is wrong?

Thank you.

 

[jakelly]

Might be a headspace issue. When you cut the barrel down, did you remove it from the action? If so, did you reinstall the barrel with go and no go gauges?

 

[jakelly]

Btw you need to stop shooting this rifle immediately.

 

[squishee]

^^ This.

Im glad your able to ask questions here and aren't in the hospital.
Headspace issue or over-pressure loads. Is that factory ammo?.
Loose barrel?

 

[DukeGSP]

I didn’t personally cut the barrel, so I’m awaiting an answer from the gunsmith for that.

Yes, I’m not shooting the rifle anymore until I figure out the issue.

Yes, factory loads from Hornady.

 

[XLR308]

Just like the others have said excessive head space issue.
Look at the pic of the brass that still has a primer in it but is blanked, it was slammed back into the bolt face and smeared all the way around the primer pocket.
Glad you weren't injured and if the GS put the barrel back like that I would be having words with him.

 

[1moaoff]

+100

 

[Dead Eye Dick]

Two thoughts, the first one is a real outside guess and both are way outside the box of conventional thinking.

First, Is the threading true on the muzzle of the barrel? And is the suppressor the correct size for the caliber?

Second, we were getting case splits when shooting very light handloads. There was not enough pressure to force the case to grip the chamber walls and the firing pin shoved the case forward stretching the case. However, I have never seen or heard of this with factory loads. So, have you fired this particular lot of rounds before?

Finally, are sure this is your barrel that you sent to be cutdown.?

 

[CarbonMTN]

Hornady brass is underwhelming.

 

[Powder_Burns]

headspace issue all day. Hope your smith has some gauges.

 

[jcmullis2]

Just like the others have said excessive head space issue.
Look at the pic of the brass that still has a primer in it but is blanked, it was slammed back into the bolt face and smeared all the way around the primer pocket.
Glad you weren't injured and if the GS put the barrel back like that I would be having words with him.

You said it man. The op is lucky he’s not in the horspital or worse.

 

[celltech]

Kinda shocked you fired a 2nd round after seeing the first one??? Make sure you didn't flame cut the bolt face...

 

[hlee]

So, I see at least 6 pieces of cartridges in one pic, and that box of ammo in the other pic has at least 7 empty slots, possibly as many as 17. How many did you fire before you decided there may be a problem?

Hornady brass may be underwhelming, but it is certainly reloadable a number of times. One case separation should be enough to stop...

 

[PlinkIt]

If these were the first rounds after having the barrel cut down I'd say your smith put it back on and really screwed the pooch on headspace

 

[JMGlasgow]

Does your "gunsmith" even own a headspace gauge?

 

[RTH1800]

I have a Savage

It came with a cheap stock

Sort of redundant I think.

 

[XLR308]

I have a Savage

It came with a cheap stock

Sort of redundant I think.

Good thing he was shooting a savage or else he may have been seriously injured.

 

[isofahunter]

This "gunsmith" should be required to shoot the first box of shells post what ever adjustments he makes. Or 100% refund and find a real gunsmith.

 

[GrumpyOleFart]

Glad you didn't end up with a bolt assisted lobotomy.
I think your priority is to have a deep and meaningful discussion with your gunsmith.

 

[RTH1800]

Good thing he was shooting a savage or else he may have been seriously injured.

Yes, I would trust my life to quality like that. Of course...

 

[Steel head]

Oooof!


I also suspect a major headspace issue.

 

[ShtrRdy]

Did you take a look at your suppressor? There might have been some interference which could cause high pressure.

 

[JMGlasgow]

High pressure from a suppressor won't cause case separations or flattened/missing primers like he experienced.

 

[Tokay444]

If it were me, and, you do you, but, I wouldn’t shoot that barrel ever again. Even if the headspace gets fixed.

 

[AnimalMother224]

this is incredible.... absolutely incredible

 

[seanh]

Have you even contacted your gunsmith yet? I would have a hard time trusting the same gunsmith to do the repair

 

[XLR308]

Have you even contacted your gunsmith yet? I would have a hard time trusting the same gunsmith to do the repair

Not trying to be a dick but the OP never actually stated that the GS is the one that put the barrel back on and has been crickets for pretty much all of this thread.
Just saying

 

[seanh]

For somebody not being a dick you're doing a good job of it... just fucken with you. I thought I saw that the gunsmith did it. I definitely have to stop reading with the brown eye... and go back to sniffing glue

 

[RTH1800]

You said it man. The op is lucky he’s not in the horspital or worse.

Trips the the horspital can be tough!

 

[jcmullis2]

Trips the the horspital can be tough!

I’ve been calling them that for 30+ years. All shit aside the OP dodged a few bullets.
If I was the OP I wouldn’t use that Smitty again and he might wanna invest in some headspace gauges or at least a field gauge.
After picking out the pieces of the first round he trudged on. Must have been one hell of a good group. That’s determination there. Lmmfao

 

[Travelor]

I see two things, one is VERY high pressure and two incorrect headspacing, I there a posiblility that the barrel is not actually 6.5mm and the chamber was cut for a longer cartridge, thus allowing the CM to be chambered?

 

[308pirate]

Does your "gunsmith" even own a headspace gauge?

I doubt he knows what headspace is

What a clusterfuck

 

[PlinkIt]

Maybe he grabbed a 6.5-06 headspace gauge?....

 

[jcmullis2]

If it wasn’t so dangerous I’d take it back and ask the gunsmith to shoot it a few times so I could see what I was doing wrong.

 

[M77]

need to anneal more ...

thats some crazy case separation . hopefully you stopped shooting it and had a smith look at it

 

[Ledzep]

Gonna guess the HS gauge (if one was used) didn't snap under the extractor. Extra .100-.135" head space.

Hornady brass is underwhelming.

You should call them and tell them how to make it better. Then see how Lapua/Alpha/etc. holds up with gross excessive head space.

 

[SmartDonkey]

Judging by the fact that he is on the forum asking questions--- the Hornady brass must have done something right. But seriously- what was the thought process after the first round did that? Oh, that was bad- maybe I better fire some more to fix this problem?

Without more info it's all guessing- but I've seen something similar with a savage. The guy didn't have any gauges so he made a mark on barrel and action and counted revolutions as he removed the barrel (Do not try this at home). When he assembled it he either thought it started threading earlier than it did or got off on his count and same thing happened. But he didn't have your persistence so he only fired in once.

 

[6brshooter]

Hornady brass is underwhelming.

Bullshit. It isn't adg quality but ive got 6-7 reloads on hornady prc brass with 140@3090-3125. Headspace issue here, I bet lapua brass would look the same.

 

[lightman]

I agree with most of the others about it being a head space problem. I would get a "good" gunsmith to look at it. I saw something similar when a guy put a thicker recoil lug on a Remington without doing anything else. Duh!!!

 

[DukeGSP]

Sorry for the late replies. So many questions that I’m not going to quote them all but will try to answer them all now.

I honestly have very little knowledge when it comes to things like this. After the first round, I honestly didn’t know what was possibly wrong nor did I know how serious it was. Reading everyone’s comments I reckon I’m lucky. I honestly figured it was maybe a fluke and got a bad case or something. I’ll swallow my pride and admit I actually fired the rifle 3 times with cases ending in the picture as shown.

To the person who counted the missing rounds from the box, it wasn’t a freshly opened box..

Gunsmith claims he did remove the barrel but checked against savages specs when he spun it back on... I’m also calling bullshit because obviously there’s an issue that wasn’t there before. It came with a 26” barrel and it’s a hunting rifle so I didn’t want it so long when I ran it suppressed. Figured it was a simple request that could be completed with no issues since he’s done dozens of my rifles in the past with no issues.

Bolt face is destroyed and looks like I’ll be ordering a new bolt tomorrow.

Excuse my ignorance.

 

[6brshooter]

Smith could have stripped it to just a bare barreled action to cut, crown , and thread it, without pulling barrel. That is lathe specific, but most smith's lathes will allow that. Im wondering, if he's competent enough to thread straight if he didn't bother to check headspace. Obviously, pulling a shouldered barrel off to do what he did would result in headspace being pretty close, even of he didn't torque barrel as tight. On a savage, or barrel nut set up, it is quite possible for him to be off a couple revolutions and not know it, if a headspace gage isn't used to set it back up.

 

[JMGlasgow]

What does he mean when he says he checked it to Savage specs? Headspace is set according to SAAMI specs for that cartridge. He should be buying you a new rifle, and any additional work needed should be done by someone else and paid for by him.

 

[DukeGSP]

I sent the gun with my buddy to drop off with him. I’m awaiting his response and should hear what he comes up with this week.

 

[PlinkIt]

With the same smith?

I'd have found / purchased a field gauge / no go and some shim stock so I could find out just how far off that barrel was before he put his hands on it again....

If you feel he is trustworthy then disregard, but I'd have a good idea before has was alone with that rifle again

 

[DukeGSP]

I feel like human error will always find a way to surface in every field of work. I’m trying to offer him a chance to make it right. Depending on how he handles it will dictate if I ever use him again. He normally does amazing work and I hate point fingers. I will update this thread when I get answers.

 

[Gustav7]

Tagging in... wanna hear the end of this one lol....

@Dombern34 Hope it works out for you

 

[6brshooter]

He makes a sweet pipe bomb, just sayin...

 

[DukeGSP]

So I have two of these rifles. Both are model 12’s FV. This one in 6.5 CM and the second in .308.

They LOOK to take the exact same bolt, is it possible for this to happen if the bolts got switched? I believe they are the same bolt face but I’m also trying to eliminate any errors on my end.

 

[6brshooter]

they would be close, id think they would be close enough that swapping wouldn't result in this gross of a headspace issue

 

[ShtrRdy]

It is possible to switch the bolts for those two cartridges. Do you normally have the bolts out of both rifles at the same time?