Springfield Waypoint 2020 and Hornady factory 168 ELD - issues?

Evil_Ed

Private
Minuteman
Dec 17, 2022
15
7
Minnesota
Has anyone else run into any issues with Springfield Waypoint 2020s in 308 with factory Hornady 168gr ELD Match ammo (#80966)?

It would straight up not eject - it would chamber, fire, and extract just fine (and it shoots pretty well)...but it would not actually come out of the bolt face without me prying the brass out each round. Brass looks ok (I saved a handful) but 10 rounds of it, not a single piece actually ejected. The Lithuanian/GGG 7.62 and Aussie ADI 7.62 I fired through it all extracted and ejected just fine, as well as Federal Gold Medal Match 168gr 308 - just this Hornady load would not. Brass measures out at .465-.468 case head width on the outside, so I don't think it was out-of-spec brass...primer looks a little flat but nothing grossly so.

Every round, this was the result:

IMG_1908.jpg



Basically, I'm wondering if this is a known issue with these things, or what. I'm trying to decide if I should send it back to Springfield, or just not shoot that stuff anymore.

And it does shoot with that Hornady...

IMG_1909.jpg


The pulled shot to the left was %100 me, I rushed it. This was at 100 yards (well, that's what the range says the distance is anyway). It has a 3-15 Vortex Viper PST-II FFP on top, nothing hugely special.

Anyway, I'm afraid if I send it back to Springfield, they might make it worse :)

Thanks for any ideas, or info!
 
Have you compared all dimensions on the Hornady brass your having problems with to the brands you didnt ?
Like the thickness of the rim as well as base diameters?
Check to see if its the rim thickness causing the issue with tje extractor.
 
Case rim measurements were in the first post; rim thickness on the 4 pieces of brass I saved were all between .047 and .049, so I don't think it's that..

You did remind me though - for shiggles I took the bolt out and started seating the brass in it, and no problems. I put the bolt back in the gun and cycled the spent brass...again, no problems; it happily chucked things right out. So whatever it was, after cleaning, it stopped being a problem...

I probably should have mentioned, this was the first time I had this rifle out...bought it new. Cleaned it before taking it out, of course. Rounds 1-10 were Lithuanian/GGG, 11-20 were Australian surplus, 21-30 were Hornady (and all had this problem), and 31-40 were FGMM just to see if it was the ammo or what...weather was mid-40s F, everything was still covered in ice and snow at the range, little wind. Everything after round 15 was with a Dead Air Nomad-LT on the end of it, using a Xeno brake.

When I got it home, there was quite a lot of brass plating on the face of the bolt...so I'm wondering if it's a combo of new gun, can, surplus being dirty, can making things dirtier than usual, etc. I guess I should just shoot it some more and see if it continues to happen? I guess the argument for having a receiver-mounted ejector vs an in-bolt ejector like an AR just hit home for me, heh!

Mainly I was wondering if this was a known thing or what...may as well see if there's an easy answer first before I start needing to measure and document everything and start seeing what works and what doesn't by braille...
 
You are one of these first on here ive seen with a Waypoint.
Maybe you just had some crud in it since it is behaving after you cleaned it.
I asume you didnt check the ejector to see if it was sticking prior to cleaning it.
 
Nope, ejector was fine; previous rounds ejected just fine and following ejected fine as well...it was strictly the Hornady brass that it couldn't kick out. The brass was pretty well tight in the bolt face...it required a good bit of prying to get it looks and remove it. Switching to different ammo and it was back to normal...so, I don't know.

I appreciate the feedback...if it had been one piece or something, sure, whatever. But consistent with this brass/ammo...figured it was too bizzare to be a one off thing. Oh well.