Im confused on why the bolt is a little rough to close on a few of my .308 loads. Rifle is a aac-sd. Loads are 168gr SMK in Federal brass with 41-41.6 gr of imr 4895 with Win LR primer. Brass was full length resized with rcbs dies and checked with Wilson headspace guage. Am I overlooking something? What else could be wrong?
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sticky bolt on .308 loads
- Thread starter Truth223
- Start date
if it's sticky on some casings but not others, a high primer (primer not seated fully) can cause bolt to close tight.
1. Not full sized enough（bump should back a little more, might be too little lube used or not working consistent).
2. Check Neck size on your loaded ammo (if you feel the bolt is difficult to close, measure that particular round to others). Usually Federal brass neck measured 15th, plus 308, it goes to 338. And your chamber is aroud .400 or greater. If your loaded round measures greater or equal, then go from there.
3. Like maxscm said, primer not fully seated.
2. Check Neck size on your loaded ammo (if you feel the bolt is difficult to close, measure that particular round to others). Usually Federal brass neck measured 15th, plus 308, it goes to 338. And your chamber is aroud .400 or greater. If your loaded round measures greater or equal, then go from there.
3. Like maxscm said, primer not fully seated.
First thing I would do is turn your F/L sizing die clockwise in another 1/12th- 1/8th of a turn and then see if the brass chambers better. The drop in Wilson style gauges won't give precise readings like a bump gauge and caliper will. Could also be a high primer, but I would try this first. 90% of the time, that's what it is.
I have the same brass and bullets you are using and am getting the same bolt feel as Im rolling it down to completely close it. After many search's,their are alot of people having issues with fed' brass having alot of inconsistencies in the neck,and case head.
I have some assorted Lake City and Remington .308 brass here that I can start processing. Also have some hornady brass, but they appear to have a crimped primer and I don't have a way to swage them yet.
you sholdn't have any problem with Remington. LC usually have thicker neck and harder to resize, you will need a neck turner to do it. Crimped primer------ there are many primer pocket reamers out there. The swager is not the best unless you have tons of brass to do. Usually a reamer gives better result, but make sure don't over do, otherwise your primer can't seat tight.
This is the info I was talking about. I knew some one had it,I was just drawing a blank. Try switching brass. I didnt have this problem untill I reloaded the LC brass after firing. My buddies remington brass gave me no problems.
it is hard to close on some and easy on others. I use the old style lee hand primer to prime my cases.
Sure you do. Just use your inside chamfer tool, it'll cut that crimp right out. Just cut enough that you can seat a primer (I only cut until my uniformer freely enters the pocket) I shoot an M1A (a lot!) and have done this with at least 1,000 LC cases with nary a problem. As a matter of fact, it works better than the RCBS reamer I have.
I have similar problems with a remington I load for. I tried everything except a small base die. I tried trimming, resizing further, seating bullet deeper, but nothing has worked yet.
Yes. All trimmed with Lee case gauges and a cordless drill. All measured out to 2.003-2.008 after trimming.
Sounds like the same problem I had with my Lee dies in 30-06, Id FL size some brass and some would fit tighter than others, sent the dies back to Lee and they took some off the bottom of the dies, all is well now. Taking .002" off the shellholder would do the same I suppose.
This. I have a LOT of Hornady Match brass, since that was what I bought for factory ammo with the intention to reload it. When it came time to processing it, I began to run it through my super swage, and the crimp just could not come out. So I cranked a little more and a little more on the rod, and eventually got rid of the crimp. I processed 50-60 cases before I noticed that I had also been destroying the primer pockets from the inside out. Either the case web in soft, or the case head is hard, or both.
I threw the damaged cases away, and cut the crimp out with a chamfer tool on the rest. Worked like a charm.
If I read your OP correctly it's only some brass doing this.
Don't guess as to what it might be, do some simple diagnosis. Take a cartridge that is usually a problem like you described and paint it up with a sharpie. Let it dry then chamber and extract the round. Look for shiny marks along the case, shoulder, neck, and even bullet. Those marks will reveal what part of the cartridge is the problem. Don't forget to do this with the case head and primer as well.
Don't guess as to what it might be, do some simple diagnosis. Take a cartridge that is usually a problem like you described and paint it up with a sharpie. Let it dry then chamber and extract the round. Look for shiny marks along the case, shoulder, neck, and even bullet. Those marks will reveal what part of the cartridge is the problem. Don't forget to do this with the case head and primer as well.
I am having the same issue with a new 700 AAC that I have too. Running some 150g FMJBT reloads through it for a little break in and getting the scope on. Out of the 100 I had about 10-12 that I couldnt close the bolt AT ALL, about 20-30 that were hard to close, and the rest that were ok, if not slightly tight. I then put 20 rounds of Hornady Match factory ammo through it and the bolt closed with thumb pressure only. Round was 2.70 OAL and the primers on mine were ALL seated below the base(I checked for high primers). I dont think(and didnt show any marks) that my bullet was being jammed into the lands.
I am planning on running my size die down another 1/8 and then trying to chamber a few and see how that goes. These rounds run just fine through my LMT MWS(or should I say I havent had any issues with it, but I am sure it has a looser chamber).
The trim length on my cases were(prior to firing), to my eye(didnt have a caliper at the range), pretty much dead on the Hornady factory ammo so I dont think my cases were to long.
I am planning on running my size die down another 1/8 and then trying to chamber a few and see how that goes. These rounds run just fine through my LMT MWS(or should I say I havent had any issues with it, but I am sure it has a looser chamber).
The trim length on my cases were(prior to firing), to my eye(didnt have a caliper at the range), pretty much dead on the Hornady factory ammo so I dont think my cases were to long.
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