338 lapua brass issues

[Texas Republic]

I continue to have extraction issues with my fired hornady brass out of my Savage 111 in 338 Lapua.

I shoot a 300 gr. Sierra MK BTHP and 225 gr. Hornady SST. Neither of the loads are hot or have a long OAL. Everything is well within spec. They chamber fine and extract fine if not fired. However, once fired, the brass tends to get stuck in the chamber and must be forced out.

I have had problems with both rounds sticking when trying to extract the bolt. However, only the 300gr had extraction issues the last time I went to the range. The 225gr did fine. That is what is weird.

I am fairly new to reloading, and didnt think to keep track of how many shots each brass has been through until now. I would estimate that they have been reloaded 5 times perhaps. I havent noticed any signs of thin brass.

I have tried to drop a bullet into the case mouth of the fired brass before resizing. A few allow the bullet in, but most of them are too tight. The outside diameter seems consistent on them, but the inside must be too thick in some.

From what I have read on the internet, it seems that I need to ream the inside of the case neck.

Is this usually required on fired 338 lapua brass? I havent read much about doing this anywhere?

Is Hornady brass my problem, or does Lapua brass require this as well?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[kaseyfied]

this is a known problem with hornady brass in the savage rifle.. very tight chambers from what people are saying. I have a buddy that has a savage 338 lapua and has no problems with norma and lapua brass.. and he shoots some hot loads.. get different brass.. that should atleats solve some to all of your problem.. atleast from what I have been reading from many others dealing with the same issue as you with the same brass

 

[lv2hunt]

kaseyfied is right on about the tight chambers in these rifles. I have the exact same rifle, same caliber, and also experienced the same problems your having. Went with Lapua brass and my problems were solved.

Thanks,
lv2hunt

 

[J E Custom]

Mic. the neck of a fired case. it should be .003 to .005 thousandths larger than the loaded
round.

If it is not at least .003 larger you have to turn the necks to lower pressure.

Be sure to measure the case mouth also to see if it is to long (It will be small compared
to the rest of the neck if the neck chamber is short) and try a new bullet in the neck
of a fired case. (It should slip right in) if it doesn't the necks need trimming to fit the chamber.

I hope this will help.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Texas Republic]

Thanks for the info guys. I looked into neck turning, but the tools cost just as much or more than new lapua brass. Its pretty tempting to just go with Lapua and not have to neck turn all the time. I assume that Lapua brass doesnt require neck turning to avoid extraction problems?

 

[albertakid]

check your chamber carefully I had extraction issues with mine even with lapua brass needed to drop my powder charge way down in order to not get stuck cases...have you shot over a chrono yet??? If not might want to check you data against published data to confirm your not way over pressure I was well over due to poor machining and a tight chamber even min loads in the book produced high pressures.

jordan

 

[Texas Republic]

check your chamber carefully I had extraction issues with mine even with lapua brass needed to drop my powder charge way down in order to not get stuck cases...have you shot over a chrono yet??? If not might want to check you data against published data to confirm your not way over pressure I was well over due to poor machining and a tight chamber even min loads in the book produced high pressures.

jordan

The load I was having problems with is below. Hodgdon's website lists 94gr as the max load. 91 gr too high?

300 gr SMK BTHP
Retumbo 91.0 gr
Hornady brass
CCI 250 primer
OAL 3.680

 

[albertakid]

I had to drop to 83 before I saw acceptable pressures and was matching max book speeds at 86 grains of h1000 so I would run it through a chrono and see what is going on... have you measured the length of the fired cases are you stretching the necks??

Jordan

 

[jay blaze]

I have a savage 110 and it just will not take hornady ammo ok mabe first time shoot ammo and even triming and resizeing the hornady brass. Just save youre self the problems and money go with lapua brass. Ive used the lapua with no problems and keep sending hornady emails on the dependability of this brass and nothing yeat.338 lapua 110 hs stock

 

[SidecarFlip]

I believe it has to do with the structural makeup of the case (338). I have really good luck with Hornady in every other caliber I reload and shoot. Just the 338 is an issue.

Glad I don't have any BTW.

 

[benmc68]

I have a Savage 111LRH, and have had all the same problems with the Hornady brass as described above. About 1:6 has established some kind of mechanical/friction lock inside the very tight chamber. I have been thoroughly cleaning the chamber and tumbling, polishing, hand polishing, trimming and turning the Hornady brass to alleviate the problem with no real change in results...still 1:6-ish getting stuck. My cleaning rods have never spent so much time out at the ranch...

One of my shooting buddies took it of himself to "polish" the inside of his chamber, my other friend sent his back to savage and supposedly they did the same thing.

We have all decided that moving to another brass manufacturer, Lapua ($$$$) or Nosler ($$) is imminent.

if someone has $.02 on the Nosler brass, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks,
Ben

my load is/was:
300g SMK
89g Retumbo
Fed Mag Primer
The "ill-fated" hornady brass : /

 

[blackdog]

Regarding the Nosler brass - I just helped a friend with load development with his .338 Lapua this weekend. 300g Accubonds, H1000, CCI primers= occassional extraction issues with loads, and most of them were loads WAY below max (per book and chronograph). Called another friend and he relayed this Hornady issue so I wonder if the Nosler stuff doesn't suffer the same issues. We're shopping Lapua brass tomorrow.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Just bite the bullet (so to speak..lol) and get Lapua brass. Not like it's a cheap gun to shoot anyway.

 

[fastfire57]

The load I was having problems with is below. Hodgdon's website lists 94gr as the max load. 91 gr too high?

300 gr SMK BTHP
Retumbo 91.0 gr
Hornady brass
CCI 250 primer
OAL 3.680

I have a Savage 110FCP 338 Lapua when I got to 92.5gr the bolt was harder to open, backed off to 91.5 H1000