extractor tearing brass

[partisan1911]

I am shooting a 338Lapua. Load is 90gr of h1000 with a velocity of 2770 and no pressure signs. Sometimes the brass comes out just fine after firing. Sometimes it is stuck where I really need to lift hard on the bolt and pull it back hard. When it gets like this the brass is stuck in the chamber and I must push it out with a cleaning rod. The extractor has torn its way through the brass. I measured the good and torn up brass and compared them to the dimensions in the Sierra load manual. They both check out the same and within specs of the manual. Any ideas of what may be causing this?

 

[winmag]

Im goin out on a limb and making a couple guesses.
1. The cases arent sized the same, (within spec) like your right on the edge when sizing some are there, some arent? Or the cases may not be cleaned/ tumbled?
2. Was the brass shot thru another rifle first with different headspacing?
3. A rounded or chipped/damaged extractor claw?
4. Have you inspected and cleaned your bolt face?
Not saying any of it is the right answer, but it makes sense to check them all to weed out all the variables to get to the answer. Im interested to see what others have to say.

 

[partisan1911]

I have looked at everything you mentioned. This brass was shot through a different rifle but i thought if I resized and trimmed appropriately I would be ok?

 

[300R]

I had a similar thing happen to me it was with adi 338 lap brass that was shot in a different rifle even some of my lapua brass that i had shot in my Rem MLR would not chamber or extract well in my custom built,i think it's just the memory in the brass,i went from a factory chambered rifle to a custom tight chamber and the brass would swell to the rem spec chamber under pressure and make it tight to pull out,i know it's expensive stuff but try some new brass and see how you go,good luck mate.

 

[winmag]

I have looked at everything you mentioned. This brass was shot through a different rifle but i thought if I resized and trimmed appropriately I would be ok?

There are some briliant minds here on L/R/H. I have had a simmilar problemb on a 270wsm and was told I didnt resize it properly. or didnt resize back to spec. I ruined 3 pcs of brass trying to size to the absolute minimum cahmber specs with a Redding F/L die. Never could figure out anymore to it than just get 2 dies one for each gun, and 2 piles of brass.
The brass in my rifle shoots great in my rifle. but wont hardly chamber in my dads rifle. His brass will work fine in both till I shoot it out of mine. Then it wont work in his anymore. Alot of very knowledgable and respected handloaders told me it was my fault for not properly resizing it to minimum spec. I strongly disagree, as my brass doesnt get any smaller period, without crushing when I size it. but bought another die and brass and do them seperately from now on. My brass will NOT work on my dads rifle no matter how its sized. No way, No how, Period.
Id suggest playing with your die some, and if it doesnt work, just get new brass. It sucks, but thats the only fix I could come up with. Good Luck

 

[partisan1911]

So it sounds like I will have to buy a separate set of FL dies and keep all brass separate because I now have two 338L. It is not fun when you have to turn your repeater hunting rifle into a muzzle loader style pushing a cleaning rod down the barrel each time to remove the brass.

 

[winmag]

Not nesicarily. I found that that was MY only solution. There are a bunch of Very knowledgable hand loaders that still think its the way I sized the cases. I may just be too dumb or too poor to figure it out without destroying $100 worth of brass. The guys giving me the advise were well respected guys on this site. Thier wisdom still has merit, and is far beyond mine. But I went with new brass and new dies for each rifle, and it works well. I just dont mix the brass. Its all trimmed to the same length etc. And labled the same so its kept in a seperate cupboard, and only loaded for 1 rifle at a time. Too confusing if I get both on the table.
I here ya on the muzzle loader thing. Gets to your head while your shooting, and your ''finess'' goes to crap. I may have just taken the easy (and less expensive) way out.
Try fiddeling some more with your dies. If it works PLEASE tell me how you did it. If not, then buy seperate dies and brass. Maybe some of the same folks will read this and chime in and explain how to size brass smaller than ''crushing'' it without actually crushing it.................... to ''saami spec'' I know I couldnt figure it out. I tried bumping the shoulder etc. I resized to where I turned the strait angle shoulder into a rounded ''weatherby looking variation'' and absolutely crushed some others. No it wasnt a case of too much lube. I dont know. Thats why I went the route I did.

 

[elkaholic]

I had a similar problem with my ultra and have heard of several others. My guess is that the dies aren't sizing the case down enough at the expansion ring. They will chamber ok but don't have sufficient clearance to allow for extraction. Outside of buying custom dies, I never could get more than three firings before chucking my cases. Factory "unfired" brass will have approx. .005-.006" clearance. Mine would work if I started with .001" under chamber size but after firing a couple of times, the web area would only clear approx. .0005. I tried three different manufacturers and NONE would size past that. Check your cases at the expansion ring and see if this is the case? I strongly suspect that it is.......Rich