I bought a Remington Sendero.264 Win Mag from a gentleman over on accurate shooter a couple weeks ago. He told me that included with the rifle was a new set of Hornady competition dies and 50 pieces of brass. 23 once fired and 27 new brass. Brass is Hornady. The 23 pieces of once fired brass was the only rounds fired through this rifle. The rifle looked brand new unfired to me. Really nice.
I noticed I did not have a shell holder for the 264 and drove to the gun shop to buy one. I took a piece of fired brass with me. I noticed the primer was flattened not severely but flattened. I looked at the other pieces of brass and seen the primers were flattened too.
Upon arriving at the gun shop my buddy was working and I told him what I needed. He was walking and stopped and said did you see this primer is flattened? I buy the shell holder and head home.
I took the new primed brass and chamfered the case mouth getting them ready for loading.
I had researched and found Retumbo to be highly regarded for the 264. I bought a bottle of Retumbo.
I went to Hodgdon and looked up a starting point. I had bought Hornady 143 eldx, Nosler 140 partitions and have Berger 140 vld on the way.
I loaded up three rounds of 143 eldx with 59.7 grains of Retumbo which is the starting point. I loaded up groups of three in .5 grain increments.
I have a 300 yard range in my backyard.
I fired the first round and the brass was stuck in the chamber. My bolt would open and pull back but no shell. After a minute or so I cycled the bolt and pulled out the brass. The primer was flattened. I fired the other two with the same issues as the first. The bolt was not sticky but would not pull the brass out until I waited for a couple minutes.
I had figured out the seating depth and had seated the bullet to work out of the magazine so there was plenty of jump or free bore.
The group I shot was about 6-7". I had good clean breaks with the heavy factory trigger.
I fired the second set of loads that was next in sequence. Two bullets were about a half inch apart and the third was about three inches above the others keyholed. Bolt was not pulling the brass out.
I thought maybe it was the new brass. So I went to my reloading bench and FL sized several pieces of brass and primed with federal 215M. I loaded three with 143 eldx and three with 140 partitions. I loaded both with starting loads of Imr 4831. Now with this powder the brass did not stick however the groups looked like shotgun patterns.
So I thought maybe the rifle does not like 140's and wants a lighter bullet.
I drove to the gun shop and bought a box of 129 SST.
Went to the bench pulled up Hodgdon website plugged in the bullet and Retumbo. Loaded up three with their starting load and three the next step. Fired the first three with difficulty in getting them out of the chamber. The primers were flattened but not bad. The next set of rounds I fired one shot and could barely lift the bolt but could not pull it back. I had to use a soft blow hammer to get it opened by lightly tapping the bolt handle.
So I go up to my bench and measure the fired brass. They measured 2.502/3. So I don't think the brass is stretching.
Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm going to bench this rifle until I get the pressure figured out.
Would you suggest I drop down below Hodgdons starting point?
Thanks in advance.
Netman
I noticed I did not have a shell holder for the 264 and drove to the gun shop to buy one. I took a piece of fired brass with me. I noticed the primer was flattened not severely but flattened. I looked at the other pieces of brass and seen the primers were flattened too.
Upon arriving at the gun shop my buddy was working and I told him what I needed. He was walking and stopped and said did you see this primer is flattened? I buy the shell holder and head home.
I took the new primed brass and chamfered the case mouth getting them ready for loading.
I had researched and found Retumbo to be highly regarded for the 264. I bought a bottle of Retumbo.
I went to Hodgdon and looked up a starting point. I had bought Hornady 143 eldx, Nosler 140 partitions and have Berger 140 vld on the way.
I loaded up three rounds of 143 eldx with 59.7 grains of Retumbo which is the starting point. I loaded up groups of three in .5 grain increments.
I have a 300 yard range in my backyard.
I fired the first round and the brass was stuck in the chamber. My bolt would open and pull back but no shell. After a minute or so I cycled the bolt and pulled out the brass. The primer was flattened. I fired the other two with the same issues as the first. The bolt was not sticky but would not pull the brass out until I waited for a couple minutes.
I had figured out the seating depth and had seated the bullet to work out of the magazine so there was plenty of jump or free bore.
The group I shot was about 6-7". I had good clean breaks with the heavy factory trigger.
I fired the second set of loads that was next in sequence. Two bullets were about a half inch apart and the third was about three inches above the others keyholed. Bolt was not pulling the brass out.
I thought maybe it was the new brass. So I went to my reloading bench and FL sized several pieces of brass and primed with federal 215M. I loaded three with 143 eldx and three with 140 partitions. I loaded both with starting loads of Imr 4831. Now with this powder the brass did not stick however the groups looked like shotgun patterns.
So I thought maybe the rifle does not like 140's and wants a lighter bullet.
I drove to the gun shop and bought a box of 129 SST.
Went to the bench pulled up Hodgdon website plugged in the bullet and Retumbo. Loaded up three with their starting load and three the next step. Fired the first three with difficulty in getting them out of the chamber. The primers were flattened but not bad. The next set of rounds I fired one shot and could barely lift the bolt but could not pull it back. I had to use a soft blow hammer to get it opened by lightly tapping the bolt handle.
So I go up to my bench and measure the fired brass. They measured 2.502/3. So I don't think the brass is stretching.
Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm going to bench this rifle until I get the pressure figured out.
Would you suggest I drop down below Hodgdons starting point?
Thanks in advance.
Netman
