Savage 11/111 338 lapua case sticking problems

[green 788]

been there done that... you gotta knock 'em out with a dewey rod... lookin' like a frontiersman loading his musket out there... embarrassing, sort of.

You said Hornady was wanting to help... they need to measure the case head diameter of their brass. It's about .002" TOO SMALL, and the Savage extractor can miss the rim at times. You can put the same spent shell back in the chamber and it'll still not extract (but tilt the muzzle up and the case falls out)...

Savage can send you a new extractor. If you adequately describe your problem to them they'll understand what's going on (if you get the right tech) and you'll get a new extractor, spring and ball in the mail.

Compare the Lapua brand rims to the Hornady rims and you'll see the .002" difference. Small amount of difference, yes, but enough to cause the Savage extractor to miss the rim sometimes.

I have never had a Lapua brand case do this in my rifle, for what it's worth. Savage did send me a new extractor, but I have not installed it since switching to Lapua brass fixed my issue.

Dan

that's the answer... the Hornady cases are a bit small in the rim... Savage is sending out new extractors of you call and ask them nicely... but the brass is more the issue--it's not so much the rifle, as these guns work fine with Lapua brass.

 

[jcraft1]

Mine, I think is to just stop fooling with it alltogether and shoot something less finicky..

 

[green 788]

Mine, I think is to just stop fooling with it alltogether and shoot something less finicky..

can't argue that point...

 

[Papajim]

I had a feeding issue with a savage 111 clip mag. The Barnes cases would catch on the lip of the mag. I used a round (chain saw) file to bevel the inner edge of the exit wall of the mag. Now it's smoothe as can be. I'm very happy with the rifle now. Shot a nice whitetail last evening.

 

[emolaskey]

Savage 111 338 Lapua. I loaded three ladders with 3 different bullets Black Hills once fired brass The 250 SMKs shot fine up to 94 grains H1000 with no apparent pressure. 1st round with 300 Berger cartridge stuck with 87 grains H1000. I played it as to hot. I then dialed my load to 5/8" at 200yds with 92.5 grains H1000 250SMK. Keeping in mind I neck turned my Black Hills brass. Loaded 10 went to range case stuck 2nd shot. Went back to bench punched them back another 10 thousanths and they run fine so far. Hope this is not an ongoing problem as I have limited budget and several Hornady cases

 

[green 788]

Savage 111 338 Lapua. I loaded three ladders with 3 different bullets Black Hills once fired brass The 250 SMKs shot fine up to 94 grains H1000 with no apparent pressure. 1st round with 300 Berger cartridge stuck with 87 grains H1000. I played it as to hot. I then dialed my load to 5/8" at 200yds with 92.5 grains H1000 250SMK. Keeping in mind I neck turned my Black Hills brass. Loaded 10 went to range case stuck 2nd shot. Went back to bench punched them back another 10 thousanths and they run fine so far. Hope this is not an ongoing problem as I have limited budget and several Hornady cases

Trimming the cases to 2.715" rather than the 2.725" often shown in load data has helped many with the sticking Hornady cases... check your case length and see if they don't need a little trimming...

 

[Ludicrous]

Had minor Hornady brass sticking issues but no problems with hornady cases on the third reload. My brass length is staying pretty consistent and I haven't trimmed any yet. Anyone else measure their 111 LRH chamber length? I measured 2.750 on my rifle. I also measured the Hornady case heads and they were the same as Lapua, Nosler and Norma. Has Hornady tweaked newer batches of 338 LM cases? Mine are only a few months old.

 

[shedhead]

we are having the same problem with norma brass the blot is sticking really bad.were at 2725 with 89 grns of h1000 no signs of prssure on the case but sticking bad. we also cant belive how easly this gun wants to rust. were in oregon and without a dehumidifer in the case it will rust overnight. were extreamly dissipointed with the gun.should have got a custom.

 

[jcraft1]

Shed, much to the shagrin of many, I ditched the Lapua and proceeded to get my 338 RUM back out and see what I could get out of it. I got very tired of poking out stuck brass no matter what Load I used it seemed. Very happy is all I can say. Pounds me a little more because it is a bit lighter, but I can hit the same 12" pc of steel at 650 yards with the Ultra Mag as i did with the Lapua. With a LOT less headache! Thats as far as I as I can find to shoot here.

 

[ShooterMedic]

Well I also just sent my 111 LRH 338 laupa back to savage because of the same problem. When I get it back I will report if the problem has been solved.

 

[dickhedges]

This sounds like a headspace problem not a brass problem. The field ex. way of checking your headspace is to take three layers of newspaper place it the bolt face, place a round in and close the camber. I now open the bolt if the paper has an imprint of the lettering and primer than your head space is correct however if there is no imprint or you can't close the chamber than your headspace is off and send it back to the manufacture to fix or a quality gunsmith. Warning only conduct this test out doors in a safe direction of fire.

 

[rigmaster10]

I have one of these rifles and found the same issue. I found that if your running 300 grs. It does not stick if you load around the 2700 fps range. Its a great rifle for a grand but something about the way they chamber is incorrect. They are picky. Im thinking a hand turn finish reamer and little polish would correct this. But never the less. Savage needs to do so improvements. Pretty much any other rifle on earth you can buy any off the shelf ammo and not stick the bolt. Not saying it never happens but you know what I mean.

 

[Texas Republic]

I posted this in a different thread, but thought I would add it here as well in case any of you had the same issue I did. I should receive my rifle back this week. Savage said they replaced the barrel and performed function tests with it at the range. They wouldnt give me any specifics on the exact problem they found, but I already know what it was. See below for the issue...
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In case you dont recall, I have had issues with hornady brass becoming stuck inside my chamber after firing and even a very stiff bolt with lapua brass. It seems a lot of people have been having the same issue. Once I had separation occur of the brass from the lower primer portion, I decided I was done shooting the rifle until the issue was resolved. Separation is when the fired brass splits into two pieces inside the chamber. Its hard to explain. Basically, after I fired a round ....I forced the bolt back to reveal TWO pieces of brass in the chamber.

Its been a while since I posted on the subject because I wanted to get to the bottom of this before I said anything. The rifle's accuracy is not something I can complain about. It seems to shoot fine, but is a nightmare when it comes to ejecting brass, etc.

My friend who taught me a lot about shooting still has many friends that he met throughout scout sniper school. One of those is a gunsmith who builds custom rifles. After I showed my friend the problems I was having with my LRH111, he wanted to take it to the gunsmith he knows.

The gunsmith that he sent my rifle off to did some basic tests first to see if it was a head-spacing issue. After looking at some of my fired brass he was afraid the rifle might be over chambered. So he sent it off to his friend to have it air mikd on his own equipment.

Anyhow, I was told the following:
(I may not be repeating it correctly so bear with me)

The gun smith said the air miked results show that is it over chambered in shoulder length by .003 (three-thousandths) of an inch. This is making the brass slap up against the chamber when fired and stretching the brass much more than normal. No wonder I was trimming it all the freaking time. The tests ALSO show that it is "out of round" inside the chamber. So bad news on two major issues.

There is no way the gunsmith can fix anything like that obviously, so it is fixing to go back to Savage. I dont see how they can "fix" an issue like that without replacing the entire barrel. I have not even fired over 200 rounds through the barrel so its pretty new.

I will follow up with another post once I hear back from Savage. I plan on mailing it to them sometime next week.

 

[rigmaster10]

I spoke to savage they said send the gun in and blamed hornady fir having brass issues. They said they only recommend black hills ammo. And that they are not aware of any problems with there product. I checked head space and got .0015" seems a bit tight to me.