New Rifle help. Bad Barrel???

Take a picture of the case head. You are changing caliber so I would expect at least some resistance. I had trouble necking .308 to .260 and every single case had some smear/wipe on the head.

But for the love of god stop removing steel from that $800 barrel until you know if it shoots.
 
Take a picture of the case head. You are changing caliber so I would expect at least some resistance. I had trouble necking .308 to .260 and every single case had some smear/wipe on the head.

But for the love of god stop removing steel from that $800 barrel until you know if it shoots.
LOL Okay. I am heading out of town tonight and all of the fired brass is at home but I have loaded rounds with me that I will shoot tomorrow and post pics of. This is my first wildcat cartridge but I have been reloading for ten years and have never had this happen before.
 
Make sure the threads on the bolt shroud and cocking ramp are well lubricated with grease. It's not unusual for new bolts to be a bit stiff on cocking.

On the new brass, I'd be sure to FL resize and make sure it fits your chamber. Just pull firing pin and ejector, then see if bolt will drop free when chambering your new brass. If it doesn't, resize/ bump shoulder til it does.

I'd guess that what you're seeing is brass shavings coming off your new cases. You could be getting that from excessive OAL rubbing end of chamber. You need to find your max OAL of chamber. I'm just guessing here, but that could be causing your over-pressure.
 
Your trying to diagnose a problem that you may not even have. Don't over think it. Your barrel may shoot lights out. Go shoot some groups and please stop cleaning.
 
Yes it is stiff bolt lift and the brass is sized properly in a whidden die. I will hang paper tomorrow and shoot it over the chronograph.
I don't like the look of the inside of that barrel at all but your biggest issue seems to be neck tension.

Have you neck turned any of the brass for consistency?
 
I just received my newly built rifle and am having issues.
Defiance Deviant Ultralight action
26" Proof Sendero Light CF barrel
6.5 Gap reamer .120 FB 296 neck
Manners EH6-A stock
Jewel trigger View attachment 113818
PTG bottom metal
Wyatts mag box.
Bertram 7mm SAUM Brass necked down and turned to .014
Hornady 143 ELD X

I will post pics below but when I got this I had some strange looking substance in the barrel all the way down the tube. It looked like rust or copper fowling to an extreme degree. I spent 3 hours cleaning it out before the patches finally had no blue on them. I then used a little JB Bore paste and was still unable to get the streaks out. I talked to the Smith and we agreed I should try the Tubbs 50 bullet Final finish system to fire lap the barrel and try to get it out while fire forming my brass. I noticed I had high pressure signs (extractor mark and flatened primers) even as low as 58 grains of H1000. I finished the 50 round cycle cleaning to bare metal every 3 rounds with copper solvent. I decided to try HBN and coated 200 143 ELD's and proceeded to load them. I am getting way too much neck tension when loading these. It is leaving a very distinct ring on the bullet and seating depth is inconsistent. I tried wiping them off completely and that helped a little but now seating is very easy on some but still too tight on other bullets. I did not have any issues with the Berger 130 VLD's that were coated in my 6.5 Creedmoor. It makes me wonder if it will be accurate at all with such variability in seating pressure. Is it something to do with Hornady bullets and HBN? I shot the HBN loads at 57.5 grains of H1000 and I still have some slight pressure signs and a slightly stiff bolt but mainly after the first shot. I was hoping after 25 rounds of HBN loads without cleaning the barrel it would be seasoned and pressure would go down. I also tried a few fire formed pieces of brass after bumping the shoulder .002 with no difference in pressure. This was all done in my back yard with a suppressor at 20 yards as I live about 50 feet from the city limits. I am going to take it out tomorrow and shoot it over the lab radar and see what kind of velocities I am getting but I am now afraid to go over 57.5 grains. Any ideas on what the issue could be or what I should look for?

Thanks, Al

View attachment 113818 View attachment 113819 View attachment 113820 View attachment 113821

Have you measured the necks on any of your loaded rounds?

Have you checked the length of your brass?

On your new brass are you resizing with an expander ball?
 
Have you measured the necks on any of your loaded rounds?

Have you checked the length of your brass?

On your new brass are you resizing with an expander ball?
Yes I have measured length and necks. I am using a .262 mandrel to expand the necks. I removed the expander ball from the die.
 
I took the suppressor off and put some rounds down the tube today an no pressure signs up to 64 grains of H1000 at 3200 fps. Now to load some fire formed brass and run a ladder. Thanks for the replies.
 
Turns out it doesn't shoot. I have 250 rounds down the tube. 100 eld x and 100 were Berger 140 Elite hunters and not a group under 1 inch yet. I sent it off to Proof and its getting a new barrel thanks to their great customer service.
 
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