Blocked bolt with reloaded ammo

[Praire Dog]

Hi! I'm new reloading ammo, and I have a problem. When I insert the my cartidge and I close the bolt everything is fine. When I open it with NO shoot, everything is fine and smooth. But after shooting a round, I can't open the bolt very well. Sometimes it takes for a while to extract it, because it is blocked.
This doesn't happen with factory loads. What can I do? What is the mistake?

Thank you

 

[FEENIX]

Hi! I'm new reloading ammo, and I have a problem. When I insert the my cartidge and I close the bolt everything is fine. When I open it with NO shoot, everything is fine and smooth. But after shooting a round, I can't open the bolt very well. Sometimes it takes for a while to extract it, because it is blocked.
This doesn't happen with factory loads. What can I do? What is the mistake?

Thank you

Welcome to LRH and enjoy!

To help you troubleshoot your problem, please provide as much information as you can ...

- what action and chambering
- load - brass (virgin/fired), powder, primer, etc..
- CBTO/COAL
- picture of fired brass, primer pocket, pressure signs
- etc ...

Stand by, help is on its way ...

 

[26Reload]

Without a lot of information to go by...you have us all thinking pretty much the same thing......probably overloaded.....
Do you have all your info....have you read enough to know a safe working load.......did you try to start towards the top end of capacity to save on money.........
I for one can absolutely tell you mistakes happen....even after years of loading carefully.....
...so best to know exactly what your load was...
...and ascertain why or what caused the problem....to not have it happen again.....hopefully....

 

[CVCOBRA1]

Don't shoot any more of that load!!!!
Sounds like over loaded ammo. Could be one of many things.
Powder scales weren't zeroed.
Grabbed wrong powder.
Read the manual wrong.
Old powder.
I'd suggest you pull a bullet and weigh the charge. Visually compare powder with what you used. Sometimes hard to do. Those loads are unsafe and could be deadly for you. Long time reloaders have made mistakes. Don't let yourself get distracted.

 

[deerhunter64]

Try a factory load if it is not a wildcat. If it works fine, then your reloading technique needs to be looked at very carefully. I have overloaded a cartridge or two in the past. Easy mistake to make. Or maybe you seated that bullet a little bit further out than ideal.

 

[Rick Richard]

As mentioned without more details such as caliber and load data, we can only assume above pressure limits. Please DO NOT shoot that load before receiving more input.

 

[HARPERC]

Repetition being key to education I'll add my 2 cents. If you don't have a bullet puller now's the time. I prefer the collet type.

No matter where you saw the load it's not working for your rifle.

More details, and be prepared to start completely over. Meaning you may have some brass the needs to go in the scrap pile.

 

[Calvin45]

Definitely sounds like an overpressure load (especially as you've stated the cartridges feed, chamber, and extract without any resistance). What cartridge, projectile, powder and charge weight have you loaded? Things that can cause excessive pressure other than an overmax charge or an inappropriate powder can include seating the bullet too far out (or at least closer to the lands than the load referenced in your manual - can make a huge difference - I've blown primers as a rookie using loads that were just under max recommend but with the projectile kissing the rifling as opposed to standard COAL). Are your cases trimmed to correct length? If the neck has grown (through multiple firings and resizings) past the standard maximum case length, upon chambering the round the neck can effectively crimp, and this can and does (again, learned this the hard way) cause pressures to spike (though you'd think it would also make the cartridge notably resistant to chamber and extract). Different brass manufactures can in some cases vary significantly regarding internal volume. I've experienced this with my .270, that max loads in Winchester brass are over max with federal brass. Are you using the same case as what the load data you're referencing did? Are you starting where they start or starting at closer to max? No judgment or anything, to be honest if I'm not after crazy accuracy I often do just load a grain under book max and have yet to have trouble but it's worth ruling out here. Finally, is the projectile in question the same as what was used in the load data you're referencing? Some new reloaders aren't aware that bullet weight isn't the same thing as bullet interchangeability: bearing surface and jacket thickness affect pressure greatly. For example, in a .300 win mag I used to own, I loaded less powder behind a 200 grain woodleigh weldcore than I did behind a 208 grain hornady hpbt. The second projectile is 8 grains heavier but has a much shorter bearing surface and a much thinner jacket.

 

[Praire Dog]

Ok, I'm going to give you more information.
I'm using a Remington 700 milspec in 308Win. I don't know what brand of brass I'm shooting, I got them from factory PPU 150gr ammo, and I've already reloaded them 2 times. The powder is RS50, I tried charges from 44,3 to 44,8 gr (my best gropus were with 44,8) and premiers were CCI.

Cases trimmed at 2,005 and OAL 2,8

I was shooting Sierra SMK HPBT 175 gr, and I think the max powder load for that is above 45 gr.

 

[FEENIX]

Ok, I'm going to give you more information.
I'm using a Remington 700 milspec in 308Win. I don't know what brand of brass I'm shooting, I got them from factory PPU 150gr ammo, and I've already reloaded them 2 times. The powder is RS50, I tried charges from 44,3 to 44,8 gr (my best gropus were with 44,8) and premiers were CCI.

Cases trimmed at 2,005 and OAL 2,8

I was shooting Sierra SMK HPBT 175 gr, and I think the max powder load for that is above 45 gr.

The PPU brass is Prvi Partizan from Serbia, I've used them in .270 Win before and are very good.

I am not familiar with the RS50 powder. If you have remaining load that was causing problem, can you pull the bullet and double check your powder charge to verify you are not running it hotter than what you think? Can't clearly tell from the pictures, perhaps others can. This is just for starters. I do know the PPU has lesser H20 capacity than the Winchester but don't remember how much. I'm sure other will chme in and require more info so you can move on forward safely.

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2011/04/evaluating-pressure-signs-in-reloaded-cartridge-brass/

 

[jreagle]

if not overloaded; could be a dirty chamber preventing easy extraction. could be brass too long and needs trimming that is creating an overpressure situation, hot load, or all of the above.
I have not seen reloder swiss powders offered for sale here in the usa. their website didn't show a sierra 175hpbt...… my guess would be that you are pushing max pressure @44.8.

might start from a fresh beginning; with cleaning the barrel and chamber, clean brass (tumble and or wipe down with alcohol), resize, clean brass again, trim to correct length, start load work up at 42 and work up in .3 gr increments.

 

[catamountsierra]

The PPU brass is Prvi Partizan from Serbia, I've used them in .270 Win before and are very good.

I do know the PPU has lesser H20 capacity than the Winchester but don't remember how much. I'm sure other will chme in and require more info so you can move on forward safely.
]

I used a bunch of PPU brass in my 7mm-08. I never actually checked water capacity, but weights were on the heavy side; heavier than Federal, Nosler, Norma, or Winchester. Case necks were thicker too until I turned them. Same load in PPU was about 25fps faster than in Nosler, Norma, and Federal, and almost 50 fps faster than in Winchester. Those PPU cases were cheap, but after proper prep they were very consistent.

 

[lyle2231]

Ok, I'm going to give you more information.
I'm using a Remington 700 milspec in 308Win. I don't know what brand of brass I'm shooting, I got them from factory PPU 150gr ammo, and I've already reloaded them 2 times. The powder is RS50, I tried charges from 44,3 to 44,8 gr (my best gropus were with 44,8) and premiers were CCI.

Cases trimmed at 2,005 and OAL 2,8

I was shooting Sierra SMK HPBT 175 gr, and I think the max powder load for that is above 45 gr.

I went to the "Reload Swiss" web site, nothing shown for 175gr bullet but did show 200 gr recipe. That said max load for the 200gr bullet was 42gr. Of RS50. If I was in your shoes I'd load some @ 41gr and a little shorter than 2.800Max OAL. THEN WORK up from there. HTH

 

[Spiro Aliferis]

Hi! I'm new reloading ammo, and I have a problem. When I insert the my cartidge and I close the bolt everything is fine. When I open it with NO shoot, everything is fine and smooth. But after shooting a round, I can't open the bolt very well. Sometimes it takes for a while to extract it, because it is blocked.
This doesn't happen with factory loads. What can I do? What is the mistake?

Thank you

I had this problem once 6.5-284, thought I had overloaded, but only did it with Hornady brass, no more hornady, no more problem.