Bullets separating from cases in the action

My money is on jamming the bullet or case neck tension. This sounds more like you jammed the bullet. If you had a carbon ring big enough to sick your bullet on ejection, you would of been crying a lot sooner on the accuracy of your rifle before this happened. I don't recommend sizing case necks using bushings anyway. But that's just me, Its easy to screw the neck tension up with bushings. Been there done that. If you can get your hands on a borescope, it's the only thing that going to show you if you have a carbon ring.. Just so happens I cleaning my Howa 1500, it has about 500 rds through it. When I deep clean my rifles I check up with a $50.00 Teslong borescope from amazon. A must have tool if your serious about shooting, or OCD about the state of you barrel. Here's a pick of a carbon ring that isn't causing a problem yet in my 1500. Lets us know what you find out about your issue and how you solved it. Good luck. The bottom pic is after about 30 minutes of scrubbing with Hoppes #9 bore cleaner.
CarbonRingBeforeCleaning (5).png
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My money is on jamming the bullet or case neck tension. This sounds more like you jammed the bullet. If you had a carbon ring big enough to sick your bullet on ejection, you would of been crying a lot sooner on the accuracy of your rifle before this happened. I don't recommend sizing case necks using bushings anyway. But that's just me, Its easy to screw the neck tension up with bushings. Been there done that. If you can get your hands on a borescope, it's the only thing that going to show you if you have a carbon ring.. Just so happens I cleaning my Howa 1500, it has about 500 rds through it. When I deep clean my rifles I check up with a $50.00 Teslong borescope from amazon. A must have tool if your serious about shooting, or OCD about the state of you barrel. Here's a pick of a carbon ring that isn't causing a problem yet in my 1500. Lets us know what you find out about your issue and how you solved it. Good luck. The bottom pic is after about 30 minutes of scrubbing with Hoppes #9 bore cleaner.
View attachment 221883View attachment 221885
Nearly no carbon ring present a pretty good start on fire cracking but from the blackness of the carbon ring maybe you should trim your brass just a little farther back
 
I had two bullets separate from the cases IN the action as I was unloading while hunting and dumped powder in the chamber and action. Using new Lapua brass for my 6.5x284 with Hornady match dies, Berger 140 gr. Elite Hunter. COAL at 2.920 is WAY off the lands at 0.095 so I can't understand why it would get stuck in the chamber. My loaded case width is 0.292 and I'm using the 0.289 bushing. My fired case width is 0.295 but this is new brass. Should I get a 0.288 or 0.287 bushing? Temperature was around 10 degrees. Is it possible that the cold Temps could shrink bullet and cause it to separate from the case? I've never had this problem before in any caliber and I'm stumped as to what is causing it.
While seating bullets did you notice that the necks were a shade tight? This happen to me just yesterday.
While seating some .204 bullets, I have forgotten to expand the necks on the first few.....
long story short, i decided to "send'm"
Well, seems that the bullets got shaved a bit while getting seated and left some small amount of copper bullet shaving behind in the chamber.......after I sent 3 rounds down range the 4th one wouldn't chamber.
I thought of you in this post.
Could this be the culprit?
 
Nearly no carbon ring present a pretty good start on fire cracking but from the blackness of the carbon ring maybe you should trim your brass just a little farther back
I'm glad you commented on that, and I value your opinion on this matter. It might be off topic, but this is the first thing I check when it comes to cartridges showing high signs of pressure. "Primers & case neck length". In the be gaining with 6.5CM it was suggested to me to trim my cases, " Lapua" back to 1.1910.. New unfired Lapua cases out the box normally run 1.1913 to 1.1915.. I am just starting to weigh sort and measure a new batch of lapua brass..
When I noticed the ring a while back, I started thinking that I should increase my case length to at least 1.1913 to take up the extra space in my throat. My thinking is, "and I could be wrong, it would not be the first time," help stop the carbon ring from forming as much as possible. I do know this for a fact. Any of my lapua cases under 1.908 group in the next county. LOL. So my thinking is,, go longer, but I see where to long will create bigger issues down the road.
Please share your ideas on this matter. I'm OCD, But I try to keep a clear an open mind about my next move in reloading. Your suggestion could be the unicorn idea that we are all looking for. Thank you.
Oh, one more thing. I'm still learning about, what I'm looking at with this borescope in side the barrel.
What I'm calling a carbon ring, you are calling it fire cracking. "Correct???" An enquiring mind really wants to know.
I can't get it right if I don't know. Thanks man.
 
I'm glad you commented on that, and I value your opinion on this matter. It might be off topic, but this is the first thing I check when it comes to cartridges showing high signs of pressure. "Primers & case neck length". In the be gaining with 6.5CM it was suggested to me to trim my cases, " Lapua" back to 1.1910.. New unfired Lapua cases out the box normally run 1.1913 to 1.1915.. I am just starting to weigh sort and measure a new batch of lapua brass..
When I noticed the ring a while back, I started thinking that I should increase my case length to at least 1.1913 to take up the extra space in my throat. My thinking is, "and I could be wrong, it would not be the first time," help stop the carbon ring from forming as much as possible. I do know this for a fact. Any of my lapua cases under 1.908 group in the next county. LOL. So my thinking is,, go longer, but I see where to long will create bigger issues down the road.
Please share your ideas on this matter. I'm OCD, But I try to keep a clear an open mind about my next move in reloading. Your suggestion could be the unicorn idea that we are all looking for. Thank you.
Oh, one more thing. I'm still learning about, what I'm looking at with this borescope in side the barrel.
What I'm calling a carbon ring, you are calling it fire cracking. "Correct???" An enquiring mind really wants to know.
I can't get it right if I don't know. Thanks man.
You're absolutely right if your neck is longer there is less room for the carbon to collect but you must keep tabs on it very closely you do not want it to grow too long and run into the step in your chamber as that would cause a sort of crimp with your brass I'm sure it would not be good for accuracy what I am calling fire cracking is where that steps up at the beginning of your lead or throat And as bad as it looks it is normal once you get a fair amount of rounds through your barrel I have seen a lot worse
 
You're absolutely right if your neck is longer there is less room for the carbon to collect but you must keep tabs on it very closely you do not want it to grow too long and run into the step in your chamber as that would cause a sort of crimp with your brass I'm sure it would not be good for accuracy what I am calling fire cracking is where that steps up at the beginning of your lead or throat And as bad as it looks it is normal once you get a fair amount of rounds through your barrel I have seen a lot worse
Yep the sad part is, every time I shoot it. I call my self cleaning it. LOL You never know what kind of cleaning job your doing until you put a borescope down it. The good thing is Lapua Brass hardly ever grows and if it does its over 7 or 8 firings. I ran into the pressure issues doing a comparison test between Lapua and Hornady brass loading with RL-26.
I want go into all the detail but my findings are at 47.6gn "2973AV" and 47.8gn "2982AV"Hornady brass grows at a rate of .0004 per firing. That's out of my Howa 1500 26" BBL. 6.5CM... Dummy didn't check the case lengths on the Hornady brass after 4 firings, and you know the rest. Hey, Thanks for your input. At least for now, I feel I'm on the right road..
Then I'll see another pretty Rabbit and jump down that hole.
 
I would consider making up a Dummy Round and use black magic marker on the bullet. Run it in , close the bolt, extract it ,and see if you see marks from the lands on the bullet in the Ogive Area of the bullet . Then back off 5/1000 and repeat. Just a place to start .
 
Me, I never cared about where my lands started or touching the lands. It's like a unicorn thing. All I care about is where my bullet Jams. That's a real measurement. It will never change unless I change bullets.. Find the JAM, and back off thirty tho. and start there. Just don't seat real close to your JAM measurement and you will never go wrong. Like Lenny said. It's just a starting place. "Reference Point".
 
Me, I never cared about where my lands started or touching the lands. It's like a unicorn thing. All I care about is where my bullet Jams. That's a real measurement. It will never change unless I change bullets.. Find the JAM, and back off thirty tho. and start there. Just don't seat real close to your JAM measurement and you will never go wrong. Like Lenny said. It's just a starting place. "Reference Point".

I agree with this Eric Cortina just had a youtube video about this a couple weeks ago. Its well worth the watch.
 
I agree with this Eric Cortina just had a youtube video about this a couple weeks ago. Its well worth the watch.
Yep, I like Eric, I've followed him for about 3 years now. But,, I've used this method for a couple of decades.
It's a no brainer. It's like the Forster Bushing Bump die. It's a great die for bumping shoulders. The bushings and the expander ball,,, Take them and sell them on eBay or throw them out the window.
Well, That's a post for another day. I did buy 2 of his, "I Neck Size" T-shirts for a couple of my gun buddies for Christmas. Their converting over because their loosing to much money on range day. Thank God.
 
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