Jammed Brass

[Missed Again]

I have a remington sendero 7 mag that I'm having an issue with. I hand load my rounds. I'm using remington brass, 63.5 grs of R22(thats 1.5grs less that max load from berger), berger 168gr. No cracking, pressure signs, no hot loads etc... After about 120 rounds down the barrel the brass jams AFTER the shot. Chamber and eject fine with a live round. The jam ONLY happens after the shot. I have tried once fired federal brass. It jams also. I FL die the brass, check case length, even bought a new FL die set to see if it was the die. Cleaned the chamber. Im buying Norma brass as a last resort to fix the problem. Heres the strange part. Factory ammo does not jam.

Heres a picture of were we think its jamming.

 

[billn17]

Measure a factory rd at the belt then a once fired and then measure your reload. You may not be resizing your brass all the way. I had the same problem and adjusted my dies down a little more and it fixed it.

Ps. I had to use a brass rod and tap mine out when they would get stuck.

 

[Reloader222]

If you have a Rock Chucker press you must lower the press arm so that the ram of the press is in the top position. Then screw the die onto the shell holder. Then lower the ram and turn the die a further 1/4 turn in. This will have the press to over-cam and give you a better size on the bottom of the cases. In worst cases if you do not have a Rock Chucker press, you can sand down a few thousands of an inch on the shell holder. This would also assist the case to be sized deeper into the die.

 

[Deleted member 46119]

I see blue in the stress cracks at the web body junction.

Is it just the picture?

 

[johnnyk]

Sounds like the area just above the belt isn't getting re-sized. Think this needs to run about .511 to .5135". Not sure about exact measurements but I think you're in the right area.

Someone markets a die just for re-sizing this area on bleted magnums. Can't remember the name of the die or the company but surely someone will chime in. I considered purchasing one of these but normally your FL die can be adjusted to fit this area better. JohnnyK.

 

[Deleted member 46119]

I'm sorry to disagree with those that think you just need to size your brass differently. That only applies before firing.

IMHO Your brass is done, unsafe.

You don't state your COAL or how many times fired. Very important.

Again the tell tale is the blueing in the stress cracks at the web body junction.

 

[mgdhunter]

Innovative Technologies - Reloading Equipment sells the belted magnum die spoke of her. But that may just be part of the problem. Everything that has been stated could be the problem. It will be a process of elimination.

 

[Trickymissfit]

post number seven is where to start. That may not be the total fix, but it's obvious that the case is not sized above the belt enough. I doubt the chamber or throat are bad. The real issue here is an extraction failure due to the case being too tight in the chamber after firing. The only place we see the Dykem wiped away is just above the belt. Under close inspection we also may find that the cases are past their life span, but I'd doubt it with only 120 rounds down the tube. To prove this out, one only has to load five pieces of virgin brass with the same load. They should work just fine. But after they are shot about four times the area above the belt will start to show up again. It's just normal expansion, and a failure of the die to size that far down to the belt. Also the norm for most dies, I might add.
gary

P.S. next time, instead of using Dykem or a generic layout dye; use a felt tipped pen. You can get them in black and dark blue. The surface layer is much thinner, and will help you get a truer reading

 

[winchestermodel50]

Have you found a solution to your extraction problem? I bought a Remington 700 stainless BDL and have similar problems. I can fire factory loads and extract fine, but with both new Norma and Winchester brass, my reloads stick above the belt with reloads reduced as much as 5 grains below maximum. I have yet to load a Norma 7mm magnum load that extracts after firing without sticking. New Winchester brass will extract at 5 grains below maximum but it is shows pressure above the belt and at the primer. The Remington brass separated above the belt after the third reload. All loads show excessive pressure. My bullets are seated .020 off the lands and I am applying good pressure between my shell holder and resizing die. The neck of a loaded Norma case is .0005 greater than a factory Remington. The factory Remington ejects fine but has flattened primers so it is warm. I'm at a loss. Cases are trimmed and I am going to outside neck turn to see if that helps but it doesn't appear to be the problem. Could this gun have an excessively tight chamber or throat?

 

[RTK]

Sounds like it could be a combination of problems, possibly a chamber problem along with over working the brass when resizing.
Try resizing your brass so you head space off of the shoulder, I have shot some brass over 10 times without problems

 

[WapitiBob]

I had a factory Rem 7STW. Virgin brass, when fired would leave obvious stretch marks ahead of the belt. Once fired brass would occasionally stick in the chamber. I replaced the barrel last week and upon inspection, there is a "ring" in the barrel chamber, ahead of the belt. Appears to be a "bubble" under the skin of the metal, for lack of a better explanation and extends nearly the full way around the chamber. I had about 200 shots on the factory barrel when I replaced it.
The replacement barrel leaves no stretch marks on the brass and as a side note, none of my once fired brass would chamber in the new barrel until I resized that swelled area ahead of the belt.

Gunsmith said there was .008 headspace on the factory barrel and .050 more freebore than the replacement barrel.