Sticky Brass

[GoneHuntingOutfitter]

Here is the deal. Father in law has a new factory Remington in 300 Win Mag fluted stainless. We bought new Remington brass and loaded some rounds with 180 grain accubond. Powder 75 grains 7828 ssc. Seated .040 off the lands. Mid load by book he also tried a low end load with IMr 4350 and 4831. Bolt twists no problem but the brass are sticking and with a little work they have came out. There is a mark about .090 in front of the belt of the case where they are sticking. No pressure signs on back of brass or primer. However the sticky ness leads us to think pressure. Measure the brass at the sticky spot and they are at specs .513. Has anybody seen a spot in a new rifle that just needs smoothing in the chamber area before? Is this a pressure problem? Any thoughts are appreciated!

 

[MudRunner2005]

Stainless Fluted heavy barrel, you say?

Sounds like he got a bad barrel from the factory causing excess pressure spikes......I'll do the honorable thing and take that piece of junk off his hands for him...

Seriously, if it's a SF Sendero barrel, if he does decide to swap it, holler at me. I'd be highly interested in purchasing it.

.300 WM is one of the few I have every component available to me, on my bench (including virgin 1993 production Federal Match brass), dies, bullets, primers, powder, but I don't have a .300 WM rifle.... LOL

I swear, the problem you are having is exactly what my stainless fluted Sendero 7mm STW has going on right now, but with Federal brass...

Be careful because after a couple loads that ring will will become a crack...Like mine did. I think it could just be a generous factory chamber that allows too much brass swelling, but I'm not positive on that...

 

[Broz]

It sounds like you have covered the obvious, over pressure, so lets say it is not pressure for now. Especially since you state the bolt lift is normal but extraction is the issue. I would be inspecting the chamber for tooling or rough marks. I think maybe a good chamber polish could be all she needs.

Great choice of rifle and caliber by the way.

Jeff

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Not sure if this is the OP's problem, but stretching, thinning and head case separation is not all that uncommon with belted cases. The belted cases are designed to headspace off the belt unlike non-belted cases which headspace off the shoulder. If the chamber is a tad long and you FL size, bumping the shoulder back more than a couple thou, the case will stretch with each firing.

If your "spot" is a ring forming just in front of the belt, this could be the problem. If it's just a spot, then it might be a rough spot in the chamber.

For those having problems like Mudrunner, adjust your die so you are barely able to chamber the case with an easy bolt so your case headspaces off the shoulder instead of the belt.

 

[Clark]

Measure the brass at the sticky spot and they are at specs .513.

Sticky spot?
.513" diameter is just in front of the belt relief cut.
The problem might be some cuts in front of the .513" spot.
I would inspect the chamber.

I have fired belted magnum brass at extremely high pressure, loosening the primer pockets, and it still extracts.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Not sure if this is the OP's problem, but stretching, thinning and head case separation is not all that uncommon with belted cases. The belted cases are designed to headspace off the belt unlike non-belted cases which headspace off the shoulder. If the chamber is a tad long and you FL size, bumping the shoulder back more than a couple thou, the case will stretch with each firing.

If your "spot" is a ring forming just in front of the belt, this could be the problem. If it's just a spot, then it might be a rough spot in the chamber.

For those having problems like Mudrunner, adjust your die so you are barely able to chamber the case with an easy bolt so your case headspaces off the shoulder instead of the belt.

I've adjusted my die (I only neck-size, so I shouldn't be having any issues, and my die just barely touches my shell holder, but it still seems to be doing the same. I'm thinking of having my smith take off a couple thousandths and do a proper re-chambering and zero-out my headspacing to solve my problem. I think when Rem chambered that one, the smith went a little too deep with the reamer. I never noticed it all these years, because I didn't reload until fairly recently...And after about the 2nd reload (3rd time fired), I have been noticing odd "rings" on the brass.

And just like the OP's issue, my bolt opens up perfectly, and is not sticky....But when trying to pull back to eject is when it hangs up and doesn't want to open without a little bit of persuasion.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

I've adjusted my die (I only neck-size, so I shouldn't be having any issues, and my die just barely touches my shell holder, but it still seems to be doing the same. I'm thinking of having my smith take off a couple thousandths and do a proper re-chambering and zero-out my headspacing to solve my problem. I think when Rem chambered that one, the smith went a little too deep with the reamer. I never noticed it all these years, because I didn't reload until fairly recently...And after about the 2nd reload (3rd time fired), I have been noticing odd "rings" on the brass.

And just like the OP's issue, my bolt opens up perfectly, and is not sticky....But when trying to pull back to eject is when it hangs up and doesn't want to open without a little bit of persuasion.

If you are neck sizing and not bumping the shoulder back you should have no head space issues. I'm not an expert on the subject but headspace is often the culprit in case head separation. You don't need high pressure loads to cause it.

 

[snowpro440]

Headspace issue or rough chamber is usually the culprit. I had the same problem , returned it to the manufacturer and some sample cases with explanation and they replaced barrel. Measure the brass before and after firing , looks like its separating at the belt from excess headspace or oversized chamber.

 

[MudRunner2005]

If you are neck sizing and not bumping the shoulder back you should have no head space issues. I'm not an expert on the subject but headspace is often the culprit in case head separation. You don't need high pressure loads to cause it.

Yeah, I'm not bumping the shoulder at all...Which is what's got me so confused with it. I know we've discussed it before, but we never got past anymore than me saying, "I'll adjust my die to see if it fixes it..." and it still hasn't fixed anything. Guessing that the only thing left is excess headspacing from the factory...

 

[MudRunner2005]

Headspace issue or rough chamber is usually the culprit. I had the same problem , returned it to the manufacturer and some sample cases with explanation and they replaced barrel. Measure the brass before and after firing , looks like its separating at the belt from excess headspace or oversized chamber.

I would absolutely LOVE to return it to Remington and have them fix it...

BUT

I bought that rifle new 11 years ago, and just recently noticed the problem. Also, they haven't made that rifle in that caliber since then, and haven't made that rifle model in about as long.

Also, if they did fix it with a brand new barrel, I would definitely want my old barrel back for fixing later. All they're gonna do is chunk it in the trash, but I doubt they'd send it back with both barrels.

 

[GoneHuntingOutfitter]

A little more information on the issue! He started the break in process with some Hornody Factory Ammo in a 190 Grain bullet, showing at 2920 FPS on the box. This ammo shot through the Rifle fine and never had one stick. The brass the Factory ammo was fired in shows .040 under Max Case Length.

The new brass is at .010 of Max Case Length and every one has stuck no matter what load we put in it. IMR 4350 65 grains (light load) , H-1000 79 grains (middle type load), 7828 ssc 75 grains (middle type load), all with 180 grain accubond.

We then resized a fire formed factory brass and loaded it with the 7828 ssc. Again this brass was still no where near MCL. Fired the shot and it stuck. Still no bolt lift pressure, but the case takes some work to get started backward. The place it sticks is .085 in front of belt and it leaves scratching for another .100 as we extract the brass. This mark is all the way around the brass where it sticks. Can't see in the chamber well enough to see if there is just a rough area. Still no signs of pressure on the back of case or flattening of primer. Fired cases are not stretching excessively either.

Called Remington today and it sounded like maybe they have seen this before and think the Chamber just needs a good polishing. Will give it a try and see. Thanks to all that have responded with Ideas!

 

[snowpro440]

Your right they trash the old barrel . But they would probably fix it , Just work out all the details up front so you don't get a $500 bill for putting on a factory barrel . Remington charged a friend for a new custom barrel and it was a collector piece that don't have any stampings on it , when all he wanted was another factory barrel on his .17 rem that the blueing was coming off . Gun was new in the box and when he got it back he lost all collector value.