Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Forbes extractor break/primer blow out

New scope so I was sighting in Forbes 270 today for the coming season and had this issue arise.. I have about 25 rounds through the rifle in total.

After rifle was fired the bolt seemed to stick a bit when tryin to eject the spent cartridge. Maybe should have looked at bolt then but didn't think much about it. After the 6th shot there appeared to be a a bit more powder residue blow out the barrel and when I went to eject spent cartridge nothing came out. When I looked in chamber I saw a small coil spring about half diameter of one from a ball point pen loose on the magazine ramp. The cartridge was still seated and a piece of metal (extractor) was stuck up next to it on the off side of the spent cartridge. Bolt locked up was normal when feeding cartridges and only was sticky when extracting. Dint have to jerk it but had to give it a tug.

I used a cleaning rod to pop spent out cartridge (came out easily) and then the extractor came loose. I noticed the the primer was missing and charring around the primer hole. Thought I saw the primer fall into mag well but did not find it when I took the stock off. I did find what looked like a small pin that was sheared off and the piece that sheared off. So I have a sheared pin, extractor and a small spring. Guess I don't know if extractor went kaput first causing the primer to blow out or if the primer blow out broke the extractor. Oddly the extractor seemingly appeared stuck to the off side of the spent cartridge, 180 degrees from where it is on bolt face. Not sure if it broke and caused the primer blow out issue. Bolt lock up was fine on all shots so could have been a lot worse. Factory ammo, so will give them a call as I have a half box left, nervous about hot loads sneaking in.

It would appear I need a new bolt and also a look in the chamber to assure nothing else went wrong. Anything else that I ought to be looking at?

Not sure if this is my opportunity to get Melvin to work an update on it or if there is someone who works on these now.

I was pondering selling the old tikka t3 but now it is scoped up and headed back out. Least expensive rifle I have and it shoots great.

Any insight appreciated.

Probably want to check with these guys:

https://outkastarms.com/

From their website:

"Our goal is to continue with Melvin Forbes legacy by servicing and repairing all Colt Light Rifles, Forbes Rifles, and Ultra Light Rifles."

At least one is a forum member here.

Curious about the load used. Also bullet jump.

Blown primer generally points to excessive pressure.

Was regular 130 grain cup and core commercial load. I figured pressure issue you to but not sure why the difficulty extracting before event.

Thanks Cubic

if i am not mistaken Melvins small diameter action handles pressure pretty well so i would be looking at that ammo for sure

Could be just an imperfection in the extractor that cracked/chipped/broke and ended up where it shouldn't causing an issue...the associated parts slipping out into the mix surely wouldn't help anything.

Hopefully Outkast can help you out. The guy I spoke with a while back seemed like a good guy.

I think they may be in Melvin’s old shop? Address was the same.

They are in Melvin's old shop--and at least one worked for him, making the NULA stocks.

Mule Deer,

What is your read on his "Chicken or Egg" question?

I assume Melvin is retired since they are in his shop? I emailed outkast, so hoping they can repair extractor.

A repair question...

I have the Extractor, Extractor Plunger, and Extractor Spring as they were in the chamber. I assume I should be able to replace the extractor somehow, so was thinking the spring slides down the hole in bolt then the plunger and that buts against the actual extractor? Was trying to work through this without taking it in, but was not sure I had the parts and I think I do and none appear broken. Am I making sense or is there a trick to it?
Thanks
Tim

Bolt and extractor back together. Presuming it was primer blow out that made it all unwind.

You say this is commercial ammo. Do you have any of the fired cases and are you a reloader?

Would be curious as to the state of the primer pocket. If you are blowing primers, your primer pockets could well be expanded. Can you pop out a primer from a fired case and re-prime with new? Are the primer pockets tight?

Has to be a reason for what appears to be an over-pressure load.

I have the case the primer blew from. Don’t reload but brother in law does so I’ll check a few from that box with him. Thanks

Thank you!

The cases which did not lose their primer should also tell a tale.

lI have the same rifle in .270 and found that the chamber was very snug ... bottomed out Redding Type S bushing die barely bumps the shoulder of a fired case. The chamber pressure in such a chamber would likely be higher than a typical chamber with looser tolerances.

The Forbes sure does shoot though! Most accurate, out of the box big game rifle I have ever owned.

I’m about to contact Outkast arms to rebarrel an ULA out of 338wm now that it’s so hard to find Ammo for. They seemed to be carrying on the upkeep of colt light rifles/Forbes/ula/Nula. Which is great since I have a Forbes 35 whelen also