Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 1st time I ever had this happen

Help please. Went coyote hunting this morning and after I fired a round through my .204 I couldn't get it to eject the spent casing. It was one of my reloaded rounds and it was stuck pretty good. Tried cycling the bolt and it just wouldn't do it. Needless to say, that was it for the .204 for the remainder of the hunt. Brought it home and run my rod from muzzle end in and couldn't get it out by just using my hand. I was being very careful as I did not like having to run the rod in this direction to begin with. I ended up tapping rod with a quick and fairly sharp blow with a hammer before the spent casing came free. The casing doesn't really show any abnormal signs. What was the cause? Am I good to go? I cycled a few loaded rounds and it seems to be fine. Just wanting to be cautious. Any suggestions?

I'd pull a couple of bullets just to make sure the powder charge is the correct weight. Assuming your loading procedure is such that there is no possibility that it is the wrong powder, just chalk it up to one of those things.

Check case length also just to be sure that the necks aren't getting jammed in the throat.

Check and see if a bullet will slide into fired case neck to be sure that they haven't thickened from the dreaded brass donut.

My first thought would be the load was well over max pressure. I'd pull a few bullets and check the powder charge weight. You say the case looks normal? How does the chamber look? Is it clean? Dirty? Filthy? Damaged? Damaged, dirty or filthy might cause a case to stick like that but I'm inclined to think pressure.

Yeah I'm at a loss for the time being. I'll check into everything you have both suggested.

Either an overcharge or for some reason you didn't get the case fully resized. What did the primer look like? Was it flattened badly? If so, I suspect an overcharge. If not, I would guess not sized properly.

no one has asked...

what was your load,.... powder charge and bullet weight...

Had the round been in the chamber for a length of time, days or weeks?

Primer looked completely normal

An even 26grs of RamShot XTerminator behind a 40gr Berger

... maybe chambered for 30minutes tops

You mean the bolt wouldn't cycle/open or it just wouldn't grab the case...? Remington?


X-VERMINATOR

The bolt would cycle open, it just wouldn't extract the stuck casing. I'm beginning to think its a sizing issue. I've been shooting this exact load in this exact rifle for several years.

... Remington rifle

Sounds like the tip of the extractor is either broken off or it is fouled with brass shavings...

A sizing issue would have been noticed when you closed the bolt on the round. Could have been a combination of a round that was a little hot and an extractor that is not fully engaging the rim or is broken..


Inspect the extractor.....!

Something made that case hang up in the chamber tight enough that it took a hammer to break it free.

The options look to be dirt, roughness or load. Without a whole lot else standing out.

Were it me, I'd back up and unload a few to check the components including mic'ing a bunch of the bullets first. Then I'd clean the chamber but good.

Pull em ALL!-Muddy

Ya, I don't know?.............. I run all manner of stuff on the hot side but I've never had a Rem fail to extract or leave a stuck case in the chamber. Lots of folks underestimate the cam-ing action of the bolt and the strength of Rem extractors... I still say it's largely an extractor problem...

I'd like to see pics of the case!


X-VERMINATOR

If i had to make a guess on the problem you described i would say it was a case that needs to be annealed and has harden over time by firing and it didn't contract after firing and just stuck to the chamber wall . Just how many times have you fired the brass?

My brother had this happen with his Remington in 25-06. We got it open by beating the bolt with a 2x4 (hard). Upon getting it open and examinig the case we saw the image of a leaf. It was still stuck to the inside of the gun.Cleaned it up and back to normal. And no the bolt handle never feel off. ED K

I wouldn't view that as overpressuring the round that much, to cause it sticking.. I occasionally have rounds that do that, refuse to extract...normally it has been something funky with that case's rim...and it has been reloaded multiple times...

it is enough of a pain, at the worst possible time.. either at the range or out varmint shooting...that I went down to the hardware store and bought a steel rod about 36 inches long, that was less diameter than a 22 caliber case ( took a 223 case in to see if it would fit down the neck).. I have one in each of my cars, that I might drive to the range or to go varmint hunting...
along with a rubber mallet...

when it happens, I just knock it out with the rod, and get back to what I was doing.. and discard that particular case...

those rods only cost me like $1.50 each... any hard ware store carries that sort of stuff...might be more now, as these have given many years of service...

many times, just dropping it down the barrel will knock the stuck case out...