Guys,
Wondering if someone might stoop to help me.
I have an H&R single shot rifle in 308 Win, was going to have my son use for deer hunting, but the rifle fails to eject, every time we fire a round the case is flush with the chamber when you break the action open.
I sent it to H&R a while back, the said they replaced some parts, but it didn't change anything, still does it.
Any ideas on a fix for this?
Thanks and Merry Christmas.

extractor or ejector?

reloads or factory?

All factory.
Have to send a cleaning rod down the tube from the muzzle to get a fired case out.

Assuming its an ejector then.

How does it lock up when you close the action with a loaded round?

Does it feel tough to close or almost no effort?

Will check tonight, don't know, thanks for taking the time.

Just from prior experience, I have a 30-30 that has a snug neck, and sometimes it doesn't like to give up the case when the action is opened.

The happens with both fired and unfired cases.

Check and see if the ejector works if the gun is unloaded or if it hangs up there as well.

If it works unloaded, then I would look at polishing the chamber, as the fit is probably preventing the cases from ejecting. Possible that the ejector rod is binding a little when the round is in, causing it not to eject.

When you tap out a round with the cleaning rod, does the ejector spring out afterwards?

I had one in .22 Hornet that did the same thing. Never could get it to function properly even after several factory 'adjustments'. Unloaded it and will never buy another.

RWE,
Takes some effort to close the action on a loaded round.

Since your using factory ammo, and assuming all the factory ammo exhibits this issue, I suspect its a tight chamber.

It may need a bit of polishing to resolve or you may need someone with a finish reamer to touch it a little.

Where are you located?

South central PA, greater York area.

figures. Wish you were local.

Making sure you said this is factory ammo. Have you tried multiple types?

Will it eject an unfired case or does it only hold the fired ones?

Handi Rifles require clean and dry chambers for proper function. H&R went to extractors to help with the problem. A good chamber polish may solve the problem. A .50 caliber bore mop and a bit of JB compound may be the best way to go.

My 45/70 has an extractor/ejector that launches the case 4 feet behind me.

But the 20,000 psi loads do not stretch out the brass so it does not cling to the chamber walls.




The piece of 308 brass I fired at high pressure on the right, I had to pound out of the Mauser chamber with a cleaning rod in 2002. It was stuck.

Jaysus! Wow....

I don't like the looks of those primers, even the one on the left. Are you sure the chamber isn't too long?

What drove the pressure up was 308 brass necked down and not neck turned, pinched the bullet in the SAAMI 243 chamber i cut.

Had a friend with a #1 that was rebarreled. Chamber was close to min spec and though he did not have your experience there was a sign or two. After he turned the necks and got a little release all was well. Dayum, that gun would shoot good...

308 brass necked down to 260 is marginal.

The 260 SAAMI drawing tolerances for the chamber neck are:
a) .299 - .301" at the rear of the neck
b) .298 - .300" at the front of the neck

As best I can measure with pin gauges, my 260 [long chambered at Douglas] is:
a) .299" at the rear of the neck
b) .298" at the front of the neck

The factory 260 Rem brass with a 6.5mm bullet are typically .292" neck.
The military 308 LC97 brass with a 6.5mm bullet are typically .299" neck.

What does it all mean?
Necked down to 260, there is a 90% yield.
Necked down to 243, there is a 0% yield.

I got into trouble by chambering rounds of 308 necked down to 243 by putting 100 pounds of force on the bolt handle knob.

Then it takes a lot more than 100 pounds of force to get the fired brass back out of there.

My guess is that the OP's handi rifle extractor/ejector has ~ 20 pound of force.

This ^^ I also ground a "manual ejector slot" on the breech face to pop a stuck case out with a screwdriver. I think I got the idea on GBO forum. Not a proper fix and folks are properly horrified, but it works. Wouldnt take it on a once in a lifetime hunt anyway.

My .223 Handi Rifle has problems ejecting steel cased ammo (wolf, etc). It never hiccups on quality factory ammo.

Cleaning and drying the chamber is a necessity, though. I got that over on the Greybeard forum.

It's a shame, because the rifle is quite accurate (especially that I only paid $160 for it after the original owner had only shot 1/2 a box of shells through it).