Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 300 Win. Mag problems

Hi, I have recently had problems reloading for a friends 300 Win mag. I full length resized his 1x fired brass. I used CCI large rifle primers and various charges of Win. 760 powder starting at 10% under max load as recommended in the Nosler reloading manual. When he shot the rifle at the range, he said there was a slight hang fire when he pulled the trigger. He returned the 8 unfired cartridges and I pulled the bullets and test fired the primers and they all seemed to function well.
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<br> I then reloaded the shells with R-19 at 10% under max load. I used CCI mag rifle primers. He said he had the same problem with a couple of the reloaded rounds and the others fired normally. I tried the same loads and primers in my 300 Win Mag and had no problems using the exact same components.
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<br>If anyone has any idea of what could be causing this problem I would appreciate them sharing it with me as I am stumped. I have reloaded for about 3 years and have 11 different rifles I reload for. I reload about a thousand rounds a year and have never had any problems like this ever. Thanks, Rick

Rick,
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<br>Has his rifle ever had this type of problem with factory ammo? If so, it could be a a firing pin/firing spring problem, most likely dirt.
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<br>You might also try a couple different brands of brass.
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<br>Blaine

I had the first misfire in 50 years with CCI 200 primers just a month ago. It was an accumulation of tolerances and I learned that those CCI primers are shorter than any others that I have.
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<br>The cartridge is a .358 Win with new unfired cases, the rifle an old M99 that might have some headspace and the short primers as mentioned. On top of that I now qualify all primer pocket depths with a Whitetail cutter so they were all the correct depth. Shallow primer pockets while no good per se would have prevented the misfire. At least it happened at the range.
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<br>All of these things have variables. It's just another thing to keep an eye on.

He's never had it happen with factory ammo and when I suggested it may be a combination of things, he thought I was just trying to blame it on his rifle. He went back to factory ammo which is fine with me as I was losing money on the reloads anyway. I neck sized some loads for him and they seemed to fire correctly which leads me to believe that it maybe in the headspacing. If it were my rifle I would have tried different things until I figured out the problem but I really believe it is in the rifle and not in the reloads.
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Your better off not reloading for anyone else. If there is any problem you might be an "also named".

Good advice, definitely learned from this experience. From now on only for family. Thanks, Rick

Good idea. Nothing worse then sweating the details for someone who doesn't care.
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<br>Blaine

Yeah, two boxes of reloads with 180 gr. Nosler ballistic tips for $15.00. Tried to make things right for him but learned my lesson. Then he had his wife buy him a box of premium factory loads for his 300 win mag. $32.00 for a box. He was not happy about that either. He better get used to it if he wants to shoot the premium bullets.
<br>Rick

I might through this at you Rick, did he or you get any lube spray or otherwise on any of those primers?
<br>This can happen you know and has once or twice in years happened to your truly also.

I have had a lot of people ask me to reload for them when they find out I reload my own. and my answer is allways the same. NO. I refuse to take the chance. I tell them buy factory ammo or learn to reload also. tom

I have been using the Lee lube which is water based and when I reloaded the cases the second time I was very careful as I thought that might have happened the first time. Even went so far as to break out a new box of primers to assure that oil wan't the problem. Can't figure out what else might have happened.

It could also be your sizer "over-sizing" the cases for his chamber.
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<br>Blaine

That's the problem. So many different possible causes or a combination of causes that without taking the rifle to the range for the day and shooting it a bunch it's awfully tough to find the cause of the problem. I don't have to worry about it anymore anyway. It does bother me not being able to find out what the heck was happening. Had to be some difference between my dies and his chamber. Like I said, the same loads fired just fine in my Colt Sauer 300 Win. Mag. Thanks for the input, Rick

i had the same problem yesterday . i was firing some 243 win loads.staying under the max. load. first 4 rounds had a delayed(hang) fire when you pull the trigger, . i asked my hunting friend to test it, the same thing happened to him. after the first 4 rounds the rifle was shooting fine. the weirdest thing. all the loads were seated the same. the loads were seated .020 off the land and using WLR PRIMERS and imr 4350

i was wandering if the original poster found the solution for what caused that problem
sambo

I think it was a combination of things. It was probably a case of my dies sizing the brass back very close to the minimum original specs and his chamber being cut to the maximum allowable limits within the specs. I originally thought that since I was using ball powder, it might have been powder packing in the primer causing the problems. I went to a stick powder and still had the hang fire occur. I would have liked to try neck sizing the once fired brass and reloading it using the same charge and primer to see if this would have alleviated the problem. I used the same dies and powder, primer combo in my .300 Win mag and had no problems whatsoever. The guy I reloaded for was sure it was something I was screwing up and there was no convincing him the problem might result from his chamber dimensions. Taught me an important lesson though. DON"T reload for anyone other than direct family. I thought I was doing the guy a favor and it came back to bite me in the you know what. Rick

What was the outside temperature? You might consider magnum primers if shooting near or below freezing.

The only hangfires I've had with my reloade where in a 30-30 using h335 and CCI non-mag primers. It could have been the flame wasn't not hot enough for ball power or like someone pointed out a little shorter primer. Either way I went to Winchester and Federal primers and have not had a simular problem since.

The temperature was in the 50's and 60's and I was using CCI large rifle primers. After he had shot a few rounds he returned me 12 unfired cartidges that had been hang firing. I pulled the bullets, changed the powder, and switched to Federal magnum primers. The results were the same, hangfires. I had reloaded some rounds for him earlier. I had neck sized the brass and used the same combination as in the cartridges causing the hang fires. The only difference was the neck sizing. He didn't have any hangfires with the neck sized brass. At first I thought maybe somehow I had got some oil or something on the primers. My next thought was that maybe the ball powder was packing in the primer flash hole. That was why I changed the primers and went to a stick powder. Of course I couldn't do anything about the resizing until after they were fired. Like I said before, I have used the same combination in my .300 Win mag with no problems at all. I'm kind of glad to be done with reloading for other people anyways. It really doesn't pay when you start taking your time into consideration. Then on top of it, if the person you reload for encounters a problem, most guys don't have any clue of what reloading involves or the process of shooting, they blame it on your reloads and can't understand that maybe the problem lies in there chamber and is something that has to be worked out. That is what is fun about reloading to me. I love working up loads and trying to find the best bullet, powder, and all the other varibles you have to consider to find the load your rifle just loves and shoots into groups you can cover with the a piece of change in your pocket. Rick

I'm guessing the rifle has a typical oversized Factory chamber and starting 10 percent below max is actually closer to 15 percent below max. I'm thinking as you raised the powder charges, the hang-fire problem would go away.

If the max charge was 72 grains, I would start at 70 and shoot 3 shots,then 71, then 72.

That could be. I did start 10% under max but never had the chance to work up as he decided to buy the factory loads and didn't want to try and figure out what was the problem. No skin off my butt. I still would have liked to have taken his rifle for a week and really worked out the problem and find the load that shoots well through it. Rick