Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Problem with a 308 Savage 99-- stiff ejection

This may be a gunsmithing question, it may be a Savage 99 question, but I thought I would start here first. I have a Savage 99 that I have owned for about a year and a half. Occasionally I find that it is extremely hard to eject fired cases.

I've narrowed it down to the following sequence:

1) I fire loads with once-fired Lake City brass-- no problem.
2) I reload this brass using RCBS X-Dies for full length resizing, and the problem occurs.

The resulting loads load just fine, fire just fine, but extraction becomes hard. It's a real struggle. When I examine the brass, I see no pressure signs. I wouldn't expect them anyway, as these are fairly moderate loads. The primer is well formed; there is no pressure ring. The problem came to a head this weekend. I was letting #2 son shoot the '99 to see how he'd like it. A case stuck and when he couldn't work the lever, he handed it to me. I gave it a heave, and the case flew out and hit him in the safety glasses.

I'm using the same dies, same loads, same everything. The only difference is that the brass sticks after it's been run through the 99. I would have expected the opposite-- fresh brass would stick more than ones that have already been through the chamber once. What's going on?

Sounds to me like your up to the max with pressure for that gun. I'ld back off the powder just a bit, or maybe check to see that the bullet isn't touching the lands when its chambered. My 99 gets a little tempermental about both of those.

Have you checked the case length? It sounds like they might be too long and creating undue pressure.

Oh...I had the same problem. You cannot use military brass in a .308 99 with jacketed loads. It's really not the pressure, it's the brass...too thick. I used a ton of Lake City stuff and absolutely COULD NOT make it work. I reamed the necks, turned down the necks, full length resized, polished, lubricated, crimped, didn't crimp...tried everything under the sun and presistently failed to get normal exptraction. If I use commercial brass, it is flawless. In fact, I have been hunting in New Hampshire with a 99C, .308 with Winchester brass and fairly hot loads with 180 Speer round nose bullets...nice load, easy extract.
I did use Lake City for cast bullets...190 grainers at 1900 fps (not a wimpy load) and actually shot this load in a clip magazine 99 in a National Match Course. Accurate as anything. Please. don't waste your time trying to get jacketed loads to work in Lake City brass. I found it futile...even with lighter loads.

Just my humble opinion.
rooster

Rooster: You may be onto something. Thanks!

I've always doubted that pressure was the problem. These are ultra-moderate loads that have neglible recoil, and chrono at only 2600. That's exactly what this whole project was about in the first place: buy a Savage 99 in 308 Win and load it to function like a 300 Savage. The result would be a 300 Savage that ate 308 brass.

When I first posted about this rifle over a year ago, and my plan to take a 308 Win and turn it into an ersatz 300 Savage, somebody said: "You won't like the Lake City Brass." I assumed this individual was addressing the lower capacity of the thicker military brass. I wrote back a response based on this, and never got a reply.

Mind you, I walked into this with purposeful intent. I reasoned that thicker brass would mean lower capacity and therefore higher uniformity on my ultra-moderate loads.

Oh well. I knew that at 4 years of reloading experience, I would be just getting to the point of learning enough to be truly dangerous. That's why I've always played in the shallow end of the pressure curve. I load to be cheap, safe, and easy on the shoulder.

I guess my best way forward is to buy some thinner Remington brass, and test the hypothesis. I'll also try to seat the bullet a .003" futher back to make double sure I'm not touching the lands. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Shaman don't know if this will help or not , but the 2 99's I've loaded for always seem to prefer winchester brass.

mine has the same problem, absolutely wont eject military brass,

Shaman...

If you still have concerns, I recommend you scroll up & post your question in this site's "Savage Collector's" Forum... I feel confident you'll find someone there who knows about this problem and will be happy to help you. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.