300wm misfires

M

matm

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Hello! I got a used savage 110ba in a trade chambered in 300wm and when I took it out to the range I had a ton of misfires that seemed to be light primer strikes. The reloads I made I used the brass he provided me with 208 a maxes seated 20 thou off the lands.

The rounds that didn't fire ranged from just small strikes on the primers to what looked like decent hits. The day was very cold so I figured it could be that or the gun was dirty. I took it home and stripped the bolt and cleaned it out completely. Then I took it out again when it warmed up. There was still a lot of misfires but the primer strikes looked good. What I did notice was that I had some resistance on extraction of these rounds and there appeared to be a small ring around the bullet where it made contact with the rifling. I had a similar issue with a 300blk rifle with loose headspace but the belt on the 300wm should have stopped this issue? The primers are fine as I used the same lot in other calibers that all fired with no issues (federal large rifle magnum)

I measured the headspace of brass that fired with my hornady comparator and they measured 2.283 when the miss fired rounds measured around 2.277 to 2.280

Not really sure what else to try at this point. Any help is appreciated! I may try a box of factory to rule out issues with the firing pin/spring

I have loaded dozens of calibers but I dont have much experience with belted magnums

-mat
 
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I have had lots of savages before without issues I'm hoping I can fix it pretty easily. I don't really want to put any money into it. I was going to change out the firing pin spring but after the second time out the firing mechanism seems fine.
 
Have you checked firing pin protrusion? Factory trigger? Could also be firing pin spring. Could be excessive headspace?
The person you trade it on have any input?
I have heard of some 110 BA that had to go back to Savage for some firing pin related repairs, straight out of the box.
Sounds like it's probably not load related. If you have some factory rounds, it may be worth trying to rule out ammunition.
Did you try firing any of those rounds a second time?
 
A firing pin has to hit the primer with a shock. Imagine an axe hitting a block of wood on end, on concrete. The wood splits.

If the block of wood is sitting on the lawn, when hit, it may not split.

A cartridge should be seated on the rim, belt or shoulder. That is solid support, so the primer gets hit hard.

If there is some headspace, and the bullet is in the rifling, the cartridge is held off what it it is supposed to be seated on. When the firing pin hits the primer, the energy is used to move the bullet deeper into the rifling, softening the blow.

Try seating the bullets another 30 thou deeper. If you get 100% ignition, you know what the problem was.

Failing that, just switch to Federal primers.
 
TrevorJ said:
Have you checked firing pin protrusion? Factory trigger? Could also be firing pin spring. Could be excessive headspace?
The person you trade it on have any input?
I have heard of some 110 BA that had to go back to Savage for some firing pin related repairs, straight out of the box.
Sounds like it's probably not load related. If you have some factory rounds, it may be worth trying to rule out ammunition.
Did you try firing any of those rounds a second time?
Click to expand...
firing pin protrusion is good. Factory trigger and I increased the pull weight. The fired brass from my rifle vs other 1xf brass seems about 10thou longer. I did try most of the rounds twice and none of them fired.
 
Ganderite said:
A firing pin has to hit the primer with a shock. Imagine an axe hitting a block of wood on end, on concrete. The wood splits.

If the block of wood is sitting on the lawn, when hit, it may not split.

A cartridge should be seated on the rim, belt or shoulder. That is solid support, so the primer gets hit hard.

If there is some headspace, and the bullet is in the rifling, the cartridge is held off what it it is supposed to be seated on. When the firing pin hits the primer, the energy is used to move the bullet deeper into the rifling, softening the blow.

Try seating the bullets another 30 thou deeper. If you get 100% ignition, you know what the problem was.

Failing that, just switch to Federal primers.
Click to expand...
the bullets aren't touching the rifling until after the round is fired but I can try seating deeper. These were federal primers
 
I think what Ganderite was trying to say was the ring is there after firing because the firing pin is pushing the whole cartridge forward pushing the bullet into the lands until the belt seats. By seating shorter, the belt should seat before the bullet hits the lands. This should cause the block of wood to split, and the round to fire. If I got his analogy right...
 
Ah I believe we are in the same boat I misinterpreted! Yes the ring was present after firing which to me indicates the whole round was pushed forward in the chamber and that makes sense.
 
I always click on misfire threads to see if its a CCI primer of a Savage rifle. On a good day I get both, but generally always get one or the other. ;). Anyhooo......

If the bullet is getting engraved by the rifling after the firing pin drops; your ammo is head-spacing on the bullet. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re seating off the lands; the proof in on the bullet. The firing pin thinks its pounding nails. Head spacing on the shoulder is going to take some fire-formed cases; headspacing on the belt will require a new case or one that most handloaders would consider over sized and a seating depth that truly clears the rifling.

A fresh extra strength striker spring will cover a multitude of sins. :)

Also; check the BFS for tightness.
 
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My first thought is headspace. It appears the round is sliding ahead in the chamber. Has someone removed the barrel. With the savage headspace is easy to adjust or get out of adjustment. Take it to a gunsmith.
 
Had a light primer strike problems with a buddies Savage. Turns out one of the trigger pins had walked out, how this caused light primer strikes I'm not entirely sure, but damned if getting the pin back in place didn't fix it.
 
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I've had bad CCI primers before. I've also had gummed up bolts with filthy firing pin springs. On both light strike occasions I changed primers and cleaned the bolts and never had a further issue.
 
Yail Bloor said:
Had a light primer strike problems with a buddies Savage. Turns out one of the trigger pins had walked out, how this caused light primer strikes I'm not entirely sure, but damned if getting the pin back in place didn't fix it.
Click to expand...
I was reading that sometimes the trigger being set too light can cause it too. No idea why Haha
 
matm said:
Ah I believe we are in the same boat I misinterpreted! Yes the ring was present after firing which to me indicates the whole round was pushed forward in the chamber and that makes sense.
Click to expand...

OK. If the firing pin is driving the case forward and engraving the bullet, you can cure the problem by seating the bullets deeper.

THEN, don't FL size the case. Size it enough to size down 8/10 of the neck, so that the shoulder is not pushed back. let the case headspace on the shoulder, so the primer gets hit hard.
 
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