Barnes Varmint gernade

[Brucecounty]

Hello all i just recently started reloading this past month and have read and re read all of the manuals that are available and even talked to seasoned re loaders.

what my dilemma was this morning was, i had loaded up some 50 grain Barnes varmint grenades for my 22-250 , charged the case with 32 grains of varget this was Barnes specs and seated the bullet the 2.350" that Barnes calls for.

go off the the range to test some loads and these ones where the first ones to try , fired one round off and went to chamber another round and my bolt was stuck tighter then hell almost like welded in place. well when i was able to get the bolt open case was stuck in the chamber and primer had been blown out blew off the extractor luckily was able to find it and other then that no injuries and nothing else broke thank god i was the only one around.

any ideas as to what i may have done wrong i checked and re checked what my measure was throwing and everything was 32grians now these bullets are a bit longer then most of my others (.224).

any ideas what i did wrong any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Duck_Hunter]

Did you start with the max load data?

 

[Ishodu]

Think you might want to get someone to confirm your weight that your scale is giving you. You could also weigh a bullet and see if its close.

 

[INTIMIDATOR]

The Hodgdon site shows the starting load at 34.5gr. Varget and 37.5 as the MAX. Not too sure what happened, you are well below the max charge. Did you double charge by chance, or maybe the metering screw on your powder measure backed off after you weighed the original load. Another possibilty, someone correct me if I'm wrong, the cases have run their course, if they were weren't purchased new. Because these bullets don't use lead they have a longer profile, did it compress the powder creating a very high pressure?

I have loaded Varmint Grenades in my .223 and they work good out to 300 yards can't wait for the warmer weather to go do some groundhog blasting.

 

[Redpoints]

What brass did you reload?

 

[Brucecounty]

New factory Winchester brass , if i double charged that would have been 64 grns and that would have been one holy mess allover the place, but i am leaning more towards the bullet compressed the charge.

this one really has me stumped and a few others that i have talked to maybe this bullet isn't designed for the 22-250 i don't know

 

[BigUglyMan]

Odd indeed. I'd look at scale error or, possibly, the wrong powder. Odd things do happen.

 

[Redpoints]

New factory Winchester brass , if i double charged that would have been 64 grns and that would have been one holy mess allover the place, but i am leaning more towards the bullet compressed the charge.

this one really has me stumped and a few others that i have talked to maybe this bullet isn't designed for the 22-250 i don't know

Reason about asking what brass you reloaded, is because I have seen some calibers marked with some milspec headstamp. If you loaded a similar but wrong caliber in your rifle, this could've happened.

As far as double charging, I can only imagine that would work on a shotgun shell. Any normal metallic load nearly fills the cartridge, so far as I know.

 

[Cummins4x4]

I've done compressed loads of varget in 204 and 223 with BVG's and never had a problem. That being said my dispenser threw a few light loads once due to some powder getting stuck under the pan holder, now I ALWAYS verify what the scale is telling me with a set of calibration weights. My guess is a scale problem.

 

[cdnredneck_t3]

Measure down from the tip of the bullet to the top of the case mouth. Then measure the bullet length to see how much bullet you have in the case. I would then throw 32gr in a case and measure how far down from the top the powder is. I also agree with some of the guys that you may have had a compressed load. I am trying to load 36gr grenades for the 22 hornet and with these bullets being new there is not much for load data for them. i know if i would have done a recommended charge of lil'gun on a normal lead 45 gr bullet i would have compressed the load .200" due to a 36gr grenade being the same size as a 52gr BTHP matchking. From my experience and yours along with other forms i have read i am starting to believe the varmint grenades are very temperamental.