You have brass that has been fired in another chamber that is too big for yours ahead of the belt. Throw the brass away. You may not blow your rifle up, but can sure gall your locking lugs.
Damaged brass
- Thread starter OldTimer92
- Start date
You have brass that has been fired in another chamber that is too big for yours ahead of the belt. Throw the brass away. You may not blow your rifle up, but can sure gall your locking lugs.
Leatherstocking
CGN Regular
- Location
- BC Rockies
Lube left on the cases or in the chamber?
Good point Leatherstocking, any lube will increase the bolt thrust or the pressure the case exerts on the bolt face.
But I'm leaning toward soft brass that flowed into the ejector. Any time you use brass fired in another rifle you have no idea how the cases were treated or if abused.
If you are getting a click at the top of the bolt throw you have brass that can not be sized to fit the chamber as it is fired. This can not only damage your brass, but it can damage your rifle. This is the problem. Throw that brass away.
Like CHUCK says the BRASS is JUNK - just get some new brass and try it -I'm sure your problems will dissappear ! jmo RJ
OldTimer92
New member
I'm inclined to believe it is not the used brass. I have some of my nosler brass that I loaded as part of that same batch. I bought that brass brand new and it's seen two firings. It's doing the exact same thing the used brass is. Originally it did not have any marks and then it's just the most recent time that I can see marks on them. I think it might have something to do with me drying them in the oven after I wash them in my water tumbler. That click I am hearing is not making a sound like the brass is loose, or that the ejector is doing something strange. It just sounds like a normal bolt opening up. The brass feeds in great, shoots amazing (Under an inch grouping @ 100 yards) and ejects like a dream.
Just reread your post about cleaning after resizing. ‘Couple hours’? Seems like much longer than necessary to get rid of the lube. Try 15-20 mins. Then rinse really well. That should reduce case mouth peening, less little brass bits stuck inside the cases, and less transferred to your bolt.
I’ve loaded about 30,000 9mm and often don’t rinse very well. I get little brass specs inside my handguns.
I’ve loaded about 30,000 9mm and often don’t rinse very well. I get little brass specs inside my handguns.
If you have it all figured out there is no sense posting here for feedback or suggestions. Obviously something is wrong. But by the sounds of it you have it figured.
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Really?
OldTimer92
New member
I would actually like to thank everyone who replied with information. If people had not answered with their opinions I honestly would have never even thought of the fact that maybe I was softening them in the oven when I was trying to dry them. Lots of people commented that it was soft brass and pointed me in the right direction.
Wouldn't that brass have to be heated to like 500°F before it would start to soften it up?
OldTimer92
New member
I'm basing that idea on a couple of things. One is the suggestions of others that my brass is soft due to manufacturing or due to hot loads. With the used Weatherby brass I am sure it is well within the realm of possibility that they have been fired hot and over expanded. With my Nosler brass, it has not seen a rifle outside of mine, using the identical load every time it's been loaded. I am still seeing swipe marks on the brass regardless of which type it is. Secondly, I have not noticed any brass issues at all until I purchased a wet tumbler last summer, and then in the fall started using the oven to dry them out. Originally I used to air dry them sitting on a desk and using a towel. It wasn't until this last reload where I used the oven that I started to notice said problems. Thirdly, while I was at the range yesterday I noticed my .270 Winchester brass, and my .22-.250 Remington brass had little bends at the case mouths which they don't normally have. One round here or there, but it was most of them. I haven't changed any of the loads, in any of the guns, and I'm using well documented load data for all of them. This leads me to believe that maybe, just maybe the oven has something to do with it as it is only a recent thing. The oven being the only recent thing I have changed to my routine. So I'll reload some other ones that have not seen the oven and I will see if there is a difference. If there is not then I am sure the gun can be taken to the doctor and the brass cycled out for some fresh brass. It would be a shame to toss 80 brass, spend 160$ on 50 new ones, only to have it do the same thing.
Nosler is hit or miss on brass, yes they are all prepped, weighed and ready to load, but you don't really know who made the brass.
Nosler does have a brass facility now, but only for certain cartridges. Norma probably makes all the Weatherby brass and maybe some of the other belted mags, if the belts are cut its Norma brass.
The rest could be anything... Hornady, Federal, Winchester, who knows.
Norma brass tends to be on the softer side out of the box, but it holds up well, primer pockets don't losen up for a long time. I've got some Norma 308 I gave up on counting how many times I've loaded that stuff.
With the soft 257 Nosler brass I have, I just load it a bit lighter, kinda defeats the purpose of a magnum, but it's one solution.
I have no issues with the Hornady 257 loading for velocity, it wasn't terribly expensive either.
Nosler does have a brass facility now, but only for certain cartridges. Norma probably makes all the Weatherby brass and maybe some of the other belted mags, if the belts are cut its Norma brass.
The rest could be anything... Hornady, Federal, Winchester, who knows.
Norma brass tends to be on the softer side out of the box, but it holds up well, primer pockets don't losen up for a long time. I've got some Norma 308 I gave up on counting how many times I've loaded that stuff.
With the soft 257 Nosler brass I have, I just load it a bit lighter, kinda defeats the purpose of a magnum, but it's one solution.
I have no issues with the Hornady 257 loading for velocity, it wasn't terribly expensive either.
A few things. I have had a number of these rifles in multiple calibes and chamberings. The brass all shows ejector marks as shown in the pics. It is not how to read these vanguards for pressure.
You need to check how your resizing die is setup. Read the directions and make sure the press is camming over to fully resize the body properly. If it is a neck sizing die only it will also cause the same thing, they need FL (full length) resized.
If that does not help the chamber could be cut short where the neck sits as and you may have to trim back some, but with your lengths varying I don’t think this is the case. Give the gun bore a good clean, once that is done clean the chamber and neck area with a good solvent to remove any possible oily surface.
Also the Nosler brass as mentioned is very soft, Weatherby/Norma is the way to go.
P.S. my weatherbys always like to run best at max loads. You obviously need to work up to that, but they all ended up there so far.
You need to check how your resizing die is setup. Read the directions and make sure the press is camming over to fully resize the body properly. If it is a neck sizing die only it will also cause the same thing, they need FL (full length) resized.
If that does not help the chamber could be cut short where the neck sits as and you may have to trim back some, but with your lengths varying I don’t think this is the case. Give the gun bore a good clean, once that is done clean the chamber and neck area with a good solvent to remove any possible oily surface.
Also the Nosler brass as mentioned is very soft, Weatherby/Norma is the way to go.
P.S. my weatherbys always like to run best at max loads. You obviously need to work up to that, but they all ended up there so far.
OLDTimer 92 : I'm basing that idea on a couple of things. One is the suggestions of others that my brass is soft due to manufacturing or due to hot loads.
Ive being loading and shooting a LOT for 50 + years now and i have YET to see BRASS go Soft from shooting it - Quite the OPP is in fact IS what happens ! RJ
Ive being loading and shooting a LOT for 50 + years now and i have YET to see BRASS go Soft from shooting it - Quite the OPP is in fact IS what happens ! RJ
I've never seen brass go soft from shooting it.
Buying used 1f brass doesn't always work out. Who knows what was done to it.
I don't see any glaring high pressure signs in the fired cartridges.
Clean the bolt face and try some different brass.
Buying used 1f brass doesn't always work out. Who knows what was done to it.
I don't see any glaring high pressure signs in the fired cartridges.
Clean the bolt face and try some different brass.
