Hard bolt lift... pressure or ...?

TargetNorth

TargetNorth

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Hi Everyone

I'm shooting my .243 with 65 grain Hornady V-Max's and 37.5 grains of Varget. I found that sometimes there is hard bolt lift. Not *that* hard, but a bit sticky. More then factory ammo.

Am I experiencing a pressure sign?

The brass has been shot several times (2-4 times), and is being neck sized with a Lee Collet Die. Should I try FL sizing and see if that helps? The primers look OK, not too flat or anything. Kick is very light.

Thanks for your time,
Barry
 
At 37.5 gr you are still under the starting load in the Lyman manual 38.2 is the starting point .42 gr is max load.so I would think try FL sizing your brass.
 
Your load is a very mild one and should not give you a sticky bolt lift. The rear of your locking lugs and/or cam on your bolt are probably dry. Try a little lube on them and the sticky should disappear.

Regards

Aubrey
 
if the load is light enough it may not be expanding the brass to the chamber walls and forcing the shell back against the bolt, which may cause it to stick. (never reloaded for 243 before. but it happens in the WSSM's if you aren't up close to the max load)

just a guess.
 
Thanks for the ideas. I'm not too worried as long as I'm not in a dangerous area. I FL sized 20 cases tonight, I'll try them Friday and see how accuracy and bolt lift are affected.
Thanks,
Barry
 
Banished said:
Your load is a very mild one and should not give you a sticky bolt lift. The rear of your locking lugs and/or cam on your bolt are probably dry. Try a little lube on them and the sticky should disappear.

Regards

Aubrey
Click to expand...

I have seen this many times. Seems that most people don't know they need a little dab of bolt grease in these areas.
 
TargetNorth said:
I lubed the bolt lugs, didn't help. I'm going to focus on the resizing of the case part of the operation...
Click to expand...

You need to lube the bolt Cam as well as the lugs. The Cam is what cocks the bolt when you lift the bolt handle. Dry fire the rifle (be sure the chamber is empty) and then open the bolt. If the bolt is stiff or feels a little rough to open then you know the cam is dry and needs lubrication.

Regards

Aubrey
 
If the brass was fired in a different rifle before it might make a difference, if that's the case try your used brass from the same rifle, I had a 6.5x55 that had that problem with mixed brass from three different rifles and grouped fantastic and after a couple hundred rounds with the same brass I didn't notice the tight bolt anymore that much anymore. good luck
 
I bet the different rifle is the issue - I have two .243's and have mixed up some of the brass. I will full length size a bunch of it and just keep reloading the same stuff until it is shows signs of failure.
 
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