Kel Tec RFB And Reloaded Ammo Doesnt Look Promising

M

mildcustom2

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
88   0   1
Location
Surrey, B.C.
So I loaded up some of my own .308 win for my Kel Tec RFB today. Projectiles are 168 grn Berger VLD, 168 grn Nosler Ballistic Tip, 180 grn Sierra Matchking. All measure 2.800" OAL.

Decided just to try and see how they function in my rifle and its not good. Lots of difficulties getting a round to chamber correctly with lots of damage to the casing and bullet.

Has anyone else that owns an RFB had this problem with reloaded ammo? Am I stuck using just factory ammo?

Thanx
 
what kind of brass are you using? I don't have an RFB, but had a very similar problem with my m14 and had to by something called a small base die for resizing and it worked fine after that.
 
broncoo said:
all i ever did was full length size/trim to length nevrr gave any issues

does it shoot factory ammo fine?
Click to expand...

Seems to be fine with factory ammo. I find even with my 165 grn Hornady SST factory stuff it's fine but the OAL is shorter than the min OAL listed on the Hodgden web page.
 
I don't reload but my father in law did. His reloads always jammed my the RFB...I've since stuck to PRVI 145g and never had an issue since.
 
I heard of crimping the neck or something, but o don't know anything about realoding.... I don't know about the lenght of your cassing but you bullet weight and the rest sounds good.

Mine shoot very well with winchester ballistic silvertip 168 gr.


If your having ftf swa mags, you probably have a bad mag or bad gaz settingm
 
You have to small base resize the brass. My RFB would not feed unless this had been done. Also get a go-gauge to check the brass prior to priming and powder. Just because the case is the right length doesn't mean it's ass will fit.
 
Sounds like you need full length resize and copy OAL of factory loads. What kind of dies are you using? I am told Lee dies are the best for full length resize. Dillon dies come up a bit short on full length resize. I don't have RFB and i only load 30.06 for rifles
 
And the Winner is:

fireball said:
You have to small base resize the brass. My RFB would not feed unless this had been done. Also get a go-gauge to check the brass prior to priming and powder. Just because the case is the right length doesn't mean it's ass will fit.
Click to expand...
 
Full length size
Hornady 110gr v-max col 2.8"
145gr military FMJ pulled bullets (from 30-06 tracers) col 2.8"
Hornady 155gr a-max col 2.8"
All cycle perfectly in mine.
I also have some 150gr Hornady SST' s loaded up to col 2.735" but haven't tested them yet.

Take apart your rifle and adjust your overall length so that you can drop a round into the chamber and it goes all the way in, also make sure it is short enough to fit the mag.
That's all I've done with mine so far and other than requiring gas system adjustments for every load it has worked perfectly.
Varget has been the best with the heavier stuff and IMR 4895 gave me the best groups with the 110 v-max so far.
Most loads can be tuned to do 2moa pretty easily and the best I've done so far is 1.5moa with 47.5gr of IMR 4895 under the 110 v-max.

I don't expect better than 2moa from this rifle so anything better than that is good.

Good luck
 
Last edited:
Are these Just dummy test rounds ?

What is the problem ?not feeding from the mag ? not chambering ?

try a resized case with no bullet in the chamber and see if bolt will close

is this brass from your rifle ?

did you over cam when resizing ?

are the dies SB - FL or NS ?


How many round have you reloaded ?????

Is this your first time ?

mildcustom2 said:
So I loaded up some of my own .308 win for my Kel Tec RFB today. Projectiles are 168 grn Berger VLD, 168 grn Nosler Ballistic Tip, 180 grn Sierra Matchking. All measure 2.800" OAL.

Decided just to try and see how they function in my rifle and its not good. Lots of difficulties getting a round to chamber correctly with lots of damage to the casing and bullet.

Has anyone else that owns an RFB had this problem with reloaded ammo? Am I stuck using just factory ammo?

Thanx
Click to expand...
 
Wow!!! Thanx to everyone with your advice and responses.


fireball said:
You have to small base resize the brass. My RFB would not feed unless this had been done. Also get a go-gauge to check the brass prior to priming and powder. Just because the case is the right length doesn't mean it's ass will fit.
Click to expand...

I have never heard of small base resize, could you please elaborate?

just having some fun said:
Are these Just dummy test rounds ?

What is the problem ?not feeding from the mag ? not chambering ?

try a resized case with no bullet in the chamber and see if bolt will close

is this brass from your rifle ?

did you over cam when resizing ?

are the dies SB - FL or NS ?


How many round have you reloaded ?????

Is this your first time ?
Click to expand...

They aren't dummy test rounds. They are actual rounds that I reloaded myself.

Seems to be an issue with length and feeding from the mag. It's chewing up the projectile and bullet.

Brass is once fired federal that I shot out of my XCR-M, I've tried clambering these rounds in my XCR-M and they work fine.

Yes I did over cam when resizing.

Dies are Lee full length

I have reloaded 52 rounds for this rifle but if they don't work they are going into my XCR-M
 
mildcustom2 said:
I have never heard of small base resize, could you please elaborate?
Click to expand...

Small base resizing die: It squeezes the brass smaller than factory spec so that it springs out to factory spec once it comes out of the die.

Drive across the bridge this morning and I'll show you.

PM sent
 
Try rolling one of the reloads on a table{anything flat} to see if it is curved/banana shape. If you have used these dies/press before it shouldn't be. However every once and a while a die/press isn't always centered or in spec.
 
cr5 said:
Full length size
Hornady 110gr v-max col 2.8"
Click to expand...

Holy cow, you don't have much neck holding that projectile !
This sounds wierd, but try them at 2.700 oal, I've run them out of a bunch of rifles that all have a sweet spot there. It's a huge jump to the lands, but in rifles like my Lmt mws I'm seeing 0.4 to 0.5 moa groups.
 
ntm said:
Holy cow, you don't have much neck holding that projectile !
This sounds wierd, but try them at 2.700 oal, I've run them out of a bunch of rifles that all have a sweet spot there. It's a huge jump to the lands, but in rifles like my Lmt mws I'm seeing 0.4 to 0.5 moa groups.
Click to expand...

I'll give that a try.
What powder are you using with the 110's?
 
I full length size only for both of my Norc M14S. Never had an issue. I plan on doing the same as soon as my RFB is here in a few more days. I'll let you know how that works out for me.

As an aside..... I only full length resize for all my semi's and have never had any issues at all from AR's to my M1 garand. All work reliably with just full length resize with regular based dies.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom