Overpressure issue

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jona710

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So I'm having some overpressure issues on a new rifle.

The Winchester power max factory ammo I put through the first few shots half of them blew primers and my ejector pin became lodged in the bolt face. I can't find any gun smiths around moncton to check my headspace and get it fixed without ordering gauges myself so I had also shot some surplus steel cases ammo and I'm wondering if these look overpressured. Is it possible it was just the Winchester ammunition? The Winchester cases also had marks on the case where the brass had extruded into the ejector hole a tiny amount.

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I am going to replace the ejector pieces in my bolt but it would be nice if it was just an ammo problem. Also if anyone knows anyone near moncton who might check it would be excellent! Any hep appreciated
 
I have a couple of questions.

What type of rifle is it?

Caliber of rifle?

The primer in the pic looks rounded and flush with the back of the case so it doesn't look like over pressure to me. Was the bolt hard to lift after firing the rounds? Have you fired this rifle before with other types of ammunition?

If you're puncturing primers your firing pin protrusion may be too long, firing pin tip my be sharp or of the wrong profile also. If the primers blew out then they could be bad primers, loose pockets or headspace.

If you reload you can measure headspace with a full length sized case. Measure the length of the un primed case and write it down. Then take a spent primer and insert it with your fingers into the primer pocket just so it sits in the hole but don't seat it all the way in..

Then insert that case into the chamber and close the bolt on it. The shoulder of the case will bottom out on the chamber and the bolt will seat the primer into the case.

Then measure the brass from the case mouth to the back of the now seated in primer.

Subtract the length of the first measurement (unprimed case) from the second measurement (primed case).

The difference is your head space. That will tell you if it's out.

Hope I helped a bit, more info would be great as that could probably get down the source of the problem.

Also I'll add one thing. Those cases in the picture look like 7.52x51 surplus ammo. If your gun is chambered in 7.62x51 and you fired factor 308 winchester in it that could cause the overpressure.
 
Thank you for the reply! It is a savage 10t Chambered in 308. The bolt was not hard to lift and yes those were surplus 7.62 and they didn't not looked overpressured to me however if you look at my last thread about this issue you can see pictures of the bolt face and the Winchester ammo. The primer were NOT punctured, they blew out. It was factory winchester power max ammunition that had the blow outs. The 7.62 looked fine but I was told that the surplus is often tougher. Here's a link with more pics and info https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1588366-Savage-10t-ejector-issue

Also this was my first outing with the rifle and I only tried the power max and the surplus
 
Being a new rifle with issues using factory ammo it should be repaired by Savage under warranty. I would call them up, get a warranty claim # or whatever, box it up and send it to them for repairs. You paid good money for a defective product. It's the principle of the matter.
 
Slamfire said:
Being a new rifle with issues using factory ammo it should be repaired by Savage under warranty. I would call them up, get a warranty claim # or whatever, box it up and send it to them for repairs. You paid good money for a defective product. It's the principle of the matter.
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I'd just like to know if it was the ammo or the gun before I send it away for weeks of checking
 
I have seen your other post. You have a very serious pressure problem. If you can see that little circle on the rim of the case and with the primers blow out in your previous post, you have a pressure problem that may or may not be ammo related. Do yourself a favour and stop shooting this rifle until you get it back from Savage. Of course it is your face, eyes, head beside and behind the action when this is going off.
 
jona710 said:
Thank you for the reply! It is a savage 10t Chambered in 308. The bolt was not hard to lift and yes those were surplus 7.62 and they didn't not looked overpressured to me however if you look at my last thread about this issue you can see pictures of the bolt face and the Winchester ammo. The primer were NOT punctured, they blew out. It was factory winchester power max ammunition that had the blow outs. The 7.62 looked fine but I was told that the surplus is often tougher. Here's a link with more pics and info https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1588366-Savage-10t-ejector-issue

Also this was my first outing with the rifle and I only tried the power max and the surplus
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Well now that I have all the info I'll say STOP SHOOTING THAT RIFLE!!!

Send it back to savage and let them look at it. Can always shoot a different rifle in the mean time. A damaged face, hands or eyes are for life.

I'm inclined to say it's a rifle problem. Could be as simple as the barrel wasn't indexed enough from the factory.

Either way send it back.

I do smithing here, have a lathe, savage barrel wrench and a barrel vise and even I'd send it back.

I rebarrelled a 98 Mauser here the other day. When I test fired the rifle it was pushing out primers and blowing smoke out the action..when I measured the heads pace it was like .020" over field gauge specs. The primers were still staying in the cases though. Thank god I tested it with light hand loads.

Either way I stopped firing it after 1 rounds and pulled my tools out to see what was up.

That was a 90 year old gun with a shot out bore.

No reason why a new gun should do that..

And if you're bored while waiting for your gun maybe send an email to winchester with pics of the brass. I'll bet they may be interested in this also.

Better safe then sorry.
 
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Thanks for the help guys. I'm going to get in contact with savage. It sucks to buy something then have to ship it to Ontario on my own dime and not get to use it for probably a couple months... but such is life. Would much rather be able to exchange it at cabelas :(
 
Blowing primers right out, not good, not safe, send it in.

It does really suck that you'll be stuck without the rifle for many months, I agree that Savage should allow Cabelas to return this for full refund, it's b.s.
 
jona710 said:
Thanks for the help guys. I'm going to get in contact with savage. It sucks to buy something then have to ship it to Ontario on my own dime and not get to use it for probably a couple months... but such is life. Would much rather be able to exchange it at cabelas :(
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Yep it sucks. I bought a rifle a couple years ago that suffered a bolt failure and had the mail it to BC for service. ..only took like 4 weeks to get it back.

Such is life.
 
Tinman204 said:
I do smithing here, have a lathe, savage barrel wrench and a barrel vise and even I'd send it back.

I rebarrelled a 98 Mauser here the other day. When I test fired the rifle it was pushing out primers and blowing smoke out the action..when I measured the heads pace it was like .020" over field gauge specs. The primers were still staying in the cases though. Thank god I tested it with light hand loads.
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Why wouldn't you measure, machine and install the barrel with the correct headspace before test firing?
 
jona710 said:
I read it as he rebarrelled it because of the headspace issue , not sure though
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Yep that's what I meant.

Test fired the original shot out barrel to make sure the gun functioned.

I rebarrelled, lapped lugs and trued the action.

Shoots like a dream now.

If anyone misread my post I apologize.
 
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There's a lot of brass on the bolt face, is it tight to close the bolt on the Winchester rounds? How about the surplus?
Will a bullet fit easily into the mouth of one of the fired cases? If you chamber a round and remove and examine it, are there any marks on the bullet or does the neck seem crimped?
 
About two years ago a buddy had a Savage 243 do a similar thing with Winchester ammo. He'd owned the rifle several years, shot it a ton but never with the Winchester ammo. First box he tried, third round in blew a primer out. Next two rounds were normal, sixth round blew the primer so hard it riveted the ejector into the bolt head. Took it to a smith who ended up having to install a new bolt head but before he did he checked headspace. It was exactly where as it should have been. Buddy contacted Winchester about it but as soon as he told them he was from Canada they lost interest. Story ends with him vowing to never by another box of Winchester ammo.
 
It is not tight to close the bolt on either type of round. The action functioned flawlessly minus the jammed in ejector, that is the only thing I noticed before I looked at the brass more closely and saw the blown primers.

I don't have any pulled bullets but the spent cases fit easily over the bullets installed in other rounds. The rounds look good when chambered and removed.


F870 - that is very interesting. Maybe I will have the headspace checked before sending the whole rifle away. Hopefully the savage shop in Ontario has some thoughts on it, I wasn't able to call them today as they're not open on mondays
 
jona710 said:
It is not tight to close the bolt on either type of round. The action functioned flawlessly minus the jammed in ejector, that is the only thing I noticed before I looked at the brass more closely and saw the blown primers.

I don't have any pulled bullets but the spent cases fit easily over the bullets installed in other rounds. The rounds look good when chambered and removed.


F870 - that is very interesting. Maybe I will have the headspace checked before sending the whole rifle away. Hopefully the savage shop in Ontario has some thoughts on it, I wasn't able to call them today as they're not open on mondays
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Please keep us updated on this..

I remember reading an article somewhere on a batch of bad ammo recently. I can't reacall the maker though.
 
Seems to be leaning toward an ammo issue.
It would be interesting to somehow find a "volunteer" to test fire a couple rounds and chronograph if possible.
But you certainly don't want to put yourself or anyone else in danger.
Send the remaining rounds to Winchester for testing?? They would probably just tell you to get lost though.
 
Looking at the pictures on your ejector issue of the blown primers and bolt face, which you might want to post on this thread and that it is flatening primers on surplus which are a lot harder than commercial ammo. You defiantly have a preasure issue since factory ammo is produced to be only a couple of thou above the minimum SAAMI limits and you have five with blown primers and one with flattened primer its a very good chance it's a headspace issue.

I am in Moncton and could get some gauges ordered I need some anyway and fix the ejector as it probably some small part of the blown primer jamming the ejector plunger and is quite a easy repair I've done before but this will not fix the over preasure problem. Since it is a new rifle I would send it to the savage shop for repair under warranty.
 
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