Sierra 180gr RN .308 Reload Problem. Help!

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CanadianDad

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Hi all. I have searched the forum and can't find anyone that might have seen this problem before. Maybe someone has some similar experience that I am having??

I have a new Browning X-Bolt .308 Win rifle. I tried some of my reloads that I had made using the Hornady manual for the Sierra 180gr Round Nose bullet. The manual suggests an OAL of 2.73" and 38.4gr of IMR 4895 powder. Problem is that with this load data I cannot get the bolt to close on the round at all. It gets jammed just at the last moment before rotating the bolt. I tried just to seat the bullet deeper to as far as 2.5" but the bolt of my rifle still does not close on the round. I am guessing that the chamber of this rifle does not like this particular bullet. Is that what you all would conclude too? Any ideas?

If this is the case then I will have a box of 100 .308 180gr Sierra RN bullets for sale soon!
 
Does the sized brass chamber OK, without a bullet seated? If you really jam it closed and then extract the round, are there marks on the bullet ogive? This sounds like a brass problem to me more than a jammed bullet issue.

Mark
 
mmattockx said:
Does the sized brass chamber OK, without a bullet seated? If you really jam it closed and then extract the round, are there marks on the bullet ogive? This sounds like a brass problem to me more than a jammed bullet issue.

Mark
Click to expand...

:agree:

+Are you crimping the loads? perhaps a die adjusted for to much crimp is causeing a slight bulge in the case.
 
CanadianDad said:
Hi all. I have searched the forum and can't find anyone that might have seen this problem before. Maybe someone has some similar experience that I am having??

I have a new Browning X-Bolt .308 Win rifle. I tried some of my reloads that I had made using the Hornady manual for the Sierra 180gr Round Nose bullet. The manual suggests an OAL of 2.73" and 38.4gr of IMR 4895 powder. Problem is that with this load data I cannot get the bolt to close on the round at all. It gets jammed just at the last moment before rotating the bolt. I tried just to seat the bullet deeper to as far as 2.5" but the bolt of my rifle still does not close on the round. I am guessing that the chamber of this rifle does not like this particular bullet. Is that what you all would conclude too? Any ideas?

If this is the case then I will have a box of 100 .308 180gr Sierra RN bullets for sale soon!
Click to expand...

Is your brass trimmed?
 
Round nose bullets typically have a shorter ogive than pointed bullets so assuming your brass is properly trimmed and sized and your primer is properly seated, you might have to seat the bullet a hair deeper. Experiment with increments equal to a quarter turn of the seating stem until you achieve trouble free chambering. If it was me, I'd just ignore the whole seating depth question and seat to the cannelure. Its not likely you'll be shooting matches with a round nose game bullet.
 
I'm also going with a brass problem.
As Ben said. Is this commercial once-fired brass from your rifle?
IF so, you should simply be able to neck size and de-cap, uniform primer pocket, trim it to length, load. There should be no priblems.
If not, then, was it properly prepared? Cleaned, inspected, F/L resized, resized primer pocket uniformed (and cleaned at the same time), trimmed to a proper (and uniform) length, seated a little short (RN are longer because of the larger ogive as was mentioned.
Black marker or a candle will be your friend. colour the brass and the bullet. attempt to load. Extract, look for places where the smoking or marker have been rubbed off. That's the culprit. Make your round fit to those dimensions.
 
I'll concur with 'Senior's idea, and suggest you're putting a slight rumple in the case neck with the crimping shoulder in the seating die. If you're hitting the rifling, you should see engraving marks on the ogive. I doubt it's the bullets that are your problem.

By the way, if you really want those 180 R.N. bullets to shoot, try IMR 4064. I've never seen a .308 yet that didn't have a dandy accuracy node between 41.5 and 44.0 gr. (and usually around 42.5/43 gr.) with CCI-200 primers.
 
Thanks guys

Thanks all for the suggestions. The brass was not fired previously in this rifle. And I do not believe I crimped it very hard.

I am going to try the suggestion of marking the brass and seeing where it might rub. I did notice some marks on the bullet olgive after trying it the first time in the chamber.

If that does not work I am going to re-size the brass, trim the length properly and reload and reseat the bullet to probably somewhere around 2.6" - 2.65" OAL and try again before I give up on these larger bullets. Thanks for all the suggestions. I am away for this weekend so the testing will have to wait until next week.
 
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