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Old October 22, 2001, 04:37 AM   #1
yankytrash
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Savage 110/308 failure to chamber reloads

Hey guys. Haven't been around here in awhile - too busy aggravating people at other forums.

Just back from shooting yesterday with a friend of mine. He brought his Savage 110 in 308 to site in the new scope try out some Nosler-bulleted rounds I let him reload on my equipment.

I had him load up 50 rounds, all of varying loads, to see what worked best for him. Not one shell would let the bolt completely drop.

I tried a few of my reloads. Basically, the same problem. I got maybe 3 out of 100 of my reloads that let the bolt drop.

Tried some surplus crap-Chilean 7.62 I use for my FAL next. That worked fine.

All the reloads, his and mine, were FL-sized on varying types of surplus casings, mostly LC. They all run fine through my FAL and another friend's Ruger M77(?).

Any ideas? Is it possible that the Savage wants a crimp?
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Old October 22, 2001, 04:54 AM   #2
Dogjaw
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Smoke the bullets and try chambering a round. Take the shell back out and check the bullet for marks caused by the bullet hitting the lands on the barrel. I'll bet his chamber is slightly shorter than yours and the bullets need to be seated a little deeper in the case. This happened to me when a friend tried to chamber reloads I was using in by 30-06 auto loader. The loads were tight in his, but worked fine in mine.
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Old October 22, 2001, 05:30 AM   #3
Bud Helms
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I agree with Dogjaw, if you're FL resizing.

A permanent black marker will do the same thing. Carefully slide the rounds up in the chamber before trying to rotate the bolt. That way you'll avoid scratches all over the bullet from racking it off the follower. 'Gotta be particular about pulling it back out, too, if the extractor gets over the rim. The side pressure of the ejector on the round will score through your black marker or smoke. But it's kinda hard to mistake the "land" pattern if it's making contact with the bullet.

Let us know what you find.
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Old October 22, 2001, 10:58 PM   #4
KP95DAO
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TAKE NOTE: Savage chambers are set on the minimum side of headspace. It may well be that your die did not set the shoulder back enough.
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Old October 23, 2001, 03:19 PM   #5
sw627pc
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All good ideas, but there may be even more problem. You mentioned "surplus" brass. Most used brass (assuming you got it once fired) from military sources in this caliber has been fired in various machine guns, which are notorious for loose chambers and excessive headspace (by bolt action rifle standards). This means you might need to do a bit of extra duty resizing. Checking the shoulder carefully.
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Old October 23, 2001, 04:02 PM   #6
KP95DAO
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Like I said.
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Old October 25, 2001, 07:50 AM   #7
yankytrash
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OK - I finally got a call back from him. He smoked a round and tossed it in there.

Seems the shoulder is, indeed, the root of the problem. I had him prep the casings at .010" under and seat the bullet at .010" under max, so tht wasn't the problem (the finished round is actually visibly shorter in both casing and and OAL than a surplus Chilean or PMC).

Now the tricky part. How to fix this? My 308 sizer is incorrectly set to where the holder actually bumps the bottom of the die.

Should I try filing some thickness off my shell holder?
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Old October 25, 2001, 08:08 AM   #8
Doctari
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Where is your brass your reloading from? Once fired in your gun? in his gun? Something you bought on the net?

If you are FL resizing this brass and camming over at the bottom of the press stroke then you have some kind of prob with the brass most likely. If that once fired brass was shot in a very long headspace chamber and the savage is very short headspace I have seen situations where dies cannot resize long brass enough to get it to chamber in a short chamber.

My recommendation would be to have your friend shoot a bunch of new cartridges in the savage and keep that brass separate for reloading for that rifle only. That brass should then be fireformed to his chamber, which should eliminate brass headspace issues.

My dad has a custom 300 ultramag with a match chamber. It will take reloads only from brass fired in itself. You cannot resize brass fired in other guns to fit it with conventional dies. This is probably similar to what you have.

Only if you tell me you are reloading brass already once fired in his gun would I then think you have an out of spec die or other issue with reloading equipment. I would not begin filing or messing with my reloading equipment which can then open up other issues.

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Old October 25, 2001, 08:51 AM   #9
KP95DAO
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It is possible your die is out of spec. I have an old set of Redding 30-06 dies that have been around a long time and they resize on the long side. I use them to resize the brass for my NEF to prevent seperation while still getting base sizing.

You state that "your die is incorrectly set to bump the holder". It is only incorrect if that's not where it needs to be. I use a RCBS X-die to resize my Savage 10FP 308 brass and it is set against the shell holder. The headspace is perfect for my rifle.
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