Need help with .308 reloads.

BOOMST1CK · January 4, 2015, 01:12 AM

I am trying to reload for a PSA PA-10 rifle with a .308 chamber and not having much luck. I have checked all my measurements but this gun just does not want to chamber my rounds. My resized cases will drop in, but when I made up some dummy round it is a no go. When I do get one to chamber by releasing the bolt(with the dummy in the mag) it is almost impossible to get it out without puting a rod down the barrel and forcing it out. Even when I can get one to chamber and extract the bullet and brass are all chewed up, and the bullet is pushed back in the case by .010 or further.
I tried a slight crimp, no crimp, milsurp brass, PCM brass, hornady bullets, Everglades bullets, I'm full length sizing with hornady dies. I have set the oal at 2.8,, 2.75,, 2.70 with 150 gr pills.
I reload a lot of different calibers in a lot of different actions and never had these kind of problems, but this is my first time reloading the .308 and my first AR-10 platform rifle.
I did run some factory MFS .308 win FMJ 145 gr rounds thru it and those seem fine. I measured that round and compared them to my reloads and the measurements come out the same. Am I missing something here? I really need help.

CarJunkieLS1 · January 4, 2015, 01:44 AM

You may be jamming the bullet into the rifling. Try seating your bullet deeper into your brass.

BOOMST1CK · January 4, 2015, 02:29 AM

This was my first thought, but I tried setting them at 2.750 with same results. The factory round is 2.785. The bullet itself measures .308. After seating the bullet, the case neck measures .336, before it's .334, doing a plunk test on the factory and resized brass it only takes a little shake at most, and they fall right out. The dummy round requires a rod down the barrel to push it out.

BOOMST1CK · January 4, 2015, 02:57 AM

I have some factory loaded LC ammo that I just tried with the same results. Stuck.

Metal god · January 4, 2015, 03:05 AM

Just thinking out loud here about a couple things that come to mind .

1) Case length to long = jamming into throat

2) Tight chamber neck = passes plunk test with empty sized case but when you seat a bullet . It expands the case neck bigger then the chamber neck

3) Feed ramp area grabbing bullet/case in some way causing some sort of misalignment

Quote:

I have some factory loaded LC ammo that I just tried with the same results. Stuck.

What's the loaded neck diameter on those compared to your loads ?

overthere · January 4, 2015, 03:06 AM

You might be distorting the shoulders when you seat the bullets. Make sure you have the seating die set up properly, I once set my 223 seating die too low and even though the oak ended up correct, the shoulders were made too wide when seating, causing problems chambering

BOOMST1CK · January 4, 2015, 03:18 AM

This seems to be a bullet profile issue, pulled a 145 gr bullet from the MFS ammo and made a round using my brass, set to 2.750 AOL, no problems. Using a Everglades or hornady 150 gr bullet I had to seat the bullet all the way to 2.690, chambers fine. I think car junkie is right, bullet is getting stuck into the rifling. What do I do about that?

Snyper · January 4, 2015, 03:28 AM

Quote:

What do I do about that?

Hope it's accurate, because you can't change it

All you can do is seat it deeper until it fits freely and extracts easily

Metal god · January 4, 2015, 03:36 AM

Ream the throat out ( gunsmith ) I"d think that would not cost all that much or shoot about 3k rounds on 110gr bullets down the pipe till that throat erodes enough

FWIW my Hornady book shows most 150gr bullet have a oal of 2.735 , The 150gr FMJ-BT is 2.700 and the 150gr interlock RN is 2.520

trapper9260 · January 4, 2015, 04:07 AM

I have a 308 of DPMS LR and I reload for it and what I do, I found it is best to use the Lee Factory die .That is to finish step .Also as for the factory rounds I do not know what to say.If the gun have a tight chamber then it will be picky on reloads.I have found that Marlins have that also .That is for me that is.

BOOMST1CK · January 4, 2015, 04:09 AM

Thanks guys, usually I'm pretty good about figuring these kind of hiccups out myself, but this one had me confused. Usually I'm limited on the AOL by the magazine on a semi auto, not the rifling. It is a brand new rifle, so like you said, put some rounds down range and see if the throat opens up on its own, if not I'll take the advice about having a gunsmith ream it out.
I hope I did not waste to much of your guys time with this, but I really appreciate all the advice. Thanks again.

hartcreek · January 4, 2015, 04:56 AM

As someone else stated ream it if you want to shoot heavier bullets.

Jimro · January 4, 2015, 07:58 AM

Boomstick,

What is your procedure for trimming brass?

Jimro

BOOMST1CK · January 4, 2015, 12:18 PM

Hornady case trimmer, i am trimming the case down to 2.005, chamfer/deburr. After seating a bullet, neck measures .336. I even went out last night and bought a small base die set thinking that was the problem. I will be returning it today and picking up a hornady O.A.L gauge. I should already own one anyway.

BOOMST1CK · January 5, 2015, 10:11 PM

I took some measurements with a hornady OAL gauge and here are some numbers I came up with, all bullets are 150gr
Hornady soft point,, 2.73
Hornady FMj,,, 2.71
Everglades,,, 2.718
Lake city bullet,, 2.752
Before I pulled the lake city bullet, I measured the OAL of the cartridge,, 2.795

Metal god · January 5, 2015, 10:49 PM

Yeah if it were me I'd either have a talk with PSA or have it reamed out . I can't have a rifle that wont shoot the factory rounds it was designed for . The fact you can't just grab a box of ammo off the shelf and go shoot would suck for me .

BOOMST1CK · January 5, 2015, 11:57 PM

I have a email out to the manufacturer, i will see how they want to handle this. Honestly I will probably never even buy a box of ammo for this gun, but you started me thinking what if that day came? Or somehow someone else's ammo got mixed in with my reloads.

cw308 · January 6, 2015, 10:04 AM

How are you measureing AOL. You have to measure from the ogive, with a comparator. You might have a chamber with very little leade

**Unclenick** · January 6, 2015, 11:08 AM

Boomstick,

What is interesting is your gauge measurements require seating the 150 grain Hornady deeper than where the crimp cannelure is flush with the case mouth. Some match reamer designs have short throats, but that Hornady number is so short it makes me wonder if possibly your chamber was correctly cut with a roughing reamer, but not fully followed up on by the finishing reamer. If so, that's a manufacturing error. Let's us know what they say.

Jimro · January 6, 2015, 12:04 PM

BOOMST1CK,

I've been wondering about this:

Quote:

I did run some factory MFS .308 win FMJ 145 gr rounds thru it and those seem fine. I measured that round and compared them to my reloads and the measurements come out the same.

Why zinc coated steel ammo is working fine in his rifle but not brass handloads is beyond me.

Quote:

When I do get one to chamber by releasing the bolt(with the dummy in the mag) it is almost impossible to get it out without puting a rod down the barrel and forcing it out. Even when I can get one to chamber and extract the bullet and brass are all chewed up, and the bullet is pushed back in the case by .010 or further.

If the resized cases are going in to your chamber just fine as a "plunk" then it isn't your resizing die.

If the only time it comes out all chewed up is when fed from the magazine, it seems to me like you are having a feeding issue more than an ammo dimension issue. AR's can be tough on ammo, especially if the feed ramps are wrong.

Can you pull your upper receiver off and post a pick of the feed ramps?

Jimro

BOOMST1CK · January 8, 2015, 09:07 PM

Did a range trip today with some reloads. Everything went great, I set the bullet ogive back .020 from the lands, reduced the powder by about 3 grains. The OAL on a fmj/hornady comes out at around 2.695. Gun is real acurette, if the leade does not open up on its own I will find a local smith to open it up a little. Thanks again

January 4, 2015, 01:12 AM	#1
BOOMST1CK Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2014 Posts: 117	Need help with .308 reloads. I am trying to reload for a PSA PA-10 rifle with a .308 chamber and not having much luck. I have checked all my measurements but this gun just does not want to chamber my rounds. My resized cases will drop in, but when I made up some dummy round it is a no go. When I do get one to chamber by releasing the bolt(with the dummy in the mag) it is almost impossible to get it out without puting a rod down the barrel and forcing it out. Even when I can get one to chamber and extract the bullet and brass are all chewed up, and the bullet is pushed back in the case by .010 or further. I tried a slight crimp, no crimp, milsurp brass, PCM brass, hornady bullets, Everglades bullets, I'm full length sizing with hornady dies. I have set the oal at 2.8,, 2.75,, 2.70 with 150 gr pills. I reload a lot of different calibers in a lot of different actions and never had these kind of problems, but this is my first time reloading the .308 and my first AR-10 platform rifle. I did run some factory MFS .308 win FMJ 145 gr rounds thru it and those seem fine. I measured that round and compared them to my reloads and the measurements come out the same. Am I missing something here? I really need help.

January 4, 2015, 03:36 AM	#9
Metal god Senior Member Join Date: April 10, 2012 Location: San Diego CA Posts: 7,135	Ream the throat out ( gunsmith ) I"d think that would not cost all that much or shoot about 3k rounds on 110gr bullets down the pipe till that throat erodes enough FWIW my Hornady book shows most 150gr bullet have a oal of 2.735 , The 150gr FMJ-BT is 2.700 and the 150gr interlock RN is 2.520 __________________ If Jesus had a gun , he'd probably still be alive ! I almost always write my posts regardless of content in a jovial manor and intent . If that's not how you took it , please try again .

January 4, 2015, 04:09 AM	#11
BOOMST1CK Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2014 Posts: 117	Thanks guys, usually I'm pretty good about figuring these kind of hiccups out myself, but this one had me confused. Usually I'm limited on the AOL by the magazine on a semi auto, not the rifling. It is a brand new rifle, so like you said, put some rounds down range and see if the throat opens up on its own, if not I'll take the advice about having a gunsmith ream it out. I hope I did not waste to much of your guys time with this, but I really appreciate all the advice. Thanks again. Last edited by BOOMST1CK; January 4, 2015 at 04:19 AM.

January 5, 2015, 10:49 PM	#16
Metal god Senior Member Join Date: April 10, 2012 Location: San Diego CA Posts: 7,135	Yeah if it were me I'd either have a talk with PSA or have it reamed out . I can't have a rifle that wont shoot the factory rounds it was designed for . The fact you can't just grab a box of ammo off the shelf and go shoot would suck for me . __________________ If Jesus had a gun , he'd probably still be alive ! I almost always write my posts regardless of content in a jovial manor and intent . If that's not how you took it , please try again .

January 6, 2015, 11:08 AM	#19
Unclenick Staff Join Date: March 4, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 21,743	Boomstick, What is interesting is your gauge measurements require seating the 150 grain Hornady deeper than where the crimp cannelure is flush with the case mouth. Some match reamer designs have short throats, but that Hornady number is so short it makes me wonder if possibly your chamber was correctly cut with a roughing reamer, but not fully followed up on by the finishing reamer. If so, that's a manufacturing error. Let's us know what they say. __________________ Gunsite Orange Hat Family Member CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor NRA Certified Rifle Instructor NRA Benefactor Member and Golden Eagle

January 4, 2015, 01:44 AM	#2
CarJunkieLS1 Senior Member Join Date: October 1, 2013 Posts: 689	You may be jamming the bullet into the rifling. Try seating your bullet deeper into your brass.

January 4, 2015, 02:29 AM	#3
BOOMST1CK Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2014 Posts: 117	This was my first thought, but I tried setting them at 2.750 with same results. The factory round is 2.785. The bullet itself measures .308. After seating the bullet, the case neck measures .336, before it's .334, doing a plunk test on the factory and resized brass it only takes a little shake at most, and they fall right out. The dummy round requires a rod down the barrel to push it out.

January 4, 2015, 02:57 AM	#4
BOOMST1CK Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2014 Posts: 117	I have some factory loaded LC ammo that I just tried with the same results. Stuck.

January 4, 2015, 03:06 AM	#6
overthere Senior Member Join Date: July 20, 2012 Posts: 290	You might be distorting the shoulders when you seat the bullets. Make sure you have the seating die set up properly, I once set my 223 seating die too low and even though the oak ended up correct, the shoulders were made too wide when seating, causing problems chambering

January 4, 2015, 03:18 AM	#7
BOOMST1CK Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2014 Posts: 117	This seems to be a bullet profile issue, pulled a 145 gr bullet from the MFS ammo and made a round using my brass, set to 2.750 AOL, no problems. Using a Everglades or hornady 150 gr bullet I had to seat the bullet all the way to 2.690, chambers fine. I think car junkie is right, bullet is getting stuck into the rifling. What do I do about that?

January 4, 2015, 04:07 AM	#10
trapper9260 Senior Member Join Date: May 29, 2010 Location: Iowa Posts: 119	I have a 308 of DPMS LR and I reload for it and what I do, I found it is best to use the Lee Factory die .That is to finish step .Also as for the factory rounds I do not know what to say.If the gun have a tight chamber then it will be picky on reloads.I have found that Marlins have that also .That is for me that is.

January 4, 2015, 04:56 AM	#12
hartcreek Junior member Join Date: April 22, 2014 Location: Washington Posts: 1,549	As someone else stated ream it if you want to shoot heavier bullets.

January 4, 2015, 07:58 AM	#13
Jimro Senior Member Join Date: October 18, 2006 Posts: 7,097	Boomstick, What is your procedure for trimming brass? Jimro

January 4, 2015, 12:18 PM	#14
BOOMST1CK Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2014 Posts: 117	Hornady case trimmer, i am trimming the case down to 2.005, chamfer/deburr. After seating a bullet, neck measures .336. I even went out last night and bought a small base die set thinking that was the problem. I will be returning it today and picking up a hornady O.A.L gauge. I should already own one anyway.

January 5, 2015, 10:11 PM	#15
BOOMST1CK Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2014 Posts: 117	I took some measurements with a hornady OAL gauge and here are some numbers I came up with, all bullets are 150gr Hornady soft point,, 2.73 Hornady FMj,,, 2.71 Everglades,,, 2.718 Lake city bullet,, 2.752 Before I pulled the lake city bullet, I measured the OAL of the cartridge,, 2.795

January 5, 2015, 11:57 PM	#17
BOOMST1CK Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2014 Posts: 117	I have a email out to the manufacturer, i will see how they want to handle this. Honestly I will probably never even buy a box of ammo for this gun, but you started me thinking what if that day came? Or somehow someone else's ammo got mixed in with my reloads.

January 6, 2015, 10:04 AM	#18
cw308 Senior Member Join Date: September 2, 2010 Location: Plainview , Long Island NY Posts: 3,863	How are you measureing AOL. You have to measure from the ogive, with a comparator. You might have a chamber with very little leade

January 8, 2015, 09:07 PM	#21
BOOMST1CK Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2014 Posts: 117	Did a range trip today with some reloads. Everything went great, I set the bullet ogive back .020 from the lands, reduced the powder by about 3 grains. The OAL on a fmj/hornady comes out at around 2.695. Gun is real acurette, if the leade does not open up on its own I will find a local smith to open it up a little. Thanks again