Factory Load Tight in Chamber?

[Jfish]

Rem 700 308 cal. American Hunter cartridges. Went to load rifle and bolt would not lock down in battery. Was like bolt was jammed? Went thru 20 round box and found two rounds That would not allow bolt to close, two were noticeably tight to close bolt and the remaining 16 just fine? I’ve shot maybe 20 Federal loads, a handful of other brands and several of the American Hunters. Never ran into this problem? Rifle is clean , no noticeable defects on the four rounds that seem too long or tight? What causes this? 50 yrs of rifle hunting and tens of thousands of rounds fired in previous career, never ran into this? Thanks

 

[LaHunter]

Sounds like the problem round's base to shoulder length were too long for the headspacing of your chamber. You could get a sharpie and color the problem cartridges, attempt to chamber the rounds and see where the sharpie coloring gets rubbed off.

 

[twall13]

I have a Remington .223 that is really tight with some brands of factory ammo. It's so tight you feel like you are going to break something just trying to cycle the bolt. It also puts a scratch mark on the case. I've just learned to stick with the Hornady ammo that it cycles okay, but it's still tighter than I'd like. It's the last Remington I'll ever buy.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Vern400]

You're either jamming the bullet, or hitting the shoulder. Slight chance the neck is too thick. Should be 0.308+0.015+0.015 at nominal. Headspace error of 0.001 causes a very stiff bolt close for me (shoot 'em). But 0.002 you'll have to beat it closed. Don't.

I've got 2 Remington 700s in 308. One light and one heavy. The headspaces are different by 0.002 and that's why I know. I got my brass mixed up and it was a pain. Freebore is WAY different because the target rifle has the lands pulled towards the bolt face by 0.100 to get a small jump distance while cartridges fit the mag length. Factory 700s have too much freebore to suit me. So I can jam bullets too if I mix ammo. (Both can eat factory stuff though... I think)

I agree using a sharpy should help find the problem. If the bullet jams you may see rifling marks. I've used dry erase markers and if you're careful it scrapes off easier than a sharpy.

Glad you found it before it mattered. Finding it on a follow up shot could be bad juju.

 

[49ereric]

My F12 savage has a tight chamber compared to other Howa 308’s I have but I don’t own tools to give measurement.

 

[Kylerjay05]

I had a box of 28 nosler that had 6 of 20 rounds that exceeded the saami dimensions for the base of the cartridge to the shoulder. Some were too tight to close the bolt, some were very very tight, the other 14 were fine. Spoke with nosler and received a full refund or replacement box.

 

[Packin_packout]

I have seen this with hornady superperformance in 30-06 tikka. Multiples boxes of factory ammo. Headspace gauge was used and checked with tape to walk it out to failure. Never know what will see with even factory ammo.

 

[Jfish]

Thanks for info gentlemen. the only wear observation thus far is there appears to be an unusual amount of brass transfer on face of bolt. Cleans off but never had this prior to encountering these tight Rounds? I don’t have the tools for much of the suggested measurements but it sounds like the rifle just has a tighter tolerance than others
I have. I’m assuming some of the factory rounds are outside those tolerances? No marks on bullets, sides of casings or rim?
Just never heard of factory rounds having this issue? If common I guess all the other rifles over the years could tolerate it? The purpose is hunting so like mentioned I‘m glad I found this when I did.
The rifle is an absolute tack driver, so I don’t want to change anything. Just have to check all rounds prior to trusting any?
Thanks again for info and if there’s more I‘m always interested.
Merry Christmas

 

[JPeters218]

I had a box of 180gr federal fusions that only 2/20 the Bolt would even close on my old Tikka 30-06. My current tikka 300 wsm got super heavy bolt lift on the 3 rounds of 180 partitions I shot out of it. Both cases I just switched to different ammo and it was fine

 

[Jfish]

Hard to believe 50 yrs hunting w rifles. 30 yrs on a weapons range almost weekly hundreds of thousands of rounds and never ran across this? Admittedly most of those work rounds were out of semi autos but just never happen? Of course with the way quality and workmanship has dwindled over the years it doesn’t surprise me.

 

[Mack84]

Rem 700 308 cal. American Hunter cartridges. Went to load rifle and bolt would not lock down in battery. Was like bolt was jammed? Went thru 20 round box and found two rounds That would not allow bolt to close, two were noticeably tight to close bolt and the remaining 16 just fine? I’ve shot maybe 20 Federal loads, a handful of other brands and several of the American Hunters. Never ran into this problem? Rifle is clean , no noticeable defects on the four rounds that seem too long or tight? What causes this? 50 yrs of rifle hunting and tens of thousands of rounds fired in previous career, never ran into this? Thanks

Could color parts go the case with a sharpie marker, chamber the round and see wear the contact points are

 

[BRTreedogs]

I think with the demand for ammo the manufacturers are expanding faster then they can really sustain. And factory ammo has gone down hill.
Every manufacturer has doubled capacity from what I've heard. Thats alot of new machines. And alot of new people to train.

And in my industry new machines are typically the worst.
Id way rather have one a couple years old that a good mechanic has tuned up.

 

[Schism]

I think with the demand for ammo the manufacturers are expanding faster then they can really sustain. And factory ammo has gone down hill.
Every manufacturer has doubled capacity from what I've heard. Thats alot of new machines. And alot of new people to train.

I think @BRTreedogs is right and there is something to this. There's been chatter on other forums about factory ammo not being nearly as consistent as it had been in the past. ES and SD numbers much higher than normal.

A year or two ago I had a rifle built by a well known gunsmith. I was able to score some factory ammo during the recent component shortage while I was waiting for ADG brass to be delivered on backorder. I sent the ammo with the parts so the smith would have something to test fire the barrel if he chose to. The smith got in touch with me and stated the factory loaded ammo was 0.030" longer than SAAMI spec.

 

[Mack84]

Could color parts go the case with a sharpie marker, chamber the round and see wear the contact points are

Gosh.. proof read.. color parts *of the case with a sharpie and see where the contact is made. Parts like the shoulder to check for short headspace, or the opposite a long case. Paint the bullet to see if it touches the lands. Umm the case body diameter, ect