Pressure Issues Causing Bolt Damage

[bsween8]

Hello all,

I recently had a reload experiencing pressure issues that caused damage to my bolt. I am hoping to gather some insight here from some Roksliders that may have experienced something like this in the past. I have found similar posts but figured since each load is different it would be best to make a new post.

The gun is a Remington 700 mountain rifle in 280 Rem, used only has a hunting rifle, and it has shot the load in question extremely well for the last 20+ years.

The load:
Bullet: Hornady InterLock 139 grain BTSP (bought new last week)
Powder: 52 grains of IMR 4350 (bought new last fall)
Primer: Remington No. 9-1/2 Large Rifle Primers (older but exact age unknown)
Cases: Older once fired Remington cases. Trimmed, primer pockets cleaned, flash hole deburred, tumble cleaned. The prep on this brass was done a while ago, but exact timing is unknown.

I am fairly new to reloading, but my dad has been reloading for the last 40 years and has been reloading the same load for this rifle for 20+ years without any issues. We definitely have not experienced pressure issue like this before.

I have two questions that I am hoping to gain some insight on:

1) What do you believe caused the pressure issues? This load has not had issues in the past, but could the older primers or brass be the issue?

2) How detrimental is the damage to the bolt? Is it an immediate safety concern? Will accuracy or performance of the rifle be affected?

Thank you for reading and I appreciate any feedback/insights that anyone may have.
Ben

 

[rayporter]

your bolt is not hurt yet. but you do need to fix the trouble.

are the primer pockets loose?

 

[bsween8]

your bolt is not hurt yet. but you do need to fix the trouble.

are the primer pockets loose?

Are you saying I need to fix the current trouble with the bolt or just the trouble with the reloads? Or both?

The primer pockets did not feel any different than normal.

Thanks for replying.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

that hole is from a weak primer cup that ruptured and allowed gas to vent out the back. it probably has nothing to do with overpressure. i'd scrap all the primers from that lot and try again.

 

[rayporter]

the bolt is fine now. i would not want to damage it any more, but i have several that have more damage and they work fine.

 

[EdP]

that hole is from a weak primer cup that ruptured and allowed gas to vent out the back. it probably has nothing to do with overpressure. i'd scrap all the primers from that lot and try again.

I can't speak to the damage to your bolt and whether or not it is significant. However, you DO definitely have the signs of overpressure. The primer is flattened and the case head shows fairly significant ejector wipe. Ref:

Understanding Pressure :: Primal Rights, Inc

Reading pressure is a required skill that all shooters must have. Whether you are shooting factory ammunition or your own handloads, you absolutely must be able to detect and interpret pressure signs on your fired brass.

www.primalrights.com

Perhaps the primer cup was strong enough to withstand normal pressure but not the overpressure event. No way to tell. I am guessing you also had a hard bolt lift after the shot.

You didn't really provide enough info on how the event occurred for folks to figure out what may have gone wrong. Was it a shot in a string? Which shot? Were you loading individual cartridges or loading from the box magazine? What was the shooting sequence/cool down time between shots? Was the cartridge in the chamber for an unusually long time for some reason? How close to the lands do you load your bullets? Was there anything unusual about chambering the cartridge?

Note: One way to spike pressure is to heat a cartridge up. Another is to load a bullet jammed into the lands with a powder charge that is safe with a jump. There are numerous others.

 

[bsween8]

I can't speak to the damage to your bolt and whether or not it is significant. However, you DO definitely have the signs of overpressure. The primer is flattened and the case head shows fairly significant ejector wipe. Ref:

Perhaps the primer cup was strong enough to withstand normal pressure but not the overpressure event. No way to tell. I am guessing you also had a hard bolt lift after the shot.

You didn't really provide enough info on how the event occurred for folks to figure out what may have gone wrong. Was it a shot in a string? Which shot? Were you loading individual cartridges or loading from the box magazine? What was the shooting sequence/cool down time between shots? Was the cartridge in the chamber for an unusually long time for some reason? How close to the lands do you load your bullets? Was there anything unusual about chambering the cartridge?

Note: One way to spike pressure is to heat a cartridge up. Another is to load a bullet jammed into the lands with a powder charge that is safe with a jump. There are numerous others.

Hey EdP. Thanks for the reply. Some answers to your questions:

The bolt lift after the shot was not hard. It was smooth like normal with this gun. This was the first shot out of this gun after just getting cleaned, no issues during cleaning or anything like that. This was a single round loaded directly into the gun, cycled out of the gun with the bolt, then reloaded into the gun, and was shot within a 2 minutes of being loaded that second time. There was nothing unusual about chambering the round.

 

[wapitibob]

When the bolt face is covered in case head brass you have pressure issues.

 

[Dos XX]

You say old Rem brass. What does that mean? Old brass that is new to your gun? Or old brass that has been fired in your rifle a number of times?

How are you seating primers? If it is on a press, you might not feel the primers being loose. If it is with a hand seater, you probably would. Can you seat a primer with the top of your desk or your thumb?

What is your OAL trim length? When did you last trim your brass?

Is the powder from a new / different lot?

 

[Hill Difficulty]

Suggestion: Send the pic to LRI and ask them about re-facing/installing a bushing into the bolt head. It's a service they offer to minimize firing pin clearance on factory 700 bolts.

 

[BBob]

No need whatsoever to bush that bolt at this time. Spend your $$$ if you wish but it's perfectly functional as is. Definitely fix the over-pressure issue though

 

[Hill Difficulty]

I’d still shoot the questions to LRI.You’ll get better insight in one email response from LRI than a million forum responses.

 

[bsween8]

You say old Rem brass. What does that mean? Old brass that is new to your gun? Or old brass that has been fired in your rifle a number of times?

How are you seating primers? If it is on a press, you might not feel the primers being loose. If it is with a hand seater, you probably would. Can you seat a primer with the top of your desk or your thumb?

What is your OAL trim length? When did you last trim your brass?

Is the powder from a new / different lot?

The brass has been fired 2-3 times by either the gun we are talking about or another 280 Rem we have, but it was trimmed, primer pockets cleaned, flash hole deburred, and tumble cleaned about 15 years ago and has not been touched until it was reloaded this past Sunday.

Primers are being seated with a hand seater, you can feel them seating.

Powder is brand new as of last fall.

 

[Flyjunky]

The brass has been fired 2-3 times by either the gun we are talking about or another 280 Rem we have, but it was trimmed, primer pockets cleaned, flash hole deburred, and tumble cleaned about 15 years ago and has not been touched until it was reloaded this past Sunday.

Primers are being seated with a hand seater, you can feel them seating.

Powder is brand new as of last fall.

Have you used this lot of powder with this load before?

 

[Dos XX]

The brass has been fired 2-3 times by either the gun we are talking about or another 280 Rem we have, but it was trimmed, primer pockets cleaned, flash hole deburred, and tumble cleaned about 15 years ago and has not been touched until it was reloaded this past Sunday.

Primers are being seated with a hand seater, you can feel them seating.

Powder is brand new as of last fall.

Is the case too long for your chamber?

Did you change powder lots?

That is what I was asking.

This is very hard to do on a forum. It could be a crappy primer, too.

 

[EdP]

Loading ammo the same way for 3 of 4 different rifles is far less than ideal but should not create an overpressure condition with full length resizing to SAMMI specs and reasonable loads and SAMMI COAL. It should be like buying factory loads that can be used in any rifle.

One possibility is that some foreign material was still in the barrel after the cleaning process. Have you scoped the bore?

 

[Bluefish]

I ran the load through quickload. It’s saying 2850fps at 47350psi. Doesn’t seem too hot. 92% fill on the case. I would be suspect of those primers. Any chance they are pistol primers, not rifle?

 

[kevlar88]

I ran the load through quickload. It’s saying 2850fps at 47350psi. Doesn’t seem too hot. 92% fill on the case. I would be suspect of those primers. Any chance they are pistol primers, not rifle?

Gordons is very similar. Something else is going on, test those primers in a different rifle and see what happens. Unfortunately you might just have to do what ResearchinStuff mentioned.

 

[bsween8]

Is the case too long for your chamber?

Did you change powder lots?

That is what I was asking.

This is very hard to do on a forum. It could be a crappy primer, too.

Agreed troubleshooting is not the best on a forum. Appreciate the insight from everyone.

We have been loading at this length with this gun for a long time so we do not believe the length is an issue.

This is a new powder lot, but have loaded a similar load with it in the past with the same grains and bullet but different brass and primers.

 

[bsween8]

Have you used this lot of powder with this load before?

Not in this same exact load, but a very similar one using the same powder and grains, same bullets, but with brand new Hornady brass and CCI primers. We did not have the same issue with this load.