Too much case pressure?

E

Erik1972

Lil-Rokslider
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So I took my 6.5 PRC to the range yesterday and trying my hand at some long range shooting and reloading. So I am a newbie in the reloading world. My buddy who shoots ELR helped me load a bunch of ammo and they seem to work great. 143 ELDX with 57gr H1000 and gun shoots lights out. I had two new boxes of factory Hornady Precision Hunter 143 ELDX ammo laying there, so I decided just to shoot it for the brass. After about the 3-4th round of that factory ammo the bolt stuck after the shot. Took alot of force to open the bolt. By the next 3 shots I had to use almost all my 250 lbs to get the bolt to open. After that I left discouraged, not sure if it was the ammo or the gun. I went home and cleaned the gun thoroughly and will go back. The base of the brass is marred up now, he said Hornady brass is soft.

My buddy says its too hot and high pressure and not to use that ammo. Now I trust him completely as he has an extensive reloading background. Thought I would share and see what you all to say as well.

Thanks,
 
Yes too much pressure. Once you start to get heavier bolt lift stop shooting that ammo. It's not getting better the more you shoot. Make sure you clean any carbon ring that might be present. Also don't leave your ammo sitting in direct sunlight it can go from being safe to completely overpressured pretty quick.
 
If there wasn't an obvious reason for an overpressure condition, something like Dave Thomas mentioned, I would pull the loads to get the brass and reload with your friends formula. Alternately, you might contact Hornady. Bad batches happen.
 
I’d contact Hornady so they can work with you to get the ammo returned, tested and dispositioned accordingly.
 
Thanks for al the advice. Will clean and head back out!!
 
stratofisher said:
Not sure how many shots you have gone without cleaning, but 60 rounds in my 6.5 PRC and carbon ring starts to form causing pressure signs. Clean it up and it is back to shooting.
Click to expand...
Same with my 6.5prc. I’ve never counted how many rounds I can get between cleaning but I see pressure out of nowhere with my same reloads, clean it up and good to go as well.
 
I wondered if the ammo was sitting in the sun too.

I'm 400 rounds into my 6.5 PRC barrel with no cleaning and hope the carbon ring thing is a red herring.
 
PS: 57gr H1000 is my load for 147 ELD. It's strong and I'm committed to it but it's very close to over pressure in an 18" barrel at sea level. Every now and then I'll get one that feels a little extra but I use a Harrel's Precision powder drop for charges.
 
Just an FYI, I was just messing around with all my reloading tools and measuring devices, remember I am new to this. I tried to chamber one of the factory Hornady spent casings that I had trouble with, in the rifle and the bolt would not close. How is that possible? The casing came out the chamber, although way to tight but i assumed it would go back in since it would be consider fire formed now correct? I tried a reloaded spent casing and an actual live reloaded round and they chambered fine.

Again, newbie so take it easy on me!!!
 
Erik1972 said:
Just an FYI, I was just messing around with all my reloading tools and measuring devices, remember I am new to this. I tried to chamber one of the factory Hornady spent casings that I had trouble with, in the rifle and the bolt would not close. How is that possible? The casing came out the chamber, although way to tight but i assumed it would go back in since it would be consider fire formed now correct? I tried a reloaded spent casing and an actual live reloaded round and they chambered fine.

Again, newbie so take it easy on me!!!
Click to expand...

The case is beyond fireformed and why the bolt didn't want to open. Common for that case to not want to go back in and chamber, it's now oversize. Hornady ammo has been known to be over pressure from the factory on occasion.
 
Have you tried a different brand of factory ammo. I had this happen on a rem700 and found out it was a headspace issue.
 
Well, we took the gun apart and cleaned everything we could and then went back to the range and the gun shot flawlessly for two different shooters. Actually the rifle shot better for my buddy than me. But has been shooting and reloading for 60 years and I am fairly new. He had 2 touching and I had maybe 3/4" group at 100.

Out of curiosity we took one of the factory Hornady Precision Hunter rounds apart to save the bullets and case to reload. We measured the powder and it had 60.9gr of powder compared to 57gr H1000 which this rifle likes. So maybe it was too much for this rifle I guess. Anyways, back to practicing so I can eventually shoot 1000 yards!

Thanks again!!
 
I would not shoot that Hornady ammo anymore and I would contact them to complain. That shouldn't be happening with factory ammo. Have you shot other factory ammo out of the rifle? I suppose it's possible there's an issue with the chamber...
I have seen issues with factory ammo before. There's a Federal load that really flattens out primers (more than I'm cool with), in my 7mm-08.
And in terms of the grains of powder in the Hornady load, it's hard to draw much of a conclusion from that without knowing what powder they use (and they likely use a proprietary blend). Still, that might be interesting info for them and might help you get a refund, or better..
On the bright side, as you continue to learn about reloading, now you know what a sticky bolt feels like!
 
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