338 lapua NT brass not working?

[timelinex]

I bought the 1x fire NT lapua brass from grafs a bit ago. Well yesterday I tried sizing some (bumped shoulders back to new lapua brass size) and loading them.

Today I shot them out of my ax338 and they would chamber ok (a bit harsh on some) but after shooting, the bolt lift would be very stiff. This wasn't an over pressure issue though...

Anyone else have any problems with the brass?
Is my chamber just cut in the tighter side and won't accept any brass other than new or what's been fired in only itself?

 

[mdmp5]

How are you determining for sure that you are not over pressured? If they go in smooth and come out sticky, something has occurred during ignition. Only way to know for sure is to dial the charge down and try it again.

 

[timelinex]

They go in a bit rough as well, even when the shoulders are bumped back to the same measurement as a new lapua brass. I'm still able to close the bolt without lifting head off the rifle to gain leverage, but they definitely take more force than brand new brass.

The loads I tried are in the 91-92gr range and mid 2700s fps range.... Which is still on the lighter side, especially for 27". 300gr bergers with 91-93gr of retumbo is the range just about everyone on the forums reloads are in (including my last rifle). No flattened primers or other marks of over pressure (other than obviously the swipe from the extracter, since it's so stuck in there)

When I'm talking about a stiff bolt lift, I'm saying I have to get up from the rifle, use alot of force to lift the bolt, then use absolutely all my force and leverage I can to raise the bolt the last bit that resets to trigger. Then after that it slides back easy.

 

[RHunter]

Dirty chamber or your dies are not a good match if indeed your chamber is too tight

 

[blackblue]

I would say tighter chamber and dies not sizing the brass enough, ran into a similar issue on 223AI brass.

 

[timelinex]

The dies are Redding type s dies. They worked just fine in my savage 110ba,so it's not the dies.

Must be a tight chamber.

If I use new brass and then size the brass that was fired through the ax, should it be OK? Or even if it was fired from this rifle, it might not want to take it?

 

[17874]

Send Redding a piece of once fired brass and have them make a die for you if you want to use brass initially fired in another chamber.

You should be able to reload brass only fired in your chamber just fine. That's the way it is with my GAP 338 Lapua.

 

[timelinex]

Send Redding a piece of once fired brass and have them make a die for you if you want to use brass initially fired in another chamber.

You should be able to reload brass only fired in your chamber just fine. That's the way it is with my GAP 338 Lapua.

Someone finally acknowledges that they have had the same issues with their rifle, that's a relief!

It's not the biggest deal to reuse the old brass, since I can just sell it. I just wanted to reuse it if I could since I spent a good amount of time meticulously prepping it. Not worth getting a custom die though.

I'll just pick up some new brass today.

 

[71firebird400]

Yep, had this same thing with 338 LM brass. Went to new brass and the problem went away.

 

[timelinex]

Ahh, nothing like some new lapua brass that has just been meticulously prepared.

 

[17874]

Ahh, nothing like some new lapua brass that has just been meticulously prepared.

It is a beautiful thing.

 

[Jeffvn]

Same thing happened with a .308 of mine. I tried to use once fired brass from rifle "A" in for rifle "B." The brass didn't want to chamber and darn sure didn't want to come out if I forced it into the chamber. I talked to one of the two rifle smiths involved and he said... yeah that is chamber size - get a small base sizing die and you'll be fine - so I bought a small base die sized the brass and it works fine.

If you could find the equivalent of a small base die for 338 that would be fine. Once they have been small-sized and fired your regular dies will work fine... at leaset mine do under similar circumstances.

Jeffvn

 

[Dogtown]

Weird, I haven't had any problem with the NT brass so far and my 26" .338LM barrel is from the first batch of DTA barrels that have a fairly tight chamber too. And I did the same: just FL size and process the brass to virgin headspace specs, not chamber specs, until it's been shot once in my rifle.

I used to keep the NT brass sorted from the normal brass, but haven't noticed any major differences, so now it's all mixed together.

 

[timelinex]

Weird, I haven't had any problem with the NT brass so far and my 26" .338LM barrel is from the first batch of DTA barrels that have a fairly tight chamber too. And I did the same: just FL size and process the brass to virgin headspace specs, not chamber specs, until it's been shot once in my rifle.

I used to keep the NT brass sorted from the normal brass, but haven't noticed any major differences, so now it's all mixed together.

I used the new brass the other day and just as predicted it ran like better. The same weights produced similar poi and accuracy, but without a hint of pressure.

The old brass and NT brass cycles in my savage just fine, so it's obviously just the chamber of my ax is on the tighter side.