difficult case extraction?

[stradibarrius]

some, not all, of my cartridges are hard to eject in TRG .308. What could be the reasons? Factory loads no problem, but some of my reloads are causing the problem.
IMI match brass, 43.5 gr. H4850, CCI primers, SMK 175 bullets. First load works fine, but when loaded the 3rd time they start getting tight.
shouldn't I get more than 3 reloads from brass? 43.5 gr. of H4850 doesn't seem to be a high charge. I have measured every dimension of the extracted cases every way I can think of and visually inspected with no signs of case deformity.
Ideas as to the problem?

 

[BurnOut]

Are you FL resizing, or neck only? Are you trimming the cases at all when you reload?

 

[stradibarrius]

FL resize using Redding competition dies, Redding press, and have trimmed with Wilson trimmer when I thought the case was too long

 

[BurnOut]

Hmmm. Any other pressure signs? Hide user orkan has a pretty good article on reading/interpreting them: http://www.primalrights.com/library/articles/understanding-pressure

Have you kept track of neck thickness over the firings of the brass? If your chamber has a tight neck, maybe brass flowing up to the case neck has something to do with it... how much are you bumping the shoulder with each reload?

 

[supercorndogs]

Tuff to say, one thing for sure, there is no h4850 powder.

 

[BurnOut]

Tuff to say, one thing for sure, there is no h4850 powder.

Maybe it's a blend of H4350 and H4831?

 

[PaC1776]

Maybe your rifle has a tight chamber and you need a small base die?

 

[JMGlasgow]

Maybe it's a blend of H4350 and H4831?

Or maybe a blend of H4895 and H4350...

 

[SPAK]

How much are you bumping the shoulders back? Are th cases difficult to extract or eject? Were Those cases that are hard to extract hard to chamber or tight when closing the bolt down?

 

[djarecke]

I’d look at how much you’re actually bumping your shoulder. If it’s at least .001” and you’re SURE, I’d run them through a small base die and see how that does. After the small base die, you’ll almost certainly need to trim a fair amount of brass.

 

[maggitas]

I use IMI brass. The case seems to exhibit pressure signs more pronounced than other brass in my gun. I would load to NATO spec brass as you may be over max with IMI brass.

 

[stradibarrius]

yeah, 4850...thats what happens when an old brain is thinking about 4350 and 4895 you come out with 4850! Just to clarify I am loading 43.5gr of H4895.
The problem is extraction opposed to ejection. Once the brass "breaks loose" it comes on out fine and ejects perfectly. Last night I spent a couple of hours measuring and comparing and at this point I think the problem is that the base of the brass. I am bumping .002". It may be the IMI brass??? I bought 1000 cases for.33 cents each and have only loaded 200 or so it this point. I am about to load 50 Federal GMM cases to the same specs and see how they work out.
I am using Redding competition bushing dies. What are some "small" base dies that you would recommend?
Thanks for helping me work through this. I am learning from this experience.

 

[JMGlasgow]

43.5 of h4895 seems like a very stout load, especially with military brass. I see pressure signs with 41.5 and LC brass with a 175 MatchKing. This is out of both of my M14/M1a rifles.

 

[stradibarrius]

After reading your comment I went back and looked at load data for H4895 and 175gr. .308. You are right. Hogdon states that 42.7 is max load. The 43.5gr load came from the old site and probably too much!
I am going to go back to the drawing board and try to come up with a load.
If any one wants to share their load data I would appreciate the help.

 

[Milo 2.5]

yeah, 4850...thats what happens when an old brain is thinking about 4350 and 4895 you come out with 4850! Just to clarify I am loading 43.5gr of H4895.
The problem is extraction opposed to ejection. Once the brass "breaks loose" it comes on out fine and ejects perfectly. Last night I spent a couple of hours measuring and comparing and at this point I think the problem is that the base of the brass. I am bumping .002". It may be the IMI brass??? I bought 1000 cases for.33 cents each and have only loaded 200 or so it this point. I am about to load 50 Federal GMM cases to the same specs and see how they work out.
I am using Redding competition bushing dies. What are some "small" base dies that you would recommend?
Thanks for helping me work through this. I am learning from this experience.

Sounds like you're working to remedy your issues, concerning case base being oversized, if you hear a distinct click at the top of bolt handle rise, it's the case base. And a small base die will cure it.