Problem Solving Request: 300WM R700 w/Flat Primers

[FailureToStart]

*Updated with more accurate information:

Greetings all!

It turns out my problems were - likely - entirely ammo related. The problem ammo was Winchester Super-X Power-Points in 150gr and 180gr weights from roughly 4-5 years ago.

The confusion comes from the fact that my local shop used to carry 150gr Winchester Power-Points and 180gr Remington Core-Lokts. They also apparently had a couple boxes of 180gr Power-Points because that is all I had left going into yesterday. Fast forward several years and all I can get locally is 150gr Core-Lokts. My fuzzy memory mixed the results from an ammo testing day 4+ years ago.

I hit the range yesterday with a box of 150 Core-Lokts and the last two boxes of 180gr Power-Points from several years ago. Turns out one of the two is a box of casings that I thought I had thrown away with a note that documents the failures I had gone through that day.

I did a little more testing with this ammo yesterday which probably wasn't smart. Shooting into the dirt berm with the same PoA shows what *looks* like the round coming apart with one major impact and several smaller ones. Out of 10 rounds, the major impacts were within a roughly 3-4 FOOT circle. All of the primers were flat and I had to hammer the bolt open as expected. This likely explains why the rifle absolutely could not be zeroed with this ammo and probably why I've always been so frustrated with this rifle in general.

Thanks for all the input and help. Unfortunately I've only been shooting for ~10 years and my ammo count through bolt-action rifles isn't really high enough to understand what ammo failure looks/feels like as opposed to rifle or personal problems.

 

[jerseymike]

Re: Problem Solving Request: 300WM R700 w/Flat Primers

Theyre loaded too hot.

 

[targaflorio]

Re: Problem Solving Request: 300WM R700 w/Flat Primers

Don't shoot the 150s

 

[5R Milspec]

Re: Problem Solving Request: 300WM R700 w/Flat Primers

first thing is that the 150's are alot hotter thatn the 180's.so this means the bullet is alot faster.this is why you are unable to see holes on the target from a day at the range.when you have set your scope up for the 180's the 150's are shooting higher than 180's.I am guessing you do not reload from your post.if you did you may have loaded them to shoot them for a same point of impact.but you shoot factory and this is common thing from factory ammo.

I had a friends 300wm set up for 180's and he wanted to shoot the 150's.soon after buying some 150's he found that he was missing the target at 100.told him to reset or let me set the scope again.but reminded him that I had told him it was ready to shoot the 180's he had.

now most factory ammo is really hot.haven't yet seen any type of factory ammo not give a really flat primer.

can you measure the cases from both a loaded one and a fired one.if so this will tell us alot so that we can help alot better.it may be the case of a tight chamber.sounds odd from a remmy rifel but may be the factor.but it just sounds to me that the 150's you are shooting are just to hot of a load for YOUR RIFEL.have you tried any other brand of ammo other than the ones you said.if so are they doing the same as the ones you said.tells us all you can about the ammo and rifel.we will give it our best to help you.

 

[FailureToStart]

Re: Problem Solving Request: 300WM R700 w/Flat Primers

Although I recall all of my issues being with ~150gr ammo, the casings that I have are actually from 180gr Winchester Power-Points.

All of my ammo is factory, I do not reload. My targets are Shoot-n-c 12" square sight-in targets.

I guess I should have explained better. I understand that bullet weights and powder charges effect POI, however a one square foot target is HUGE at 100 yards. I'm not saying that 150gr vs 180gr WILL be within that space, I'm simply saying I've never seen anything to the contrary across my limited experience.

I can zero the rifle when everything works correctly and the spent casings are being extracted normally. However, the rifle can not be zeroed if the spent casings require a rubber mallet to extract. Impacts down range are highly inconsistent and can vary several feet in any direction from round to round.

My biggest issue is that I've fortunately had very few malfunctions of any kind with any weapon. I don't reload, and I don't instinctively save my brass to help with malfunction troubleshooting. If I can get insomnia to leave me alone for a couple hours, I might get some more rounds through it tomorrow.

 

[FailureToStart]

Re: Problem Solving Request: 300WM R700 w/Flat Primers

As a related side note - I spoke with the folks that I purchased the problem ammo from and they recall some issues with all of the .300wm loads from Winchester in that time frame. I'm going to get them to pull a couple bullets and see if they can determine if it is an ammo problem or not.

 

[FailureToStart]

Re: Problem Solving Request: 300WM R700 w/Flat Primers

Since I can't delete the post, I figured I'd do an update. I changed the wording of the first post to reflect what I learned yesterday.

Thanks again for all the help.