I was shooting my 338 LM today and locked the bolt up and was unable to exctract the round. I am having a hard time figuring out the cause. This rifle has always had a bit of sticky bolt lift ever since I have owned it, but the accuracy has been great. I have always figured it was the action itself, it has a BAT Machine action and the tolerances seem very tight. I have 2 different lots of Lapua brass and the once fired sticks, almost as bad as the 5 times fired brass. Before today it would just need a tap on the bolt to get a round to eject. Otherwise there are no signs of pressure whatsoever. After I had a case stick in the chamber today I tried a few different things to try to fix it.
I bumped the shoulder back as far as my Redding FL Die would allow. I use a Wilson chamber gauge and after sizing the case was flush with the lower notch in the gauge. So bumping the shoulder back further didn't help.
Next I started lowering the charge down from 92gr of Retumbo, I didn't see a big improvement until I got to 86gr but the bolt was still a little sticky but tolerable. The cases all seemed to stretch after firing to the same size regaurdless of the charge weight.
I also cleaned the chamber, bolt, oiled the lugs.
Would a thinner shellholder that would allow more shoulder bump help, or can too much headspace cause problems of its own?
Thanks Corey
I bumped the shoulder back as far as my Redding FL Die would allow. I use a Wilson chamber gauge and after sizing the case was flush with the lower notch in the gauge. So bumping the shoulder back further didn't help.
Next I started lowering the charge down from 92gr of Retumbo, I didn't see a big improvement until I got to 86gr but the bolt was still a little sticky but tolerable. The cases all seemed to stretch after firing to the same size regaurdless of the charge weight.
I also cleaned the chamber, bolt, oiled the lugs.
Would a thinner shellholder that would allow more shoulder bump help, or can too much headspace cause problems of its own?
Thanks Corey
