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Resized brass won't eject...

J

jbaker47

Private
Minuteman
Apr 25, 2011
16
1
33
Florida
I've been reloading .308 for a while now and my friend asked me to reload some 270 for him. I got the dies and he gave me his brass and his savage edge. When I try to cycle his once fired brass I can't close his bolt and when I pull it back out it doesn't extract, I have to bump it gently with a cleaning rod to get it back out. When I full length resize the brass, I can get the shells to chamber but they still don't extract. But if I turn the gun muzzle up with the bolt pulled out they fall back out. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I've never had this issue with my .308 reloads.
P.S. this is just the brass. I haven't loaded any up yet if that could be it.
 
Re: Resized brass won't eject...

G.Ruff I don't have any factory rounds to test the extractor and don't know how to test otherwise.
SJshooter The rounds that I resized go in fine they just don't extract coming out. and they are held in the chamber loosely enough that if i turn it muzzle up without the bolt locked the round falls back out of the chamber so its not binding in there once i resize.
and im not sure i understand. are you saying that i put the shoulder too far back or not far enough back?

Ive never had this issue before.
 
Re: Resized brass won't eject...

With the bolt in one hand take a case fired /unfired and push into boltface it should snap in place and not pull out unless you tilt it out. You might be missing the detent ball.
 
Re: Resized brass won't eject...

Try taking the bolt out and inspecting it for any unusual or excessive wear near the extractor.

It doesn't sound like you have a problem with turning the shoulder to far or not enough. It would be tight if you weren't resizing it all the way, not loose enough to slide out when the muzzle was elevated. So resizing is probably not your issue.

You could however be pushing the shoulder back too much. Now, I'm not 100% sure on this, but I don't think it would cause unreliable extraction. The main thing I know would be a result of turning it back to far would be unnecessary stress on the brass. Other than that, not much else would change I don't think.
 
Re: Resized brass won't eject...

classicamerican ......

I've seen this symptom many times before. I'll bet those tight fitting cases have been reloaded with a sizing die that was adjusted to push the shoulder back too far.

Most of handloads that don't chamber are because of this:
1.) 10% The case shoulder is too long.
2.) 90% The case diameter is too wide (above the web).

<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="text-decoration: underline">Here's what usually happens</span>:</span>

- The shoulder gets pushed back too far.
- When the round is fired, the brass stretches too much.
- That thins the brass above the web.
- This allows your die to bulge the case "during" <span style="text-decoration: underline">resizing</span>.
- Your bolt cams your cases into the chamber, a press fit.

I've seen it happen a jillion times ...
 
Re: Resized brass won't eject...

Innovative: So if you don't push the shoulder back far enough its tough to feed, and if you push it too far back, its tough to feed as well? But the more common mistake is pushing the shoulder back to far?

I ask because I reloaded last weekend, and the brass I got was fired in an Ar-15, but I reloaded it and now its being used in a Tikka T3 .223. However, like you are describing, the bolt is very hard to lock down on some of the reloaded cartridges. I used a single stage RCBS press with the sizing and depriming die screwed down so that only something as thing as a paper could fit in between the seat and the bottom of the die. Is this too far?
 
Re: Resized brass won't eject...

Yeah it's looking like I may have pushed the shoulder back too far but i took another brass and screwed the die way out and sized just a little at a time until the bolt closed easily.. at no point did it eject... I was at the range with him the other day when he was shooting the factory loads that resulted in this brass and everything worked fine... not sure if its the extractor. they push into the bolt face fine but it doesnt grab.
 
Re: Resized brass won't eject...

"Extractor. Finis."

Exactly so; nothing can get ejected until it's been extracted. It's up to you - or the owner - to find out why the extractor isn't hooking on the cases, we can't do it from here. And you don't need new ammo to test it, use an un-resized case. It's possible to push case shoulders back so far the extractor can't grab the rim but it's rare that an FL die will allow that much shoulder set back.

No one can tell anyone else how many sheets of paper should be between a shell holder and die. That's about 3 thou; the difference in chambers,dies and case tolerances, press spring and operator variations account for more difference than that! Getting FL sizing <span style="text-decoration: underline">right</span> is a "cut and try" thing, it's not a formula operation at all.

 
Re: Resized brass won't eject...

ok so i was testing his extractor by pushing an unresized brass into it when all of a sudden the extractor and the ball underneath it whose name slips my mind at the moment came flying out. I somehow magically found both pieces and managed to reassemble it. Now everything is working fine.. not sure what happened there or if it will happen again.. but everything seems fine. I ran 100 rounds of unloaded brass through it and everything extracted and ejected fine..
 
Re: Resized brass won't eject...

Buy a spare extractor spring and DETENT ball just in case it happens again and you lose your BALL !
laugh.gif
 
Re: Resized brass won't eject...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MAGUA</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Buy a spare extractor spring and DETENT ball just in case it happens again and you lose your BALL !
laugh.gif
</div></div>
there we go.. i couldn't come up with that name off the top of my head for some reason... and thanks for the advice! I would hate to suddenly find myself ballless...
 
Re: Resized brass won't eject...

One thing I know about mechanical devices; if something 'brakes' once it WILL do it again. They don't heal and get better.
 
Re: Resized brass won't eject...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SJshooter</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
I ask because I reloaded last weekend, and the brass I got was fired in an Ar-15, but I reloaded it and now its being used in a Tikka T3 .223. However, like you are describing, the bolt is very hard to lock down on some of the reloaded cartridges. I used a single stage RCBS press with the sizing and depriming die screwed down so that only something as thin as a paper could fit in between the seat and the bottom of the die. Is this too far? </div></div>

SJshooter ......

Using a paperclip between your die and shellholder might work for somebodies chamber. But will it work for yours? It's a bad idea to guess about chamber clclearance. Every chamber is made within a wide range of "acceptable" tolerances, and so are resizing dies.

If you want to get it right every time, look into the Digital Headspace Gauge. It allows you to compare your handloads to one of YOUR fired cases. Then you'll see which way (and exactly how far) to move your die height. Then you can set your FL die height "perfectly". it's like having ALL of your dies custom fitted to your particular rifles.
 
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