Strange problem at the range.

[pinzmann]

At the range today a buddy is shooting his custom 260 Savage. Up until now it has been very consistent 1/2 MOA gun. Lately He has been getting some flyers and also when he would chamber a round which seemed to stick in the chamber, he couldn't eject it. But he could fire the round then the brass would eject ok. A few he managed to eject and there was a circular scrape mark all around the bullet just above the rim of the neck about a 1/8 in. This does not look like rifling marks as those are spaced apart and usually number 4 or 5. I was thinking a carbon ring so I had him scrub and brush[plastic] the first couple inches. Well that worked for about ten rounds then the problem continued.
He keep telling me there was a black streak down the bore which I thought was just a carbon mark of sort. When I looked there was a stream of kernels laying on the bottom of the bore like unburnt powder.
We tipped the barrel to get them out. Tried a few more rounds and got more kernels. Since I don't have a bore scope I can't tell what is causing the ring of whatever that is hanging up the bullet.
He did tell me he had recently started on a new keg of IMR 4831. Without any prior knowledge of the kind of problem it would seem he's got a bad batch of powder although I have never heard of such a problem. We tried to light off a bit of it, would not ignite. The kernels felt gritty like sand.
So any ideas?

 

[DocUSMCRetired]

Theirs a lot of questions to be asked here. Is he using enough powder? Is he seating the bullet to the proper depth. Is he crimping too light. Are the granules the same size as the powder before he loads it. Is he having primer issues.

 

[agbm]

I would say if you tried to lite some off with a match and it did not burn, somethings wrong with that powder.Maybe moisture got to it or the keg is just bad, send it back to IMR and have them check it out. I would not shoot any more for safety reasons, obstruction in barrel and could go boom.

 

[High Binder]

loan him some powder from your stash and see if the problem persists...

 

[Killswitch Engage]

What barrel? Aftermarket or factory. I know you said custom rifle but if it's factory I have seen the lining come apart in barrels a few times.

 

[CGGunnersm8]

100% sure it's not tumbling media that was accidentally left in case before loading? Personnel experience speaking.

 

[sierracharlie338]

100% sure it's not tumbling media that was accidentally left in case before loading? Personnel experience speaking.

My first thought…


Sierracharlie out....

 

[pinzmann]

We discussed the possibility of it being tumbling media. He insists that he cleans the brass of any before loading. Plus I would think that combustion of the powder would burn up any corn cob media.
The barrel is a Kreiger built by RSE Custom Guns. Its been shooting 1/2 MOA for the past 500rds or so.
He's going to load up some rounds with another powder and check results. I've been shooting and reloading for the past 40+ yrs and haven't seen bad powder like this, if that's what it is.

 

[CGGunnersm8]

We discussed the possibility of it being tumbling media. He insists that he cleans the brass of any before loading. Plus I would think that combustion of the powder would burn up any corn cob media.
The barrel is a Kreiger built by RSE Custom Guns. Its been shooting 1/2 MOA for the past 500rds or so.
He's going to load up some rounds with another powder and check results. I've been shooting and reloading for the past 40+ yrs and haven't seen bad powder like this, if that's what it is.

I guess it could burn up the media, but it also will not. Personal experience. Luckily I didn't learn the lesson in blood or loss of a gun. Next round didn't want to chamber smoothly and instead of forcing the issue, I looked for the reason. Pulled the bolt and wa-la, what is that in my barrel? Couple of little pieces of corn cob media.

 

[pinzmann]

The shooter in question just called me. Him and Pyrofx from here on the Hide opened up some rounds and found a considerable amount of contaminants in the powder. Never seen that before. So now the fun part, going back to IMR.