Bolt hard to cycle after shot ??

R

ReloadKy

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Bolt hard to cycle after shot ?? UPDATE

So I started shooting my savage 110 in 7mm-08. I was shooting Nosler brass with 40 gr of H4895 and a 120 gr Nosler ballistic tip. I loaded CBTO of 2.277 which gave me an OAL of around 2.863. This is .063 longer than SAAMI spec for 7mm-08. However, the rounds loaded easily so I went ahead and shot them. I had time to fire 6 rounds today. After the first shot the bolt lift was easy put pulling to bolt back to eject the brass was fairly difficult. I experienced this on 5 out of the 6 shots. The load should not have any pressure issues at all. Any clue as to why the bolt was so hard to move after firing?
 
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Round went in easy and came back out easy as well non fired?

Did you form your own 7mm 07 brass?
 
No marks on the fired brass. I am using brand new Nosler brass that is 2.018. Unfired brass cycles fine. Loaded cartridges cycle fine. I tried putting the fired cases back in the rifle and the fired cases do not cycle near as well as the unfired cases.
 
Primary extraction happens during the last leg of bolt handle lift. Was it hard to do? Did you need to bang the handle knob up for the last bit? How does the extracted brass look like? Any marks on the body of the brass?

Since you were handloading your rounds, did you shoot any other rounds with lighter loads?

Any work have been done on the primary extraction camming surfaces, such as the root of the bolt handle?

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
Is this a new rifle or barrel. I would consider carefully measure the fired brass and compare it to the published specs.

I would still check the scope primary extraction.
 
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That happened to me once on my rem 700, im pretty sure my case was overpressure, i was doing a ladder test, the lighter charges didnt do that at all, but as i got to the higher charges, i had to beat the bolt backwards with the palm of my hand, i quickly quit shooting them and took them home and diassembled them.
 
I pulled one of the bullets and rechecked my powder charge, 40 grains. Do you all think that the stiffness in the bolt could be due to my length being .063 over SAAMI spec?

My two options as of now are to reseat the bullets to 2.800 OAL or to go buy a box of factory ammo to see if they do the same thing...
 
If your length gets your bullet ogive closer to the lands than about 0.030", you have to watch for proximity to the throat to raise pressure by limiting gas bypass as the bullet is released from the case neck and gets to the throat to obturate the bore. For a given powder charge, full contact with the throat takes pressure up about 20%, typically.
 
I did not resize the new brass. I was able to find one box of 7mm-08 winchester 140 gr powerpoint at the local walmart. When I can get out to the farm I am going to try a couple of those and see what happens. If same thing occurs I will call savage. If everything cycles fine I will adjust my hand loads.
 
Check fired case length . When a neck is too long a small part sticks into the barrel throat , the neck can't open up properly this causes a spike in pressure , which causes the hard extraction ... make sure you cases are properly trimmed .

7mm-08
max. case length - 2.035"
trim to case length - 2.025"

Make sure your cases are not too long , easy to overlook .
Gary
 
trimmed unfired case length was 2.018. After firing the longest of the 6 fired cases was 2.022 which is still under the trim to case length of 2.025.
 
That load is below the recommended starting load according to my manuals (41-43.7). I've never tried loads below recommended levels, but have heard that you can sometimes get over pressure loads doing that too.
 
jmr40 said:
That load is below the recommended starting load according to my manuals (41-43.7). I've never tried loads below recommended levels, but have heard that you can sometimes get over pressure loads doing that too.
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Both Nosler and Sierra show data for that powder with a 120 grain bullet below 40 grains.

To the OP, I have a couple savage rifles that show a hard extraction even with what should be mild ish loads.

Also, the rounds not going all the way back into the chamber after being fired is not abnormal for all of my 5 Savage rifles. Not a single one will chamber without resistance without the shoulder being set back a little bit. Also I have found Nosler and Federal premium brass to be on the softer side and I have had to reduce my loads with both brands. With my Savage Tactical rifle and Federal Premium brass I was having difficult extraction at starting charges even though my Winchester brass can be loaded much higher.

Are you 100% sure those are 120 grain BT bullets? Last year I got a batch of Sierra bullets (2 Boxes worth) that were actually 150 grain .277 bullets when they were supposed to be 130 grain. Things like that are pretty rare, but they do happen.

Did you check velocity and compare it with projected data?
 
Savages, at least in my experience, sometimes have short chambers. I learned that the hard way and some due to not measuring the chamber before any work began.

If your loads are 0.063" longer than spec, then there is a good chance you are jamming the bullets into the lands. That will lock a bolt after firing.

Measure the case head before and after firing to see how much difference there is.
 
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