peened case heads 30-06... Garand the culpret ???

I'm sure he loaded these... we have all his brass, & at one time he had 6 - 30-06 rifles & I don't even have 400 30-06 cases that came from him...

well... he was known to load pretty hot... he was early & heavy into the 17 Remington cartridge, & was pushing some, where the bullet would come apart before it got to the target ( for example ) he also loaded for MRS when she was shooting an '06 mountain lite, so hot, that at the public range, shooting sliding deer, the gun would knock her back 3ft, & knock off her safety glasses ( I credit the rifle abuse to her lack of enthusiasm shooting today... he had many guns, & could have easily gotten her into something lighter shooting, that still had plenty of power for deer )

I still have several of his handloads, they are all well labeled, & not above book maximums, but all are right there at max...

I'd suspect that these have been loaded many times, probably why the headstamps are light on many of them... I haven't found any loose pockets yet, but am always on the lookout for them...
 
Looks like too much gas on the gas piston. Not too much you can do to adjust the gun other than aftermarket stuff. Toss em that tilt in the case head will seriously throw off accuracy because of the inconsistent gap between case and bolt face.

Happens to me in my FAL when I forget to decrease the gas before I shoot NATO ammo. Most of the time I shoot my reloads.
 
Bart B. said:
After looking at pictures of those cases, it looks to me like the edge of the rim's been peened flat at about 30 to 40 degrees. Exactly like semiauto loaded cases from a Garand I was inspecting that had a sticky extractor. Hand closing a bolt on a new round took a lot more force than a couple others I was checking. Slamming home on a new round in firing it, ejected cases had that same flattened rim area about 1/8th to 3/16ths inch long

Removed the bolt, extractor, and its spring and cleaned out the bolt as well as the ejector with naptha on a tooth brush and pipe cleaner. Dried everything, lubed everything with Plastilube, reassembled. Problem went away.
Click to expand...

Hmm, my CMP Garand has been doing this since I got it, I thought is was normal.

I doubt it is "too much gas" on mine, all I shoot through it is Greek M2 or Garand safe handloads.
 
The extractor is denting the rims as it snaps over groove when chambering. This is actually common and have seen alot worse . It has nothing to do with pressure
If it bothers you completly dissasemble the bolt and clean, there may be some junk in the hole that the extractor spring /plunger sets in.
After cleaning it still doesnt help try removing one coil at a time from the spring to reduce tension
Can you post a couple clear up close pics of the extractor itself?
 
I wouldn't weaken the extractor spring at all. It's best to have all the grip on the case head possible that's reliable when extracting and ejecting fired cases.

A turn or two can be cut off the ejector spring so fired cases go out at 1 to 2 o'clock, if desired. That's better than coming back over the rear sight bouncing off your face.
 
It extractor isnt damaged and bolt is clean trimming a coil off the spring is all you can do to try and prevent rim damage.
Its a cheap part to experimant with. Trimming the ejector spring wont help with the dented rim
 
Here are other things one can do to minimize case rim peening.

Use USA MILSPEC cases that are hard enough to minimize the problem. I often had well peened over case rims with soft Federal brass shot in Garands. As did people shooting Federal brass in M14's.

Smoothing up the extractor helps a lot; less friction sliding over the case rim.

Smear a little heavy grease on it.
 
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Detail the bolt...

you might have a plug of grease inside the extractor plunger and spring and not allowing it spring to flex as it encounters the case head.
 
The extractor dents the case rims when it can't move enough to snap over the rim. Which means either that the extractor or bolt is defective or (more likely) that there is dirt in the hole where the extractor spring and plunger fit, not allowing the extractor to pivot freely. Clean that area first, and if the problem doesn't go away, then look for other possible problems.

If those case heads show flattening, the usual cause is high pressure*; I have seen many cases with the headstamp nearly obliterated and the case head actually expanded due to pressure, with an expanded primer pocket.

*I saw one instance of this condition due to soft brass; the shooter reloaded and decided to anneal his cases by heating them red hot and just letting them air cool. Not a good idea.

Jim
 
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