lonestar2222010
Member
So I bought a new Ruger American in .30-06 and i'm confused with a certain aspect when reloading for it.
When I first bought the rifle I had some .30-06 cartridges already made for my M1 Garand, all were made from Federal cases with hornady fmj 150gr on top. Maybe a third of the 80 rounds would allow me to close the bolt on the gun (even then it was difficult to close). I noticed that the bullets that weren't feeding right had rifling marks on them. So I bought an O.A.L. gauge from Hornady with a bullet comparator (Has not arrived yet at the time of me typing this) because i thought the bullets are being jammed into the rifling thus preventing me from closing the bolt even though all are the same length (3.185" according to Hornady 8th edition this is the proper length).
So while waiting for my new O.A.L. gauge to arrive I decided to buy some Hornady 180gr SST superformance factory rounds to shoot because I figured something was wrong with my reloading, the rounds fit and performed just fine (other than getting a 2" group at 100yds).
When I got home from the range I decided to play around and see where I was going wrong. So I cleaned the new factory shot hornady cases. and made a dummy out of a Hornady .30-06 case with 180gr sp bullet on top and another out of a federal and put the same type of bullet on top. I paid special attention to make each case the exact same length after full length resizing while trimming (2.484"). Each bullet was seated to the same depth and measured at 3.225".
i placed both dummy rounds into the mag and the hornady fed just fine with no fuss, the federal on the other hand did not allow me to close the bolt. Bolt cartridges are identical. So i removed the bullet and same thing Hornady fit federal didnt. so it has something to do with the brass casing, I've measured ever centimeter of both casings everything is the same, both were resized with an RCBS full length resizing die. I see no reason as to why one would fit and the other won't.
Any ideas on how to resolve this situation.
When I first bought the rifle I had some .30-06 cartridges already made for my M1 Garand, all were made from Federal cases with hornady fmj 150gr on top. Maybe a third of the 80 rounds would allow me to close the bolt on the gun (even then it was difficult to close). I noticed that the bullets that weren't feeding right had rifling marks on them. So I bought an O.A.L. gauge from Hornady with a bullet comparator (Has not arrived yet at the time of me typing this) because i thought the bullets are being jammed into the rifling thus preventing me from closing the bolt even though all are the same length (3.185" according to Hornady 8th edition this is the proper length).
So while waiting for my new O.A.L. gauge to arrive I decided to buy some Hornady 180gr SST superformance factory rounds to shoot because I figured something was wrong with my reloading, the rounds fit and performed just fine (other than getting a 2" group at 100yds).
When I got home from the range I decided to play around and see where I was going wrong. So I cleaned the new factory shot hornady cases. and made a dummy out of a Hornady .30-06 case with 180gr sp bullet on top and another out of a federal and put the same type of bullet on top. I paid special attention to make each case the exact same length after full length resizing while trimming (2.484"). Each bullet was seated to the same depth and measured at 3.225".
i placed both dummy rounds into the mag and the hornady fed just fine with no fuss, the federal on the other hand did not allow me to close the bolt. Bolt cartridges are identical. So i removed the bullet and same thing Hornady fit federal didnt. so it has something to do with the brass casing, I've measured ever centimeter of both casings everything is the same, both were resized with an RCBS full length resizing die. I see no reason as to why one would fit and the other won't.
Any ideas on how to resolve this situation.