458 socom reloading issue. i am tearing my hair out please help!?

[Blue68f100]

Was this a complete upper including the bolt? If so it sounds like it has a headspace problem. You have a 0-0.003" range for the chamber. I have seen 0.001"+ varaitions in the bolts I have on hand. So you may be a victim of tolerance stacking. A different bolt may be all it takes to correct the problem. It's best to remove the ejector and extractor when checking this. And letting a bolt slam home will damage a set of go/nogo gauges. And it has the power to push the shoulder back too. Best to operate the bolt by hand so you do not cause the brass to give, giving you a false reading.

The factory should take care of this if this was bought as a complete assembly, if not contact the mfg of the bolt. I've seen some send out a replacement if suspected to be out of spec.

 

[Kaldor]

Here is a potential issue:
http://458socomforums.com/index.php?topic=2296.0

In short, if your barrel maker isnt on that list its using some bastardized PTG reamer most likely that was incorrectly reverse engineered from a proper 458 SOCOM chamber as designed by the inventor of the cartridge. If its not firing factory ammo that is loaded to fit a true 458 SOCOM chamber, then youve found the issue.

Want to know why? Because the inventor, Marty ter Weeme in conjunction with Tony Rumore (owner of Tromix) did not patent the cartridge and now every Tom, Dick and Harry that wants to make a 458 SOCOM without the proper reamer can do so without paying any royalties to said businesses. In short, they are thieves. So yeah, Im calling out the supposed legit companies making money on someone elses work. It also doesnt help that SAAMI has dragged their feet for years on something that is more than established by this point in time.

Additional info:
http://teppojutsu.com/welcome.htm
http://458socomforums.com/
https://tromix.com/

 

[LoonWulf]

I found my Radical .458 to have a rather tight chamber. I have to set my dies to full resize or they will stick sometimes. I have no factory ammo available to try tho.

You may just want to call radical, ive spoken to the folks there a few times as i ordered a couple uppers directly from them. They were very helpful and friendly every time.

 

[HamSlamma]

http://www.458socomforums.com/

 

[jeeptim]

Try this....
First put your hair back in.
Now try pulling a bullet dump the powder color the neck and shoulder chamber then hit the forward assist. gently remove that case trimm if need be, resize bumping the shoulder back a tad, if your hitting the shell holder and the shoulder is still hitting file the top of the shell holder. I have had to do this with a 35 rem shell holder.
Best of luck

 

[Blue68f100]

Letting the bolt slam close will move the shoulder some, a lot of energy behind the bolt. The best way is to lower it by hand so it does not slam.

 

[jmorris]

gently remove that case trimm if need be, resize bumping the shoulder back a tad, if your hitting the shell holder and the shoulder is still hitting file the top of the shell holder. I have had to do this with a 35 rem shell holder.

There have been a number of posts talking about case length, just to be clear it can be fine or even too short and it still won’t chamber. Any bottleneck case has to have the shoulder in the right place regardless of OAL.

If the shoulder is not back enough it’s just not going to chamber.

If you have pushed the shoulder back further than necessary, your case will be stretched each time you fire it. So it will need trimming after resize more than one that fits the chamber and will have a shorter life.

I too have had to remove material in order for a die to size enough but I prefer to remove material from the die itself rather than the shell holder. That way it will also work if I use it in presses that use shell plates or the co-ax.

In any case the fact that factory ammo is a no go tells us it wouldn’t help the op unless he wants “special” ammunition for one of his 458 socom rifles.

 

[Richard Bruce]

I know this is a older post. For the next man up that has this problem? The solution isnt ammunition. Its buffer weight. Carbine length vs Pistol Length. im sure he has Carbine in but needs Pistol Buffer. Happy Trails

 

[jmorris]

Buffer weight isn’t s solution for ammunition that’s not sized correctly. If it were we would skip sizing altogether and just use really heavy buffers that size the case as it being chambered.

Not to mention you might have issues ejecting a round that has been forced into the chamber but not fired.

 

[Toprudder]

Was this a complete upper including the bolt? If so it sounds like it has a headspace problem. You have a 0-0.003" range for the chamber. I have seen 0.001"+ varaitions in the bolts I have on hand. So you may be a victim of tolerance stacking. A different bolt may be all it takes to correct the problem. It's best to remove the ejector and extractor when checking this. And letting a bolt slam home will damage a set of go/nogo gauges. And it has the power to push the shoulder back too. Best to operate the bolt by hand so you do not cause the brass to give, giving you a false reading.

The factory should take care of this if this was bought as a complete assembly, if not contact the mfg of the bolt. I've seen some send out a replacement if suspected to be out of spec.

^^^^^^ This!

Could be the chamber not reamed properly. Could be a headspace problem with the bolt. A set of go-nogo gauges would tell you. As mentioned, do not let the bolt slam home when using the gauges, it is best to remove the extractor and ejector to get a good feel. At the very least, remove the extractor, that is very easy to do.

While it might be possible to adjust your sizing and trimming operations to get your hand loaded ammo to fit, it would be best to get the gun fixed so that factory ammo will work properly.

 

[Flintknapper]

I know this is a older post. For the next man up that has this problem? The solution isnt ammunition. Its buffer weight. Carbine length vs Pistol Length. im sure he has Carbine in but needs Pistol Buffer. Happy Trails

No Sir, respectfully disagree. I've been loading this cartridge (thousands of them) for over 10 yrs. and his buffer is not the problem. I would wager he has a chamber spec. issue. Either incorrect because it was poorly Reverse Engineered or because of worn tooling.

I trim my new cases (after sizing) to 1.573 and after loading...check each one in a Go/No go gauge. Nothing goes into my chamber that hasn't first been checked. Good way to avoid a round being stuck.

All indications are that his chamber is out of spec.

 

[Richard Bruce]

I suspect your issue has nothing to do with your ammunition and everything to do with buffer weight. Carbine vs rifle

 

[Richard Bruce]

The wrong weight buffer would indeed make it appear as if you where getting a round stuck but actually its locking the bolt and in and not the round. Take Lesser and try it. He stated he can manually drop the round in but when he does it with the bolt this is when the problem occurs.

Heres

 

[bhhacker]

Hi guys and thank you for helping me out. My problem was that the brass wasn't fully sized. I did another full turn with the does and that made it all work out. Have been reloading these Now with no problems most of the year. So much fun it should be illegal!

 

[Richard Bruce]

Glad to hear you got it! It is a very fun round to shoot.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Today i got a hold of some commercial 458 ammo. It went into battery but had same issue with bolt and CH sticking. I have sent an email to RA customer service. Hopefully i will hear back from them soon.


I was completely mystified at this and having had success before in the past loading this, it was driving me nuts. I am somewhat relieved it was the upper itself and not an "id10t error"

Hi guys and thank you for helping me out. My problem was that the brass wasn't fully sized. I did another full turn with the does and that made it all work out. Have been reloading these Now with no problems most of the year. So much fun it should be illegal!

Wait, both of those statements can't be true. What's going on here? What did I miss in the middle?

 

[bhhacker]

I apologize. The factory ammunition that i used was hanging up at first, but then began to work. I can only assume that something that was rubbing was worn down and it ran the factory stuff after that. The reloads all had to be re made and after that its shot like a dream. Im assuming maybe a little rough machining?