Bolt won't close, then won't eject in savage

[Demos]

Hi,
I've got a buddy with a savage in 3006 and on some rounds the bolt won't close and then it's a bear to eject. I thought headspace at first, but then we did the colored the bullet, neck, and shoulder with a marker and when we tried again there was a complete circle on the bullet worn off.
Is this an overly short throat? I would have thought we would have only seen marks from the rifling. Does this matter?
Thanks,
Demos

 

[savanahsdad]

hand loads ? or factory stuff ?

 

[rcmodel]

Is this an overly short throat?

More likely an overly long reload with the bullet type being used.

One seating depth doesn't work with all bullet shapes.

rc

 

[savanahsdad]

I see you said "on some rounds" this tells me that his ammo is not all seated the same , , as RC said not all bullets are shaped the same so COL will not be the same for all bullets, the ogive on a Sierra SPBT will not be in the same place as a Nosler their for they need to be seated so there ogive is about .030 of the lands

as a side note : if you have to force the bolt closed , you really should not be shooting it ! with the bullet sitting tight on the lands you will running the pressure way up , this is why the case was hard to eject, having no bullet jump will/is giving high PSI !

 

[aubie515]

Just also wanted to add...is your friend using military 30/06 brass or ammo?

I know whenever I reload using military brass that I use small base dies.

 

[Demos]

Hi guys,
This was happening with Lake City Match ammo, but not Black Hills 168gr, or Federal ammo, and not reloads (go hornady comparator and oal gauge). He didn't try to shoot any, and couldn't if he wanted to since it was that much longer.

Other than having a more limited ammo choice and maybe not being able to use heavy bullets, does this matter?

Thanks,
Demos

 

[savanahsdad]

I'm a bit at a loss now we know it is factory ammo, I'd try some Rem. Win. along with the Fed, if they all work then I would say the match ammo is out of spec , I handload for most all of my guns, I have 4 Savage bolt guns and have ran lots of factory ammo through all of them at one time or another but I use hand loads for the most part,

 

[itsa pain]

Just also wanted to add...is your friend using military 30/06 brass or ammo?

I know whenever I reload using military brass that I use small base dies.

small base dies are really for reloading semi autos without the caming and extraction power of a bolt. really just overworking brass with small base dies for a bolt gun. it might fix the problem for the OP but rifle might have a dimension problem. I would clean up the chamber first