edwardware
Member
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2010
- Messages
- 4,425
A question for those with lots of experience inside a bolt action rifle. . .
I'm (attempting to) reloading .270 Win for my '70s era Ruger M77. Using once-fired Federal brass, I observe an interesting phenomenon. The factory rounds chamber with ease, and extract with ease. If I take a just-fired case, and rotate it, it chambers hard (lowering the bolt handles requires deliberate force, call it 20#). As I keep rotating it and trying to chamber, I find that one particular angular orientation is easy, and all others are hard.
The same goes for my neck-sized reloads. They chamber hard, but as I rotate them before chambering, I find an easy orientation. Full sized cases chamber just like factory ammo; easy. The hard-to-chamber neck sized reloads as still quite accurate, and don't show any pressure signs. Charges are the starting charges for IMR-4320 behind a 130gr Interlock.
My first guess is that my bolt face is not perpendicular to my chamber. Is this reasonable? Is it likely? What else could cause this? How do I fix it?
I'd rather not FL resize all my brass for this rifle, and I can't see paying hundreds for a smith to drop the barrel and true the bolt face.
Suggestions?
I'm (attempting to) reloading .270 Win for my '70s era Ruger M77. Using once-fired Federal brass, I observe an interesting phenomenon. The factory rounds chamber with ease, and extract with ease. If I take a just-fired case, and rotate it, it chambers hard (lowering the bolt handles requires deliberate force, call it 20#). As I keep rotating it and trying to chamber, I find that one particular angular orientation is easy, and all others are hard.
The same goes for my neck-sized reloads. They chamber hard, but as I rotate them before chambering, I find an easy orientation. Full sized cases chamber just like factory ammo; easy. The hard-to-chamber neck sized reloads as still quite accurate, and don't show any pressure signs. Charges are the starting charges for IMR-4320 behind a 130gr Interlock.
My first guess is that my bolt face is not perpendicular to my chamber. Is this reasonable? Is it likely? What else could cause this? How do I fix it?
I'd rather not FL resize all my brass for this rifle, and I can't see paying hundreds for a smith to drop the barrel and true the bolt face.
Suggestions?