Sticking Privi Partizan 300 Win Mag Brass

[PCCUSNRET]

This may not be the appropriate place for this post but if anyone will know the answer to this question I'm sure it will be someone that reloads. I recently purchased a used Remington 700 300 Win Mag and took it to the range today to start my collection of reloading brass. The choice of ammo at the range was $20 Privi Paritzan 150gr. SP or $50 Federal Premium 180gr. I bought a box of the Privi expecting to shoot the box and then try reloading the brass. The first round fired stuck in the chamber and I had to use a lot of force to open the bolt. I figured this round must have been loaded "hot" so I fired another round and the bolt opened just fine. Same with the 3rd round. The 4th and 5th were just like the first. I had a very hard time opening the bolt and the brass had scrapes on two sides near the head of the case (just above the belt). I couldn't believe the barrel on this gun had been shot out as the gun looks almost new so I went in and purchased a box of the Federal. I shot 10 rounds and not one of them stuck in the chamber and all were within a 2" group at 100 yds (so were the Privi). I've tried to take photos of the scrape marks on the brass but they aren't showing up that well in the photos. I'll try again tomorrow using natural sunlight. Here are the case measurements:

C.O.A.L. Privi Partizan 3.325 Federal 3.330
Case Length Privi before firing 2.610 - after firing 2.617
Case Length Federal before firing 2.608 - after firing 2.618
Diameter of Privi case just above band before firing .508 - after firing .514
Diameter of Federal case just above band before firing .508 - after firing .514

What I plan to do now is pull the bullets from the rest of the Privi bullets and run the brass through a FL Redding die and reload them with some larger bullets to see if this fixes the problem. Any other suggestions?

Thanks for your help!

 

[PCCUSNRET]

Here is a photo of the Privi Partizan brass.

Would it be safe to resize this brass or should I just scrap it?

 

[NCsmitty]

Have you checked the chamber for a burr or dirt and debris? Aside from the slight marks, the brass looks fairly normal for a belted magnum case.
How does the brass from both brands look and compare visually? It's been my experience that Prvi-Partizan is good brass to load.
I would be looking for something with the rifle, rather than the ammo. A good inspection of the chamber with a bore light should be done before and after a good cleaning with a brush that fits the chamber.



NCsmitty

 

[PCCUSNRET]

Thanks Smitty! Apparently we only have one gunsmith in this entire city and he has a backlog of over a month before he can even look at a gun. I looked at the chamber and I really couldn't see anything out of the norm but then I really wouldn't know what I was looking at if there was something wrong. I will probably end up sending it to an authorized Remington repair center in Ohio and have them check it out before I shoot it again.

 

[rcmodel]

Look at the cartridges and see if there is any indication of a shiny round spot matching the ejector hole in the bolt face.

If there is, you either have over-pressure (defective) ammo, or soft brass (defective) cases.

Either one will cause the sticking problems you have.

The case extruding into the bolts ejector hole indicates more pressure then the brass can contain without expanding more then it can shrink after the pressure is gone.

rc

 

[PCCUSNRET]

Look at the cartridges and see if there is any indication of a shiny round spot matching the ejector hole in the bolt face.

If there is, you either have over-pressure (defective) ammo, or soft brass (defective) cases.

Either one will cause the sticking problems you have.

The case extruding into the bolts ejector hole indicates more pressure then the brass can contain without expanding more then it can shrink after the pressure is gone.

rc

There are no marks on the brass other than the scrape marks just above the belt. I've searched my manuals and various places online this weekend and I believe it may be caused by either a rough chamber or excess oil in the chamber that caused this brass to stick. I picked up a chamber cleaning brush today and scrubbed the chamber and it looks shiney, smooth and clean. I also picked up a box of Remington ammo at Walmart today (only $24 per box compared to the $50 Federal they carry at the range) and will give this and some of my reloads a try before shipping the gun off to Ohio for repairs (my brand new Remington 700 7mm Mag is heading that way tomorrow for removal of a large burr in the chamber). On one of the boards I found where a gunsmith said to use a very fine sandpaper to remove burrs inside of the chamber. Is this something one could do without messing up the gun? I ordered a set of dies this weekend so hopefully they will be here by the weekend. Thanks again for your help.

 

[PCCUSNRET]

I forgot to mention that I took one of the fired Privi Partizan cases and a Nosler 180gr BT and came up with a distance of 3.585 to the lands. This round is considerably longer than the Privi Partizan and the Federal rounds and it fits just fine in the magazine. I plan to back this off a couple hundreths and try this as the C.O.A.L. for this bullet.

 

[rogn]

If the Federal brass looks good and doesnt stick then the Privi is liable to be the issue. QC at some of these off the beaten path countries may not be as good as is ours. If the fedral and Remmy stuff works just break down the Privi and use the cases for your own loads.

 

[PCCUSNRET]

Sorry for beating a dead horse but I took this gun to the range again today and tried some Winchester ammo and it stuck too. I had to use a wooden mallet to get the bolt open after the first round. I made sure this time there chamber was free of any oil but it didn't help. I'm not even going to mess with reloading for it until I find out what is causing this problem. The Winchester brass had the same "scrape" mark on two sides of the brass. It's almost if the chamber is "oval" shaped as the marks don't go completely around the brass. Can anyone recommend someone to repair this rifle? I sent one back to an "authorized" repair center once and it took almost 3 months to get the gun back (can recall if it was a Remington or Winchester, but it was due to a recall for the firing pin). Thanks.

 

[Runningman]

If it was me I would call up Remington to see what they can do for you. Those marks on the cases are not normal. I sent a four Model 700 rifles back to Remington in the 90s. They fixed the problems at least. 3 out of the four came back in less than two months.

 

[PCCUSNRET]

If it was me I would call up Remington to see what they can do for you. Those marks on the cases are not normal. I sent a four Model 700 rifles back to Remington in the 90s. They fixed the problems at least. 3 out of the four came back in less than two months.

I just sent a brand new one to their service center in Ohio. This was one of their XHR 7mm magnums with the triangular barrel which had several burrs in the chamber that was slicing up the brass pretty bad. They are going to fix it, but really hated having to ship a brand new gun back for repairs. You would think they would just replace it once they verified it was their fault the gun wasn't finished properly. I guess I should be happy they at least paid the shipping.

 

[OYE]

I think you are right to figure it's a rough chamber or possibly the bolt is stepped back
into the receiver ( but I'm a bit puzzled why the Federal brass extracted o.k.). Since
you have 2 brands doing this, you have to figure it's the gun. If you elect to take it to a gunsmith, rather than the factory, be sure it's someone who does barrels. Your case head expansion is always a good thing to check for pressure, Speer recommends to do it on once fired brass only, they claim new brass gives erroneous readings. Since you know to do that, I'm sure you already checked for all the other signs, so I will not mention them. You may end up putting a new barrel on this guy or rechambering the old and setting the barrel back. This is probably going to cost a few bucks,though. I would be interested in hearing what you find out. Knowing the history of the gun would help if
you end up with the option of rechambering or rebarreling ( how many rounds has been through it), since .300 Mags are notorious for short barrel life. Good Luck.

You might examine the rear of the bolt lugs for metal being ground away when the bolt was hammered open, that might give you an idea if the lugs are stepping back in the receiver when it's fired.

 

[PCCUSNRET]

I think you are right to figure it's a rough chamber or possibly the bolt is stepped back
into the receiver ( but I'm a bit puzzled why the Federal brass extracted o.k.). Since
you have 2 brands doing this, you have to figure it's the gun. If you elect to take it to a gunsmith, rather than the factory, be sure it's someone who does barrels. Your case head expansion is always a good thing to check for pressure, Speer recommends to do it on once fired brass only, they claim new brass gives erroneous readings. Since you know to do that, I'm sure you already checked for all the other signs, so I will not mention them. You may end up putting a new barrel on this guy or rechambering the old and setting the barrel back. This is probably going to cost a few bucks,though. I would be interested in hearing what you find out. Knowing the history of the gun would help if
you end up with the option of rechambering or rebarreling ( how many rounds has been through it), since .300 Mags are notorious for short barrel life. Good Luck.

You might examine the rear of the bolt lugs for metal being ground away when the bolt was hammered open, that might give you an idea if the lugs are stepping back in the receiver when it's fired.

The Federal brass was easier to eject, but probably still harder than it should have been. This was the first time I had shot this gun (or a 300 Win Mag) so I assumed the brass might be a little tighter in the chamber but apparently this isn't true.

I examined the bolt lugs and there were no signs of any metal being ground away. This bolt looks almost new. There are a few rub marks from normal wear but nothing major. I purchased this gun "used" from a pawn shop and there is no way for me to determine how many rounds had been fired prior to now, but looking at the physical condition of the exterior I would guess it had set in someone's closet or gun cabinet for the past 10 years (I found out today the gun is 11 years old).

I called Remington today and talked to one of their technicians and he told me that it sounded like the chamber needed to be smoothed out and that I should send it to Ohio for them to look at. Said they would send me an estimate prior to doing any work on the gun. This may be the route I take. Thanks again for all the help.

Chuck

 

[OYE]

That's good about the bolt lugs ( you don't want to see that ). Sounds like you may have a best case scenario. Good luck.