These four cases were shot out of my 308 this morning.

The two cases on the right are loaded with a 150 grain Hornady BTSP and 47 grains of Varget. The Lee loading manual calls this a maximum load and it should make 2900 fps. I'm getting 2780 fps but I'm loading them a little longer than spec and still have over .250" of freebore in this gun so it's always slow.

The two cases on the left are Federal Classic 180 grain Factory loads. They show a bright mark where brass flowed into the ejector hole and smeared when the bolt was lifted. The bolt lift was noticeably harder than on my handloads. I had to hold the rifle down on the rest with my right hand and push the bolt up with the heel of my left hand. The bolt would not unlock with a regular hold. (The gun and I are both left handed)

EDITED to add information
The gun was checked by a gunsmith previously who repaired the broken bolt handle (Remington 788) and checked it for headspace which was fine (it wouldn't close on a no-go gage). It has had <20 rounds fired through it since then.

Are the factory loads too hot for my gun?

The primers should be flatter than they show.....but more and more I'm getting used to looking less at primers....I've seen brass extruded into ejector hole with primers looking fine...

IMO....if this truly is brass that has extruded into the ejector hole then it's not safe to shoot in your gun...the difficulty opening the bolt is a huge hint as well.....

Factory loads absolutely never do this...(at least not supposed to) something is wrong here.

I would go back to the smith and discuss this whth him. Something is not right even tho I think factory Federals are hot.

Seems like you never use to hear of high pressure on factory ammo, if anything it was underloaded.

However, I have seen several instances lately where the pressures where pretty high.

In my dad's Winchester Model 70 chambered in 7mm WSM the factory Wnchester 150 grain ammo is much too hot. Like you, he can barely get the bolt open, we did not shoot many of those.

I recently bought a new Remington 700 Mountain Rifle SS in 7-08 Remington. I bought some factory ammo to shoot in it before I started reloading for it. Some Federal factory stuff that was loaded with Speer 150 grain bullets was entirely too hot for safe use in my gun. I experienced the same shiny spots on the case heads and while my bolt was not as hard to open as yours, it was very stiff.

In my new Model 70 chambered in 270 WSM the factory 150 grain Winchester ammo I have does not show any physical evidence of high pressure, but the bolt lift is pretty darned hard after firing.

Go figure!

I'd try contacting federal about it. Or if that doesn't work try shooting the federal ammo in a different gun.

I'll probably try this in another 308, first. I was given this partial box of ammo and just took it to the range to burn it up. I just didn't want to hurt my gun doing it.

This partial box and another box of Federal Premium 165 grain BTSP's are the only factory rounds shot in this gun since about 1983.

No, Federal brass creates a vacuum.

IMHO

Are you sure that brass extruded into the ejector hole? Can you show a closer look?

It looks as if the ejector as a burr on it and caught on the base. The case in the lower right may have a similar mark?

How was the initial bolt lift?

if the bolt handle was broken from trying to eject an earlier "hot" load the locking surfaces
may be the problem. Take a good look at them.
Good luck!

quote:

Seems like you never use to hear of high pressure on factory ammo, if anything it was underloaded.

The very first lot of Winchester .264 Win. Mag. 140-grain factory ammo that I tested back around 1960, in one of the first M70 Westerners, gave us blown primers! Overly hot factory ammo is not a new phenomenon! But it does seem to occur more often with new cartridge designs, probably because the pressure (no pun intended) is on to meet advertised performance levels........

Since you know the MV of your handload, could it be that you also chronographed that 180-grain factory load? If so, did it seem to be a little on the fast side?

I would not continue to use ammo that gives stiff bolt lift, and particularly, any that extrudes part of the case head into the ejector hole.....

Probably should contact Federal about this, but it's possible that you chamber is on the tight side.

Had an incident a couple years ago with some Remington factory 180's in 30 06. Shot a round and thought it felt strange. Opened the bolt and extracted it and saw the primer fall out. The primer pocket had expanded greatly. Took the rest of the stuff home and pulled the bullets. There was a good quantity of flake powder with the other powder. One of the cases even had a small piece of round brass in it that wouldn't come out. I have shot a fair amount of factory, but not since then. I like to roll my own. This isn't meant to be a pissin match on factory ammo, but sometimes bad suff does get out.

OK You guys are taxing my photography skills but here's another view. The case in front was picked randomly from the Federal box and is typical of what the others lok like. The back case is a maximum load with Varget and the 150 grain Hornady.

Here's the view from the other side


A little history, I bought this left handed 788 new in 1975 and learned to reload on it. Conservatively it has 10,000 rounds through it and has been subjected to all kinds of stupid mistakes over the years. It has no throat left in it but it will still put three shots into less than an inch with just about any handload that you want to try in it.

The bolt handle repair was necessitated when I fell on a snow covered rock during an Elk hunt and snapped the bolt handle off. This gun has nine rear locking lugs and still operates very smoothly after the repair.

I did shoot over the chronograph with the Federal load and it was the first shots of the morning but I didn't write the velocity down. I seem to remember looking at it and that it was below 2700 fps because the velocity was real close to what my 165 grain handloads used to do.

Frank, I've had a number that I have experieced hard bolt handle lift that wasn't due to what is normally thought of as excessive pressure.

On a wildcat of mine based on .425WR, both available sources of brass were Too soft. This was discussed with Charles Huntington from whom I got the brass and he said that as far as he knew the brass indeed was too soft for wild catting.

Ran into soft brass in 7.62 X 51 with the cavim head stamp. At least 3 .308s it was fired in exhibited the hard lift.

When I used the cavim brass for a couple of wild cats I got the same effect.

In at least 2 Mausers that were not hardened, set back in the action developed and any load approaching mediocure velocity levels exhibited the hard lift.

These may not be causing your problem but they do present possibilities. roger

Old age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone..

It sure looks like brass flowing into the ejector cut to me.

I have seen many factory loads extrude into the ejector slot of several different guns.My guess is soft brass.can you measure the case head behind the rim, fired versus unfired and see if it has expanded?