At the range Wed. an ole timer, older than I,Had a bullet stick in the barrel ( no fire ) of his bolt action rifle ( His reloads ). The same thing happened the week before. With factory ammo he had no problem.
I removed the bullet for him and than looked at his primer on the extracted case. When he pulled that case out the powder went all over the place.Well the primer had a slight dimple from the firing pin strike That perhaps was , .004" deep.
It was obvious that the priming mixture was not pinched hard enough between the anvil and the primer cup to gain ignition. The spent factory loads all showed a bold firing pin dimple on the primers.
Removing the bullet took hardly any force, leading me to believe that the case neck may not have had much holding force on the bullet.
I asked myself and now you," Is it possible that the head space was so great and the neck to bullet holding force so weak that as the firing pin struck the primer that it drove the cartridge forward till the bullet engaged the rifling, negating the needed pinch to ignite the primer.
One peculiarity is that the extractor did its job.???
This is the only scenario that comes to mind. If any of you have experienced this let me know. I would also like to hear if you know what caused this or if you have a logical explanation .

roger

quote:

At the range Wed. an ole timer, older than I

i didn't realize that rip van winkle was a shooter before

Your hypothesis is most likely correct. He is full length sizing and pushing the shoulder back to create excessive headspace. The fact that the factory loads are perfect with good firing pin indentation supports this.

Did you look at any of his other loaded rounds? Is it possible he is not seating the primers deeply enough?

Just a guess...

A couple of things to ponder. Could the firing pin drive the cartridge forward with enough force to seat the bullet in the lands without firing the round? Seems like to do that it would more than dimple the primer.
Could it be a combination of all of the above? Excess head space, primer not seated correctly, and the neck has a too light grip on the bullet?
Usually store bought ammo has plenty of slop in the cartridge fit to chamber.
If it doesn't happen often, then it could just be sloppy technique in reloading. That is to say, inconsistent repartitions.

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:
Your hypothesis is most likely correct. He is full length sizing and pushing the shoulder back to create excessive headspace. The fact that the factory loads are perfect with good firing pin indentation supports this.

+1 Unless the cartridge uses rimmed or belted cases.

I assume this is a push feed rifle as a CRF would have held the case and ignition would have driven the bullet out of the barrel.

I also assume the rifle has an excessive amount of headspace to allow the case to be driven so far forward that the primer is not detonated.

However since the extractor is functioning, it means the case is being held and should have fired regardless of the headspace. Evidently there's a lot of space between the bolt face and the extractor hook.

Tell your friend to seat the bullet a full thread of the seating stem deeper and the set the resizer die back about 1/2 full thread.

I'd also advise he get his headspace checked.....it seems way past a no go field gage.

well.. no...in places

if the factory ammo works, and the reloads don't, then the rifle CAN'T have "hyper excessive headspace" ..

i know i say this often - headspace is a measurable factor of the GUN not of the ammo - overly resized ammo is a problem of the AMMO -

Here's a couple things that it COULD be
overly resized ammo (VERY unlikely)
WRONG ammo in a push feed-- maybe

more likely
wrong primers (pistol mag in rifle mag)
too deep set primers
both assume short firing pin extrusion

dead / oiled primers
bad dies

and only after alot of other looking would i stick a headspace gage in.. heck, mebbe not.. i might put tape on the end of a factory round and see if i can feel pressure when closing it...

but if factory ammo goes boom, and reloaded brass from the same doesn't, it AINT a "headspace" problem...

though it could be bad dies and overly resized brass ... which is NOT a headspace change

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:


However since the extractor is functioning, it means the case is being held and should have fired regardless of the headspace. .

If the rim thickness is,let's say, .007" less than the distance between the bolt face and the extractor claw it is possible that the original scenario is at least possible.
Probable??? I don't know. roger

Just my humble opinion but I think over sizing can and does create an under sized condition. roger

Humble or not, you are dead on and it happens all the time. Crank the die down and size away without regard to your chamber. Presto, you get short base to datum length ammo.