Good Morning,

Quick question about the Ruger Alaskan in 375 Ruger...I know these are relatively new so there may not be much collective experience with them.

Mine seems to have an issue with cartridge feeding. The rifle is used but has only about 30 rounds through it. I received a box of hornady brass that had been fired through the rifle. I full length re-sized the brass with new redding die and loaded some 260 gr nosler AB's to an oal of 3.325...no to very light crimp.

I shove a round in the magazine and when I try to chamber, the round is fed from the magazine and then stops at about a 3/4 chamber. I then have to apply more umpf to the bolt and the round seats and the bolt handle will close with a little resistance. The round fires and ejects smoothly. I fired 10 rounds and had the same feed problem each time..smooth magazine pickup then all stop as the round partialy entered the chamber...

Never had this problem before. Any thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks

Have you tried adjusting your sizing die down more?

That's a thought....my re-sizing die is adjusted per the redding instructions...touching shell holder + 1/4 turn...

Guess it might not hurt to take her down another 1/4 and see if any improvement...

Thanks

Have you tried any factory ammunition in this rifle. Would be curious to see if the problem existed with factory rounds. I doubt it would, but it would likely indicate a problem I am not qualified to diagnose or comment upon because I would have no idea what to think. I would like to have a 375 Ruger.

Mine has functioned flawlessly with factory 270 and 300 grain loads.

kreyten,
Check the chamber entrance edge. It may be sharp and need a little polishing to slick it up. Just round that sharp edge with some polishing, just above the feed ramp, the lower edge of the chamber entrance. You can do it yourself with a Dremel tool and polishing spud like I did.

My beautiful little first batch African would do what you describe with the 300-gr RN factory loads, and did better with the pointier 270-gr SP. It is now fully rectified by that polishing. Might as well do the entire feed ramp while you are at it. I did. Slicked up nicely!

My later-batch Alaskan stainless had no such problem. Fed flawlessly.

I couldn't chamber my relaods until I totally eliminated even a remote crimp. There were a few articles published on reloading this case also. Apparently even the slightest crimp will bulge the case. At the advice of some on this forum I went to a Lee factory (custom) crimp die and have not had a problem since.

Have had zero problems, crimping all rounds. Rifle is headed to Africa next month to be used by my son on buff. I reload exclusively and the rifle has over 120 rounds through it already, RCBS dies.

Thanks to all for the responses..sounds like this is not a unique problem.

Will remove crimp and polish ramp/lip as suggested.

God...I hate being cheap...but it just KILLS me to pay 50+$$ for factory ammo I can load myself! Guess I should break down and buy some to see if the problem is with my reloads or something else.

Appreciate all the help.

Cheers.

My resized 375 Ruger brass was also a little too tight to chamber easily. Had to take .001" off the top of the shell holder.