I fired my new VVCG 223 Contender barrel for the first time today. The first shot went fine. After the second shot, the gun was very difficult to open. When I did get it open, the extractor was bent upward, and won't fit flush with the end of the barrel. Obviously, I can't load or close the gun now. Any ideas on a cause? Everything seemed normal when loading, closing, and firing the gun. Don't think this is a manufacturing issue. It looked fine when I got it, and as I said, the first shiot went fine. I have two factory TC barrells (30-30 Super 16 and 10" 45/410) and have had no issues with either of these. The VV barrel is a much tighter fit to the frame, and the hinge pin is a tighter fit as well. Thought this was a good thing, but maybe not? Guess I'll call Virgin Valley tomorrow, and send it in for repair. Thanks in advance for your thoughts. Jeff

Take the extractor out and bend it straight. Perhaps a warm load on your part? May just need to send the extractor itself to VV, or just call them to send a replacement. An inconvenience to be sure, but should be an easy fix ( I hope).
Jeff

Also, since rimless case barrels have a spring under the extractor, this has to catch to extract the case. 30-30 and other rimmed cases don't need the spring to pull the cases out. Rimmed cases are always a plus in this situation, esp. in a hunting mode. Hope I explained this right.
Jeff

Wondering what kind of a load you fired in the VV 223 barrel? Not flame just asking.

Contact me tomorrow and I'll help you solve it. Worse case, I send you a new extactor to put in it.

Thanks for the feedback. I was firing factory Federal 55 grain loads. Maybe the case slipped behind the extractor befor firing? Not sure. I'll take the extractor out & contact VV tomorrow.

I've had this happen before with a VVC barrel. What it boiled down too was I had hand loaded a round with too long of oa OAL. The bullet engaged the rifling severely and when I went to extract the still loaded round The fact that I had the bullet deeply in the rifling took extra foce to remove the round this is how I bent mine. I removed the extractor bent it straight and seated the bullets deeper and haven't had a problem since. I realize that this is factory ammo so it probably wasn't seated too far out but was probably a warm load. I ran into a guy the other day at the gun shop who had been shooting some white box winchester 223 rem rounds. This was a cooper varmint rifle. Anyway long story short he had problems raising the bolt so he shot so remington rounds and they extracted fine. I believe the white box winchester rounds are loaded in mexico anyhow I have seen quite a few adds for winchester recalling ammo in the past year. Switch your ammo and see if the problem happens again.

Outlawsix-

I believe it was an ammo issue. It was PMC ammo, not federal as I stated in my earlier post. (had just finished shooting another gun, and had Federal on my mind). Heard from some other people that it may be loaded to mil spec, and may cause higher pressure in some 223 chambers. Spoke with Jeff at Virgin Valley today. He was very helpful in analyzing the problem. Sounds like I could have avoided the bent extractor had I just pushed the case out with a cleaning rod before opening the action all the way. A new extractor is on the way, and I'll be shooting Federal Premium and handloads only in this barrel from now on.

VV Jeff-
Thanks for your help today. You were very polite, professional, and informative. You guys have definitely gained another long term customer! By the way, the two shots I did get to fire were almost touching. I'm looking forward to getting this barrel back in action.