I have a Steyr HS-50. I have been loading LC84 and LC86 brass. I full
length resized in RCBS dies. I trimmed and camfered to 3.89" and
trimmed the flash hole. I loaded with CCI#35 primers and between 200gr
to 233gr of H 50BMG powder with 750 A-Max's. I have had all the cases
stick in the chamber. I needed a cleaning rod to dislodge them. I was
give the recomendation that I should use alcohol to clean the outside
of the case and remove the remaining case lube. I did that and they
still stick, just not as bad. I also had a friend check the cases and
they are still in spec. There is no sign of excessive pressure or
marks where the case may be sticking. Has anyone else had problems
with Lake city brass??? I have fired other rounds without problems.

Your 2 cents are welcome.....

Craig

Hi, Craig!
When you write you fired oyther rounds without problem, do you mean :
1) rounds reloaded with other brass headstamp ?
2) manufactured ammo ?

Looks like a hot load to me..

I suggest using a dry lube like those found in spray and reduce your load 10 % for a new batch.

The problem of the A Max is that you need to push the load in a hot zone to get the benefit of this projectile, I mean a long barrel and a high speed are necessary to enjoy the advantages of the A Max. I stopped using them.

Are your loaded rounds hard to chamber? Did you clean out the inside of the case necks with a brush and lube them before sizing the cases?

How does a cleaning rod remove the case when the rifle's extraction did not? Seems like if you can get the bolt unlock, then the primary extraction would pop the case loose. Are you driving the case out with the rod with the bolt's extractor still engaging the groove? Just curious about that.

Edmond....

First question.... yes. I loaded other brass with the same load and No problems.
Second question....yes. I had factory ammo with standard FMJ and also someone elses A-Max load and they extracted with no problems.

My loads are in the 2450fps to 2900fps with the A-Max. I agree that 2800+ is hot loaded but the 2450+ is light. I have been told that 2600fps is a good accuracy load for the A-Max bullets.

The barrel on my Steyr is 33 inches.

Goneballistic.... my loaded rounds chamber fine and are within spec, cases were tumbled clean and FL resized then trimmed and camfered.

After firing the bolt unlocks without trouble or sticking. When I pull on the bolt after unlocking and I cannot pull the case free. I used a cleaning rod down the barrel and into the case then tapped it out using a small hammer. The case then pushes the bolt to the rear and is ejected.

The Steyr is a single shot bolt gun so there is no primary extraction, the extractor rotates on the case rim.

Hope this answers a few more questions.

quote:

The Steyr is a single shot bolt gun so there is no primary extraction, the extractor rotates on the case rim.

Hmmm. I've got two single shot .50's, a shell holder State Arms Rebel and a bolt action Viper, and I have a McBros action that I'm going to have built into a BR rifle.

All 3 have primary extraction, which consists of a camming action on the bolt that occurs when you raise the bolt handle to unlock. As the bolt rotates during unlock, the cam retracts the bolt slightly (a few thou) just as the rifle unlocks from battery. Just enough to use the leverage of the bolt handle pop the case from it's fireformed position. I would be surprised if your rifle lacks it, no primary extraction in a .50 is an invitation for extraction problems.

The reason I asked about the inside of the necks is this. If your expander ball has too much drag on the case necks during the downward stroke on the ram, the ball will pull the necks and stretch them. Usually this results in hard chambering, but not always. It can result in hard extraction. This difference from spec loads is very hard to discern, unless you drop the rounds into a headspace gauge. Cases should have their necks cleaned by a brush, tumbling is not enough. What was done with other brass and other loads makes no difference, neck wall thicknesses and brass hardness varies, and this all affects the amount of drag on the neck. Your brass necks should always be individually cleaned and lubed inside and the expander ball should be polished, in any case. This will result in ammo with less runout.


Good luck!

goneballistic, yep there is no primary extraction. The bolt face and the body are attached and rotate as one piece, there is no forward or rear movement. The only action is on the inside locking lugs that are tapered and the outside of the chamber that is ramped so that as the bolt unlocks the bolt handle cams on the breach face and does an extraction as it is pushed into a fully open position.

quote:

Originally posted by missing_something:
goneballistic, yep there is no primary extraction. The bolt face and the body are attached and rotate as one piece, there is no forward or rear movement. The only action is on the inside locking lugs that are tapered and the outside of the chamber that is ramped so that as the bolt unlocks the bolt handle cams on the breach face and does an extraction as it is pushed into a fully open position.

I just looked at my HS-50 and it rotates thru about 70 degrees before it starts extracting and then extracts about 0.062" at the top of the bolt throw. Photos available upon request.

quote:

Originally posted by goneballistic:The reason I asked about the inside of the necks is this. If your expander ball has too much drag on the case necks during the downward stroke on the ram, the ball will pull the necks and stretch them. Usually this results in hard chambering, but not always. It can result in hard extraction. This difference from spec loads is very hard to discern, unless you drop the rounds into a headspace gauge. Cases should have their necks cleaned by a brush, tumbling is not enough. What was done with other brass and other loads makes no difference, neck wall thicknesses and brass hardness varies, and this all affects the amount of drag on the neck. Your brass necks should always be individually cleaned and lubed inside and the expander ball should be polished, in any case. This will result in ammo with less runout.


Good luck!

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http://p198.ezboard.com/fk98kpagefrm10.showMessage?topicID=9.topic

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quote:

Originally posted by missing_something:
Edmond....

First question.... yes. I loaded other brass with the same load and No problems.
Second question....yes. I had factory ammo with standard FMJ and also someone elses A-Max load and they extracted with no problems.

My loads are in the 2450fps to 2900fps with the A-Max. I agree that 2800+ is hot loaded but the 2450+ is light. I have been told that 2600fps is a good accuracy load for the A-Max bullets.

The barrel on my Steyr is 33 inches.

Goneballistic.... my loaded rounds chamber fine and are within spec, cases were tumbled clean and FL resized then trimmed and camfered.

After firing the bolt unlocks without trouble or sticking. When I pull on the bolt after unlocking and I cannot pull the case free. I used a cleaning rod down the barrel and into the case then tapped it out using a small hammer. The case then pushes the bolt to the rear and is ejected.

The Steyr is a single shot bolt gun so there is no primary extraction, the extractor rotates on the case rim.

Hope this answers a few more questions.

Last step would be to shoot your load with another rifle, if it happens again, the brass is guilty.

I got this problem 25 years ago when shooting czech ammo in my Steyr SSG 69 that had a very tight chamber, it seems that the brass did not retract and stuck to the walls in the chamber. The brass developped cracks after the first reload, too brittle and lack of elasticity.
The only LC brass I used were 5.56 that I formed into 7 mm TCU for a single shot contender and I did not have any problem with it, I had fired them before in my Colt AR 15 HB.

I use only Lapua brass for years now, they are more expensive but they last much longer and I have to trim them less than other brands.

Thanks for the advise Edmond, I use Lapua brass for my 338 lapua mag. Way better than Norma

I wish I could get some 50 BMG brass from Lapua but I dont think they make it. Plus shipping from Eurpoe would be a bummer as well.

That brass cleaner that you have on your web site... can I get it in Canada? Do you have a distributor her yet? Can you ship it from France?

Cheers,

Craig

I bought a Steyr HS 50, I use the French made brass and bullets supplied by Edmond and some IMI brass(TZZ headstamps) No problemo!

quote:

That brass cleaner that you have on your web site... can I get it in Canada? Do you have a distributor her yet? Can you ship it from France?

End of 2002, I had found a few dealers for my brass cleaner in US and they cancelled their orders when the French bashing campaign started.

A Canadian dealer cancelled his order as well since he planned to distribute in the northern states across the border.

Nobody wanted to take the risk of keeping the DCB in a storage for months.

The exchange rate made the DCB expensive once the political quarrel had cooled down.

I can ship some, the cost of individual shipment is not cheap...

I read the post that asked if the brass was hard to chamber, but I could not find your reply. If it is not hard to chamber then it sounds to me like the load is very hot!! Looking at the load 233g of H50 this is potentiall a VERY HOT!!! load. I know the canister says this is safe but I have had many 50's and none of them have allowed me to use more than 228g. Most of them shoot best and are at max somewhere between 215g to 223g of H50BMG. Hope this helps.

just this weekend I found out some things from the guy making the state arms 50's. Both me and a friend had chambering problems for awhile. His was extraction and mine was chambering. I noticed that the rcbs press had a bit of flex to it and I had to turn the die down past shellholder contact to FL size. But the extraction was different. what we found out was that some (not all) of the rcbs dies need to have a few thousands cut off the bottom because they are not bringing the head down quite far enough. He claimed that that has happen quite a few times causing the extraction problem. we'll find out soon.

I use RCBS dies and Press without any problem with FNB, TZZ and SFM brass.
If you're obliged to remove something from the sizing die, the chamber may be tighter than the SAAMI dimensions for the .50 BMG.