I had the head of one of my reloads come off with the rest of the cartridge stuck in the chamber! I guess I loaded it too many times, it wasn't a hot load and I've never had this happen to any of my other guns ( I have read about it ).
What's the best(easiest) way to get the cartridge out with out damaging anything? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

You might be able to get it out with a .45 cal brush. Push the brush into the case from the rear and pull it out. Or use cerrosafe.

Since you reload just drop a bullet into the case from the back, it will go to the neck and then stop. Melt some solder on top of it then drive it out with a rod from the muzzle. You can also just stuff some paper towel in, or use a tiny bit of cloth- just anything, but if you drop a bullet in base first it makes a cleaner case for driving out. Fill it with about 1/2"-1" of solder, just feed the solder into a soldering iron or use a propane torch and dribble it in.

Reloaderman,

And the winner is.... The #1, hands down best way to safely remove a stuck case from a chamber when the head is missing is to insert a small, tight fitting patch in the approximate area of the throat, and with a propane torch, melt some cerrosafe and carefully pour this into the cold chamber, and then with a plastic coated rod so as to not damage the bore, knock it out. Works every time on even the most stubborn of cases.

Malm

Sorry TBob, I should have read your reply first... Of course, he may not have known what to do with the cerrosafe...

Regards,

Malm

Now I would ask, why the head seperation ?? My thought is that you are probably oversizing the cases causing excessive headspace. I expect that you have your full length die screwed in the press to far thereby pushing the shoulder of the case back. When this is done you have created an excessive headspace problem which should be alarming.

Years ago I decided that I would include a broken shell extractor in my kit. I admit I haven't had to use it, but it is nice to know that it is there. I suspect that the wire brush method will work as well most or all of the time.

I remember Jack O'Connor writing that he would not hunt with a cartridge that had been FLRS more than one time. I suspect that is good advice. I usually only hunt with new or once fired cases.

Jerry

Post deleted.

[ 02-07-2003, 21:21: Message edited by: Savage99 ]

I checked 21 fired cases with a wire feeler and could not find any rings! I've been scrounging brass at the range, and I think the one that gave me the problem was an OLD one.

"Also check that a bullet will enter the neck of a fired case. The 243 Win has a reputation for tight necks and in any cartridge it's something to keep a close watch on.".....This was checked and 7 of the fired cases would NOT fit over a new bullet! Outside of the necks measured .276-.278'ish (the other cases ran .273-.274)Could this be the reason some cases won't eject?( there are no signs of pressure such as flatened primers or oversized case heads).
This is a SS Handirifle and I've had some cases get stuck after firing in fact some would not chamber untill I borrowed a "bump-back" die from a friend and ran them through this die.

reloaderman---

You should be warned about a VERY unsafe condition and false economy.

Scrounging brass at the range to shoot in an inherently weak action in a notoriously dangerous cartridge (I've seen more blown apart 243s than all others combined) is dangerous and puts your eyes or more at risk to save a few bucks. It's NOT VERY SMART.

Buy NEW brass and treat it well. DON'T hotrod a top-break action and PLEASE don't experiment on brass you don't know the history of.

I know of a case where a kid picked up brass for his dad at the range to reload. He got some from the trash barrel that had been completely annealed. It was the eight year old that lost both eyes as a result.

Brass is CHEAP !!!!!!! Buy some.

What Jack said. The only head case separation I have ever had was with a Handi rifle in 243.

I sold it.

Section a couple of cases to check for the ring. I had separations in 2 resizings. FWIW, Dutch.

Mr. Belk,

I've read in several different sources that the .243 Win. and 7mm Remington Magnum are susceptible to pressure swings. I assume that is why you say you have seen so many blown up .243s.

What causes these pressure swings? Is it because of the relatively small bore diameter for the case capacity or is there another cause? Being that the .260 Remington is close to the .243, would it have some of the same problems?

Thanks,
MD

Thanks for the input, sometimes I need a kick in the ass to get my head straitened out!
I'm going to try some factory loads the next time out, then maybe try again. I've been considering just quiting that .243, I don't want to sell it because I have a 357 Mag barrle for it and it's just a blast to shoot(no pun intended). Wadcutters @ 200 yds. and wait for it to hit the target!!
Thanks again!

Reloaderman...

Check the "lock-up" of the .243 barrel. When you close the action, is there any wiggle room that will allow the barrel to move up and down, even though the action is latched?

If so, the barrel needs to be fitted. Jack Belk could advise on the best way to do this...

It is necessary to completely full length size the brass on these rifles, or the cases won't eject reliably, as you've noted.

Dan