Live round sticking in chamber

2Rope

2Rope

Member
I have a RRA and lately the live round in the chamber won't eject with the charging handle. This has happened with Hornady, Black Hills (new, not reman), and my handloads. I have to tap (medium force) the charging handle with a rawhide mallet to remove the live round. I have cleaned the chamber with a chamber brush. I use carb cleaner, then Butch's, then dry with a lint free patch. Any thoughts?
 
sounds like the shoulders were not bumped back far enough but should not have that problem with factory loads much less 2 different kinds of them.

Have you looked over your bcg? Does the bolt move in and out freely in the carrier? shot in the dark but maybe a bent or broken cam pin that is not allowing the bolt operate properly in the carrier.
 
The bolt & carrier seem to be fine, The rifle feeds & functions, just can't eject a live round. Thanks for the tip!
 
Originally Posted By: midwestpredatorsounds like the shoulders were not bumped back far enough but should not have that problem with factory loads much less 2 different kinds of them.

Have you looked over your bcg? Does the bolt move in and out freely in the carrier? shot in the dark but maybe a bent or broken cam pin that is not allowing the bolt operate properly in the carrier.

Yep bump shoulder back and you will be golden.
 
Originally Posted By: Widow maker 223Doesnt make sense with factory ammo. Try some other ammo for chits n giggles. How many rounds are on it.

Completely overlooked that, don't know how.
smile.gif
 
based on the term lately im assuming this rifle is not new. Have you used any laquer coated ammo recently? Sometimes the older wolf or tula ammo had a coating that could gum up the chamber and cause sticking issues.

One thing i might suggest is if you reload or have access to one load a dummy round, resized case and bullet so you can do testing. Either way rub a sharpie all over the round and put a dot on the back of the round so you have a point of reference. Load the round then eject it and see if its holding up on one side like a spur or something.

Also did you lube the chamber after cleaning it? If not try a patch with a drop or two of lube and run that throug hthe chamber/bore.
 
If the round is still stuck in the chamber, keeping your head away from the muzzle, slam the rifle on a hard surface, butt down and the bolt carrier will release and extract the round 99% of the time...

If the chamber is empty now, and I know you said you cleaned the chamber with a chamber brush, but not how you accomplished that....I, as well as others that have shot high round count competitions, have run into the same problem in the past...It's usually due to excessive powder debris build up in the chamber throat and normal cleaning with a chamber brush won't touch it...

Install you chamber brush in a section of cleaning rod that is chucked into a cordless drill motor...Apply a few drops of good lubricant and spin the brush in the chamber for 20-30 seconds and then patch out the debris...It should cure your problem...It's now part of my normal cleaning routine and haven't had a similar problem since...
 
a less barbaric way to open the rifle (without a hammer) is to hold the charging handle latch and apply pressure trying to retract the bolt, and at the same time bump the buttstock on the ground or a stump or something. the inertia will open the bolt, at least it has for me.
 

One other thought might be a rough chamber requiring a bit of polishing.

Recently I took a bolt rifle to a gunsmith due to rounds sometimes sticking in the chamber. A light tap with a cleaning rod would remove it. It did that with fired and unfired rounds. He polished the chamber which seems to have cured the problem.

Just a thought.
 
Originally Posted By: 6mm06
One other thought might be a rough chamber requiring a bit of polishing.

Recently I took a bolt rifle to a gunsmith due to rounds sometimes sticking in the chamber. A light tap with a cleaning rod would remove it. It did that with fired and unfired rounds. He polished the chamber which seems to have cured the problem.

Just a thought.


Yes to this. I have used Flitz and a bore mop chucked in a drill. It took 20-30 seconds and then clean the chamber with solvent and dry thoroughly.
 
I'm having the same problems with my 6.5 Grendel. Fires and functions perfectly. Just very difficult to manually eject a live round. Mine was so bad that sometimes when you had to bump the charging handle with a mallet, the case would come out and leave the bullet stuck. I thought maybe a short chamber and seated the bullet .020 deeper. I can manually eject a live round now, but it feels rough.

 
I have had the same issues one time with black hills they would run fine but live rounds would not eject worth a darn. I put the calipers on them and they were not trimmed to proper length they were a little long and getting slammed in there hung them up a little bit. That is the only time I have ever had that problem.
 
Thanks for all replies! I have about 5 to 6 hundred rounds thru the rifle, NEVER Wolf or steel case ammo, I will re clean the chamber & throat and use the drill... The problem just surfaced within the last week so a dirty chamber/throat makes the most sense. I have polished revolver chambers in the past so a light polishing sounds reasonable as well. Again thanks for the support!
 
Originally Posted By: OldTurtle Install you chamber brush in a section of cleaning rod that is chucked into a cordless drill motor...Apply a few drops of good lubricant and spin the brush in the chamber for 20-30 seconds and then patch out the debris...It should cure your problem...It's now part of my normal cleaning routine and haven't had a similar problem since...
^^^This is what I do but wrap the brush in super fine steel wool also. The only time I had a live round stuck was due to my bullet being seated a tad to far out when running new loads & seating depths.
 
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