What causes shell to get stuck in chamber.

grizzly204

grizzly204

New member
I took my Howa 1500 in .223 to the range today to test some new loads. Closed the bold and fired....shell stuck in chamber. Got that one out and same thing happened again. Everything on the bolt looks ok. I am shooting 27grains of H335 with a 40gr SKB. No signs of high pressure. Any suggestions.
 
Was the brass always shot in your rifle or did you get it from someone else. If it was necksized for another rifle and not full length resized before you loaded it up, that could be the whole issue.
 
Quote:
Was the brass always shot in your rifle or did you get it from someone else. If it was necksized for another rifle and not full length resized before you loaded it up, that could be the whole issue.

I bought a few thousand a while back and I'm not sure if I have shot any of this yet. It was resized(not by me) but trimmed(by me). So does the shoulder need to be pushed back a little.
 
Get a light and look into the chamber. My brother had that happen to one of his rifles and he had some pitting that was causing his rounds to stick.

I have actually seen this in some new rifles that have been out on the self for severals months in humid weather...actually in a gun store!!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif They didn't keep them very clean, they had finger prints all over them and looked like they were never wiped off at the end of each day. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
Hot loads, dirty chamber, rough chamber, dirty brass, brass not full length sized enough, (although usually it won't chamber at all if it's not sized enough) Could be any number of different things. Also don't judge pressure just by looking at the primers. The best way is to shoot some factory loads and measure the case head before and after fireing and make sure that your reloads don't exceed the maximum expansion of those cases. Not 100% accurate but pretty darn close.
 
27 gr. of H335 w/ 40 gr. bullets isn't a hot load. I load 25+ gr. with a 55 and it's below max.
I doubt that's going to be it.
Shooting a couple of factory loads isn't bad advice, though. It narrows it down.
 
I am dealing with a similar problem on a gun I just had the barrel set back
on. It shines the brass about where you would see case head separation upon
chambering it. New factory chambers fine. My RCBS die will not size the diameter small enough unless I get the headspace about .020 under, using
the wrong shell holder. So before I try anything else I am going to get a forster
die as they seem to have the tightest specs. So if your chamber is small it makes the load much hotter. My loads have gone from 3500 to 3900, same
load , same gun. Now they are too hot but not near the upper limit for book
spec. Look at the brass you extract and see where it is swiped shiny.
 
Any brass should be treated as fired brass, even if it is brand new. Check for length, full length resized (with plenty of lubrication, but not enuf to dent the cases) and cleaned (preferably in a vibrator case cleaner). If the chamber is rough, put a wore out brass brush in a drill and wrap it good with 0000 steel and a small amount of Flitz.
 
Run them up a stripped 38/357 die and it will resize that little place [shiney spot] that your FL die misses. Also cures the sticking problems sometimes experienced with a lubed case in your FL die. Recheck max case length.
 
I had the same problem with a HR handi rifle. What I did was take a brush and wrapped a patch around it with a bunch of jb compound on it then chucked it in my drill. After a few minutes of polishing the chamber my problem went away.
I guess mine was a rough chamber. Good luck
 


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