6.5-300 Wby cartridge stuck and primer blown out

[338 win mag]

I have loaded rounds that jammed bolt, blown primers and pulled the heads off shells.
I lived in FLa. then mostly twenty years or more ago.
Last year a once fired shell split in half with a mil case 223 with 3.5 grains of Tite Group. That is my standard light load. when i opened the bolt the two parts of the case fell out. No pressure issues just a bad case.
Some times it is the brass that's worn out. Temp. Me being young and dumb.
I have never had anything go wrong with accuracy after.
Nothing has ever negatively affected the safety of firing the rifle again.
I have 1,000s of rounds through that 223 rifle and it still puts bullets inside the same hole at 25 yards of the bench. I basically only shoot off hand but use the bench to check zero ever 500 ends or so.
Weatherby likes their rounds to go fast and it could have just been a batch of powder that's ran hot and a hot primer on a hot day.

 

[ThrdKllr]

Yeah those smiley faces don't mean all good. I would have someone check the rifle out even if I had to pay for it. I wouldn't use the rest of that ammo and I would keep up with the lot number for future purchases. I had a 6.5x284 that did the same thing, though not as bad. Mine was with my handloads and I know it was not the way it was loaded. The rest of them shot fine. I would definitely get with Weatherby about the ammo.
I have had problems with the container of powder that this happened with in other rifles and different chamberings. I'm going to use the rest of it for fire starter.

 

[vancewalker007]

View attachment 144338 View attachment 144339 I have not fired the gun again...waiting for my son to come home from vacation...just kidding...I not sure what to do before I plan to fire again...I will contact Wby. I know it will take every muscle in my body to pull the trigger on the next round out of that gun...
Here are pictures...If I can figure out how to add them

Well, for some reason you fired an over pressure round. Maybe it was the heat maybe it was that ammo. It's not unheard of for factory ammo to be hot. It's happened recently with Hornady ammo in 6.5 PRCs. That popped primer and that ejector mark are both very strong signs of over pressure. One thing you need to keep in mind when working in hot weather is shoot way slower (put some time 5-8 mins) between shots. If I have a hot load that makes an extractor mark on a case like that I toss out the case as I've found the primer pockets tend to be stretched. You may have had a little gas go into the bolt so pulling it apart and inspecting it might not be a bad idea and definitely contact Weatherby.

 

[epoletna]

I agree with others who have said it is definitely overpressure. The ejector marks on the case head are the proof of that. If you check the primer pocket, you will probably find that a spent primer will drop in and fall out with no resistance, as the pocket is likely stretched.

I'd like to see the outside of fired primer -- not just the inside. I'd like to see how much cratering there is.

Weatherby should be interested in looking at both the rifle and unfired cartridges. Keep after them.

 

[John 264]

Long time lerker/follower of your site but first time post.

So my older Buddy gets a Vanguard in 65-300 and he ask if I could site it in for him. I have fired the rifle a few time before and ran about 40 rd down the barrel. Anyway i was shooting yesterday and fired about another 10 rnd and then it happend. Fired fine and bullet went down range fine. But when I tried open the chamber the bolt was stuck. I have to pull pretty hard and the bolts opens...The cartridge comes out and the primer is sitting in chamber. Also the back of the cartridge shows small brass missing and fine some fine brass on the bolt. I am a little concerned the gun may have damage. Also any idea on why this happened? It was Africa hot down here in central Tx.
The bullets were weather 140 grn soft points WBY factory ammo.
I hope this the correct place for this post if not please relocate.
Thx Folks

I have seen this before in a 257 wby there ammo is hot and here in the Texas heat it will build pressure I can check the gun over and make sure everything is fine I have been a gunsmith for 20 years text me at [email protected] I am in bulverde TX

 

[338 dude]

The round was obviously overcharged. I've had plenty of sticky bolts in my experiences with dreaming-up loads for my mildcat rifles. I had a bunch one day that had me swearing a blue streak. Between the torrent of vulgarities and obscenities, I said to the tumbleweeds that I wished there was some way I could push the stuck case out of the chamber instead of trying to pull it out with the bolt handle. Then it hit me! The solution came to me in a flash of low intelligence. Before I got home that day, I swung past Lowe's and bought a 3/16" brass rod of 36 inches in length. I now use that rod to easily push the stuck case out after it's fired. I never have a problem unlocking the bolt. Once the bolt is unlocked, the stuck case is very easily popped right out. After I began doing the brass rod thing, I've never had to wrestle the bolt handle to remove a sticking case. They come out quite easily. A simple, sliding tap-tap of the rod is all it takes. I keep the rod in the case for the problem rifle. A sticking bolt can bring an afternoon at the range to an immediate halt, so it always goes with me...

If you have to bring a rod with you you need to do something different not only is this a problem you're on the verge of being very dangerous I was taught when I started hand loading if you run into a problem do not create a workaround and keep firing figure out the problem and solve it before going on

 

[338 dude]

View attachment 144338 View attachment 144339 I have not fired the gun again...waiting for my son to come home from vacation...just kidding...I not sure what to do before I plan to fire again...I will contact Wby. I know it will take every muscle in my body to pull the trigger on the next round out of that gun...
Here are pictures...If I can figure out how to add them

Did this just start happening or has this been happening with multiple boxes of rounds if it only started recently I would get Weatherby ammo from a different source if you have the ability to pull a bullet from the suspect box and pull a bullet from a new box and weigh the charges and see if they are the same but I feel it is an Ammo issue

 

[nvschütze]

If you have to bring a rod with you, you need to do something different. Not only is this a problem, you're on the verge of being very dangerous. I was taught when I started hand loading if you run into a problem, do not create a workaround and keep firing. Figure out the problem and solve it before going on.

When the bolt stuck when the suspect rounds were fired, I knew what was the problem. In order to get to another load, I had to remove the case that stuck in the chamber. The brass rod does it extremely well.

The rounds that did stick were usually at the upper end of the incremental series being tested. What puzzles me is that one or two rounds of the five being fired at that specific charge might present a reluctant bolt (slightly difficulty to extract) while the second one might present a sticky bolt (more difficult than a reluctant bolt), even though both cartridges were loaded to the same charge. The fifth round might present no difficulty at all. I have no explanation for why this was seen.

The case obturates upon firing, then relaxes close to immediately after being fired. That round will easily extract. If the case sticks in the chamber, it's because brass weakly adheres to steel under the pressure of the propellant being burned. The length of the extractor with respect to the circumference of the rim is small, providing for a small purchase upon the rim. That small purchase makes for a difficult extraction of the fired case. If the extractor was several times longer than we usually see, we'd rarely have sticking cases.

Rifle receivers are proofed to pressures no competent reloader will ever see. The case is going to fail before we'll see a mechanical failure of the receiver, but it might if a reloader substitutes a pistol powder because he didn't have the correct rifle powder. I actually read it at some point in the past that some dingbat asked if he could use a powder for .45ACP because he didn't have a suitable powder for his .308Win. By the time I saw that question, months and months had passed since it had been posted. If he who asked was so fired-up to load his .308 with pistol powder, I hope nothing unfortunate became of him. I'll never know, but he does have the right to do what he so desires and face the consequences...

 

[tony d willIiams]

I was out shooting with my son near Yuma testing grounds. We were using ammunition I had reloaded, and that we had used many times. A piece of brass was stuck, heavy bolt lift, primer partially pushed out. I didn't have a piece of brass with us, the cleaning rod didn't push it out.
Got home, pushed it out and found the primer partially out, ejector damage on brass. Inspected my reloads and every item proper.
Did a bunch of thinking, worrying and finally realized it was the loose nut behind the trigger. We, no not correct, I had left my ammunition in the sun, 118℉ ambient. I caused the over pressure by carelessness. I am more careful now and try not to overlook anything.
Luckily nobody was injured and my rifle lived through with accuracy intact.

 

[DarryH]

Can you be 100% sure the ammo was factory new and NOT reloaded?? I ask as I have seen retailers take ammo with a gun they buy from a customer. That ammo usually winds up on the shelf for sale if it is a complete box. I always pull every round out of the box to check them. Length, loading marks, bullets matching, primers matching, and case heads matching. Some retailer do NOT accept pre-owned ammo.

 

[zr600]

How dirty is the rifle is there a possibility of a carbon ring?

 

[Don A Parsons]

That's another thing to watch for """if""" compressed powder charges are used,,,.not in the OP's case I don't think...

Compressed powder charges will expand over time,,, hot sun temps,,, ammo that has gone for a fight over seas,,, and just sitting on the bench over time as the compressed powder charge Sloooooowly returns to their relaxed state...

The more compressed the charge the more it """could""" expand,,, not in all situations,,, but in some...

Boolitz seated at X off the lands one day might be Y the next day/ week/ month/ or year...

Be careful out there brothers and sisters,,, none of us need boolitz into jam if they were not made that way...

Off the lands is one thing,,, jam and pressure spikes are deffinatly a no go zone unless the charge was set-up to shoot that way...

We seat our booltiz before flying over seas,,, once we get to our Lodge we seat the boolitz to the proper depth at that point,,, it ain't worth our time or effort to find out after the fact...

At least in our shooting sports and hunts...

Be keen and stay wize to """all""" the small stuff before it becomes major stuff...

Cheers from the North