a little help with a 338 Lapua reloading issue

[majog]

what's the speed?

did not chrono as of yet. On my list of things to do. I would have thought a hot round would have given me more case expansion though.

 

[PddPdd]

To start with I have been reloading for over 30 years and never ran into the issue I am having before. I have a Savage 110 Elite Precision in 338 Laupa Mag. Any size factory loads load, shoot, and cycle out the empty just fine. When I try any reload it load easily and seats fine in the chamber without any extra bolt pressure or forcing required. It shoots and even groups well but all the reloaded brass I try then has to extracted with the assistance of a long dowel or a cleaning rod inserted at the barrel and tapping the case out of the camber. I have miked the brass before and after shooting the round. They are almost exact with the spec's in my new Lee reloading guide and what i found on the web. .584" at the base, .544-.546 at the base of the neck, and .370-.372 at the bullet seat. Case length is 2.725 and also within specs noted as factory. Overall length matches the factory rounds I have that shoot fine.

I am loading a Hornady 250gr BT Spire Point using Retumbo powder. From everything I could find the reloading data states start at 90 gr of Retumbo and don't exceed 100 gr. I have tried going up 1 grain at time from 85 grains to 98. Same problem with every round I shoot. I use a full size resizer from RCBS for each load. Since it only happens on reloads I am thinking it has to be in the powder or something I am missing. I will note I have only tried this caliber with Retumbo should I try a different powder?

Any thoughts or things I can check that I may have missed?

I had a situation once where all my hand loads would extract just fine from a rifle but some "hot" Hornady factory loads would have the same issue you described. Like you, I had to use a cleaning rod to get the fired brass out. The issue turned out to be a small burr in the chamber that would engrave harder on the "hotter" rounds than the reloads. Had my local Gun smith buff out the chamber and worked fine with all rounds ever since.

 

[Shane Lindsey]

I would reduce and start over. Berger can be conservative, however, I have found them to be pretty close with my 338. Different bullet, but a 250 FWIW.

 

[majog]

I would reduce and start over. Berger can be conservative, however, I have found them to be pretty close with my 338. Different bullet, but a 250 FWIW.

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Thanks this helps. Also the IMR 4350 which I like in my other loads and found very accurate starts about the same as in other manuals. The RETUMBO is way lower so maybe I am hot. I think I will also polish the chamber just to make sure there are no burrs.

 

[Shane Lindsey]

Thanks this helps. Also the IMR 4350 which I like in my other loads and found very accurate starts about the same as in other manuals. The RETUMBO is way lower so maybe I am hot. I think I will also polish the chamber just to make sure there are no burrs.

I have not used Retumbo, but N570 and they are close. If you are at 97gr with Retumbo, I think a bit on the warm side.