Brass in bolt face

[ATH]

I have 54 rounds through my Sendero, and I just noticed some fine brass shavings in the bolt face from the case rims. I don't recall (but am not sure) them being there after the 40 rounds of Remington factory ammo, so I'm guessing they are likely from the Winchester-cased handloads I ran through today.

Is this normal, or something to be concerned about?

 

[royinidaho]

My REM bolt has/had concentric machined rings from the firing pin hole to the outside. High pressure loads would indent the case head then when the bolt was opened or closed it shaved the case head a bit.

The brass shavings didn't hurt anything but was unsightly and required cleaning often.

I'm having action rebarrelled and asked the smith to "clean up" the bolt face.

 

[coupalr]

Anytime I have had it happen, it has been caused by hot loads causing some brass to be pushed into the ejecter plunger hole and when the bolt is opened it gets shaved off.

 

[Black Diamond 408]

Rem spring type extractors sometimes have sharp corners, when you fire the case it will seat the brass into the extractor, turn the bolt and it will shave off brass. I have seen this many times, i was a factory repair staition for Rem. My sugestion is live with it or have a Sako extractor system put on the bolt.

Dave

 

[Centre Punch]

ATH,
I had this happen with hot loads in my 243, you could ctually see a "smear" of metal on the case head.
This was caused by the plunger type ejector when the bolt was opened.
Brass shaving's eventually built up in the plunger hole and stopped the ejector from working.
I cured the problem by pulling the plunger, polishing its face, breaking the edge and snipping 3 coils of the spring.

Ian

 

[ATH]

Thanks all. Upon careful inspection, it is clear the shavings came from the outer edge (rim) of the case head...not from flowing into the extractor hole. There is very slight if any marking on the case from that, certainly no more than from factory loads, and no other pressure signs.

Looks like I simply have some sharp edges on the bolt face...guess I'll just clean it and live with it until I shoot the barrel out and need work done on the gun anyways.

 

[AJ300MAG]

I wouldn't wait to get it fixed. I've seen the brass find it's way under the extractor, lift the extractor out of it's groove. You'll know your in deep when the bolt won't close, the extractor won't snap over the case rim. If you force the bolt closed, you'll rip the extractor out by the root next time you try to open the bolt. Seen it happen a few times, once on an elk hunt!