Case Seperation I thought.

[Kaptoe]

Threads like this are such a reminder of the seriousness and meticulousness required to pursue this endeavour and I would bet why so many of us like it .

Being on your game matters

 

[hunter0528]

While at the range testing a few loads on a Remington 700 308 i heard an unfamiliar report as smoke seeped out of the bolt area. Oh.. no,I thought as I attempted to extract the bolt.
was it case separation? I could not break the bolt loose without a mallet so I left for home.

After removing the scope and stock I was able to get better leverage and continued hammering on the bolt in an upward direction. when finally the bolt moved, I then continued to hammer it reward and it came out shell and all. As seen by the photo below it appears the case was melted into the bolt face. ( shell body badly beat up as I could not break it loose from the extractor with a pliers. Has anyone had this experience before and does anyone have any suggestions how to break the case free from the bolt face.View attachment 130805 View attachment 130807

instead of putting the whole thing in the freezer, get some dry Ice and fill the case. the difference between the two metals will allow the brass to shrink first. if dry ice is not available one of the canned air turned upside down so the liquid sprays. spray this in the case, being careful using gloves and a face shield, that work when i got a case seperation in the rifle and only the head came out.

 

[tony d willIiams]

you do understand brass does not flow like that with an
IN SPEC LOAD.
something really wrong big time
you need to tear apart every round you loaded and measure:
powder weight/ compare to what you thought you loaded in appearance
bullet weight/dia

Before you tear apart each round please measure your COL, and the distance before you seat the bullet into the rifling. Also ensure that bullets are on centerline which will help prevent spikes in pressure.
Glad that you were not injured.

 

[Konrad]

While at the range testing a few loads on a Remington 700 308 i heard an unfamiliar report as smoke seeped out of the bolt area. Oh.. no,I thought as I attempted to extract the bolt.
was it case separation? I could not break the bolt loose without a mallet so I left for home.

After removing the scope and stock I was able to get better leverage and continued hammering on the bolt in an upward direction. when finally the bolt moved, I then continued to hammer it reward and it came out shell and all. As seen by the photo below it appears the case was melted into the bolt face. ( shell body badly beat up as I could not break it loose from the extractor with a pliers. Has anyone had this experience before and does anyone have any suggestions how to break the case free from the bolt face.View attachment 130805 View attachment 130807

Good photos!
It looks as though you converted a perfectly good rifle into a brass extruder!
What in the world was that load?
In the old days, the bolt would have flown back into your face or the action would have exploded...or both!
bullet diameter
bullet weight
powder type and charge weight
primer type
distance of ogive from lands
or bore obstruction

You probably need to have the bore inspected for bulges before attempting to repair the bolt and return the rifle to service.

 

[Alibiiv]

I want to thank all of those who shared their thoughts on this issue.

I did remove the firing pin and all looks good. I also went back and pulled the bullets on the other 4 rds i wast testing. I have been reloading for over 40 years both pistol and many calibers of long guns and this is the first time anything has happened like this.
The remaining rounds were over the desired powder charge intended 41.4 of Imr 4895 behind a 168 gr. Berger VLD. The only explanation I could think of is the scale it self.
I have been using an RCB beam scale for years and did have some problems and RCB sent me a new scale to replace it. Who knows what the real issue was, at least all turned out good. Once again, Thanks you all.

I went to the IMR web site. For .308 Winchester the recommended load of IMR 4895 and a 168gr bullet, they recommend 41gr of IMR 4895 as a starter load and 45.4gr as a maximum load. There really is a melt-down within the brass and the rifle. I am curious if you had a "squib load" or.......a barrel obstruction of some type? I use a heavy scrubbing of "RIG" (rust preventative) inside of my barrels and leave it inside of the bore when stored; however, I always am careful about running a clean patch down before I go to the range. Could a patch been left inside of the bore? Do you load any 8mm ammunition and perhaps a bullet got mixed into your 30 caliber bullets? Or.......is there a possibility that the powders got mixed up. For the load that you have posted, the catastrophic results that you got with this load should not have happened. For getting the case and bolt to separate, you might want to try sliding a 5/16ths inch drift punch all the way inside of the casing while the bolt is in a vice and try moving the brass sideways from one side to the other. It could be that the base of the case was blown back so hard that the base peened out into the inside diameter of the bolt face; making almost a press fit of the brass to the bolt.

 

[SMK1000plus]

I went to the IMR web site. For .308 Winchester the recommended load of IMR 4895 and a 168gr bullet, they recommend 41gr of IMR 4895 as a starter load and 45.4gr as a maximum load. There really is a melt-down within the brass and the rifle. I am curious if you had a "squib load" or.......a barrel obstruction of some type? I use a heavy scrubbing of "RIG" (rust preventative) inside of my barrels and leave it inside of the bore when stored; however, I always am careful about running a clean patch down before I go to the range. Could a patch been left inside of the bore? Do you load any 8mm ammunition and perhaps a bullet got mixed into your 30 caliber bullets? Or.......is there a possibility that the powders got mixed up. For the load that you have posted, the catastrophic results that you got with this load should not have happened. For getting the case and bolt to separate, you might want to try sliding a 5/16ths inch drift punch all the way inside of the casing while the bolt is in a vice and try moving the brass sideways from one side to the other. It could be that the base of the case was blown back so hard that the base peened out into the inside diameter of the bolt face; making almost a press fit of the brass to the bolt.

Is it possible that a .311"/.312" diameter bullet (7.62x39 or 7.62x54R bullet) got mixed up with your .308" bullets?

 

[Frog4aday]

Just tuning in to see where this goes...

 

[MNbogboy]

Tagging in.
The solution to this problem will help every reader of this thread.
Keep us posted.

 

[LoneTraveler]

I have seen one gun with that kind of shell case damage. It was a 700 Rem. 243 Win.
The guy was hunting groundhogs on the West side of the Eastern Divide.
He had his rifle loaded and leaning against a tree near his vehicle. A Black Cloud came over the mountain it poured the rain down for a few minutes and the cloud move on, The sun came out and so did a Groundhog. He shot at the groundhog and the gun locked up. The gunsmith called me to see if he needed to report it to a Wildlife Officer.
I held the Sears Catalog while the gunsmith took a shop hammer and opened the bolt. When the bolt came out of the rifle, The case was next to welded in the bolt. The smith put the bolt in a vice with padded jaws. He tried to remove the case with channel locks. No Luck, He drilled a hole near the bolt through the web of the case. Inserted a long punch, He persuaded the case to come out of the bolt.
You could not read the shell maker or caliber on the head. The primer fell out in about 4 pieces the primer cup had broke into about 3 pieces. The primer pocket covered half the shell head.
I talked to the gunsmith later and he would not discuss if he got the gun back operating or sent it back to Remington.
In the area he was hunting when the clouds hit the mountains sometime it will rain very hard with large drops. Some of the locals call it a Frog Strangler.
The gun owner said the tree he leaned the rifle against was a black walnut.
All the gunsmith and I could come up with was the rain coming down the tree had ran into the barrel. The excess Weight of the water with the bullet had overloaded the rifle and, Things went down hill from there. The gunsmith used to have the shell case above his bench on the wall.