My bolt is hard to open

[JustMe2]

Not sure what you mean by "fired" brass. Is that something that's been reloaded more than once? Sounds like your sizing die is not sizing the fired case back down in the base area after a couple of firings. Maybe you need a small base sizing die.

Fired brass is brass that has just been fired in my rifle. It has not been reloaded. As I stated, my reloaded brass chambers easily.

 

[OG10]

Hogdon data.

 

[OG10]

Your load may be hot, recheck your Hornady book rarely do you go up in bullet weght and increase the same type of powder weight.

 

[OG10]

Hornady is showing 41.5 grains of H4350 as a max for 143 eldx.

 

[Mikecr]

I think your bolt needs work.
Bolt turn(easy or difficult) should draw the case out, or rip the rim off trying.
Is the extractor claw fitting well to rims?
Does the bolt handle engage with the extraction ramp early enough?

 

[JustMe2]

Hornady is showing 41.5 grains of H4350 as a max for 143 eldx.

Thanks, but I'm shooting 147 ELD-M. That's my confusion. Hodgdon 2020 & 2021 manual says max for 147s is 41.8 and I'm loaded at 41.3, H4350.

 

[nksmfamjp]

Hello. I have a new fierce rifle in 28 nosler with a 26 inch barrel. I started the barrel break in last night with some light loads. I have once fired adg brass, wlrm primers, 91 gr us869 powder, 150gr partitions( just the bullet I am using to get a close zero and barrel break in with). I fired around 7 shots, with three of them my bolt was extremely hard to open it lifted easy but had to be jarred a bit to get it moving back. I measured these cases and there is no difference what so ever between them and the ones that didn't stick. They are all under length by a few thousands. They have zero sign of pressure. What could have caused this. Could be just a real tight chamber with a high polish? Could have the brass needed to be cleaned more? Or do I need to be looking in a different place all together. I have some new brass I was going to put a few rounds in just to see if they stuck in comparison to the once fired. What do you guys think?

Let's clarify a couple things first….

Was the bolt easy to close before the round was fired? Like with the firing spring and ejector removed from the bolt, does the handle close with the same force as no round in it?

After firing lifting the bolt from closed to fully open, was it easy or hard?

Then, was pulling it back after full opening easy or hard?

It sounds like the last issue. So, did it click or was it hard to open the bolt the last 10 degrees? If not, you simply don't have enough primary extraction which is something Pierce needs to correct. The only thing for you to try is new brass since the old maybe oversized in a way you cannot fix.

 

[JustMe2]

Thanks guys. I believe I'm loaded too hot for my rifle at 41.3gr H4350. Looked up Hodgdons recommendations (41.8 max) versus Hornadys (40.3 max). Hornady is saying max 147 ELDM max load is 40.3gr H4350.

 

[redleg1013]

I will. I didn't think New to used would make any difference being full length resized, wich I never mentioned in my original post.

Don't pour new wine into old wineskins.

 

[JuddL]

OP…this got hijacked my another deal. I've got a Fierce 28 Nosler in my possession right now that the extractor was broke on and fixed by Fierce due to the same issue.

I got it because my buddy is scratching his head. What I really expected to see was a polished chamber causing extraction issues. Borescope shows that's not the case.

The conclusion that I'm starting to come to, is and only because I've seen it once before with a Christensen…the double ejectors show pressure earlier. I am not sure what genius decides a double ejectors are needed (because they aren't) but that's where I'm at right now.

Next steps…we are going to work up a hand load and determine where pressure is…if my theory is correct and replicate the Christensen…he'll get a 195 that will shoot well at 2850 and that'll be about it for that setup.

Also - the Christensen found a new home. The thought was, why own a top fuel dragster that can only run Pro Stock speeds.

 

[nksmfamjp]

Thanks guys. I believe I'm loaded too hot for my rifle at 41.3gr H4350. Looked up Hodgdons recommendations (41.8 max) versus Hornadys (40.3 max). Hornady is saying max 147 ELDM max load is 40.3gr H4350.

Based on those numbers, I doubt it

 

[nextridgeidaho]

This is my first reply so bare with me. I have a fierce in 28 nosler that I'm getting ejector marks on my Peterson brass. My initial thought was I was over pressure due to the Peterson brass so worked back up a charge test and ejector marks showed up on all charge weights… weird so I started inspecting the ejectors and noticed they felt rough or the springs were hanging up so I called them and sent it back they got it done and sent it back in one week awesome I thought tell I inspected the bolt and found out one of the ejectors doesn't clear the boltface.

 

[nextridgeidaho]

This is my first reply so bare with me. I have a fierce in 28 nosler that I'm getting ejector marks on my Peterson brass. My initial thought was I was over pressure due to the Peterson brass so worked back up a charge test and ejector marks showed up on all charge weights… weird so I started inspecting the ejectors and noticed they felt rough or the springs were hanging up so I called them and sent it back they got it done and sent it back in one week awesome I thought tell I inspected the bolt and found out one of the ejectors doesn't clear the boltface.

 

[Mikecr]

Well, since 2 ejectors was never needed, they solved at least half the problem by disabling one of them.