?????Pressure Signs?????

[nmbarta]

I don't know that is cold welding, it could be a corrosion problem. This has been an issue with ammo for a long time. The military has experimented with different coatings and processes to prevent this. This is one of the advantages of crimping, and from my understanding part of the reason that essentially all factory ammo is crimped. Crimped ammo Doesn't use neck tension to hold bullet, so the only part of the bullet that is in tight contact with the case is the crimp, which is about 1/16 of an inch, so only about 1/16" can actually bond/fuse together which is better than 1/4".

I can't tell you the exact cause but can tell you that it's real and it's a real problem. I recently pulled apart about 40 of old 243 wssm ammo that the guy I bought it form loaded 3 or 4 years ago. (I don't ever shoot ammo loaded by someone else) You can see sort of odd looking white marks in the case mouth and I had to buy a bullet puller that goes in the press and grabs the bullet to get them out. The inside of the case mouth is actually slightly pitted and the bullets have odd marks on them as well.

I don't load ammo that I don't plan on shooting in the next few months, I'm sure you can keep it a lot longer than that, but after the problems I've had with this, I don't risk it anymore.

 

[nmbarta]

The other odd thing about this that I don't understand is that it doesn't happen to every bullet. Some would pull out with very little effort and the case mouth would look normal. Some would probably take around 30-40lbs of pressure on the handle of my rockchucker to get them to break loose and the case mouth is pitted. I brushed the neck really well on the case in the picture. That is pitting that you see in the case mouth.

This is a bit off topic and probably not the cause of the op's problem, but if you find yourself with unexplained flyers/pressure issues with ammo that is getting close to a year old, I suggest looking into this.

 

[Pdvdh]

Swabbing the inside of the case neck with Hornady or Imperial case resizing wax can help prevent the bullets from locking together with the case necks.

I coat the interior with a waxed Qtip, and then remove the excess with a dry Qtip. One new Qtip is good for removing the excess wax from 25-50 waxed case necks.

 

[bkelectricinc]

Gentlemen,

Thank You All for your input!

Woods-I love the details!

I took this project(.300WSM) on for a friend! This was a new gun. The scope/base was mounted by someone else! The stock was replaced with a Boyd laminated thumb hole! When I started the stock was bowed out bad enough to have a lot of pressure on the bbl. I immediately tore it down to open the bbl channel and enlarge the recoil lug recess! I bedded with Devcon. There is no more touching or movement of the action in the stock! I torqued the both bottom metal screws to 40inlbs. In my screwball way of thinking, I was trying to break in and determine the ideal load for this rifle at the same time. Looking back, I should have focused on bbl break in, only! I have used 180 Nosler BT,Hornady 165 Interlock, Nosler 165 and 180 Partitions pushed by a myriad of powders!
First: FL sized new Nosler brass. I loaded (5) 5-round recipes with the best one shooting .750" at 100yd! It was the second group shot. I was thinking, "I am the man"......(5) groups later, it turned to, "I am a moron"!
Mistake 1: Using a Lee FL die with a Redding shell holder and not measuring the setback. Due to the thickness of the shell holder, I was setting back .004"! The bolt closed firmly, but that did not concern me much at first.I was also pushing the bullets out to .002 to the lands. At 61 to 64gr IMR-4350, I was following my printed manual. The bolt got hard to open after firing! I also had the "shinny spot" on the head-stamp!
Mistake 2: Not rechecking/re-tightening the bottom metal screws!
Mistake 3: Assuming the scope rings were torqued to specs.
Mistake 4: Trying too many powders even though the were recomended. I tried: RL-16,Varget, Win760 etc.....

Good News.....everything snugged,torqued and lock-tited(blue) down!

It is shooting .750 with 64gr IMR-4350 and Nosler CT(Black) 180gr bullets!This is hunting gun and that's all it will ever be!You have to understand, this gun leaves in a few weeks to Africa to kill thinner skinned animals! So I have been pulling my hair out while under pressure to make it shoot decent! His goal is to shoot no more than 200yds!

Well, its off to the next conbooberated project!

I'm sorry this response got so long but, I felt I owed those of you that tried to help! Thanks again!

God Bless!

Brett
_________________________
"Shoot Low Sheriff; he's ridin a shetlend"

 

[Shootin4fun]

Personally I've never heard of this "old ammo" issue before. Not saying it isn't true, but I hope not. Another thing to be concerned with, jeesh.

I took a break from shooting for about 20 years and when I resumed, fired some pistol and rifle ammo that I loaded almost exactly 20 years before and it shot fine. I can' say that it was just as accurate as when I left off for various reasons, but I didn't have any pressure problems with it and groups did not seem wildly off the norm. Just my .02

 

[roninflag]

those 180 ct will be great for everything!! not sure why you took the stock off ; those superamericas are attractive rifles. nice.

 

[bkelectricinc]

Ronin,

I completely agree! It had a very, very nice Grade 3 walnut, absolutely beautiful! It looked like it was from one big giant bural! I believe his intent was to ensure it stayed super nice!

B King