6.5 .284 Norma Chamber issues

[Pate']

I am helping a friend develop loads for his 6.5 .284 Norma rifle. New cases fit into the chamber and fire normally. Once fired the brass will not eject easily. Once ejected from the rifle the brass will not go back into the chamber without a full body sizing. Is there something wrong with the chamber? Is the chamber cut incorrectly at the beginning of the chamber? I am concerned that if body sizing is required after each shot, am I over working the brass. This is the only rifle I have this issue with.

Anyone have any comments before I take the rifle to a gun smith for chamber measurements.

 

[lightman]

Tell us more about the rifle. Its possible that it has a tight neck chamber. Or it can be a rough chamber.

 

[Varminterror]

Once ejected from the rifle the brass will not go back into the chamber without a full body sizing.

This is perfect.

This is how all rifle chambers should behave. The chamber is tight, so the brass isn’t moved so far that it springs back so much that it still fits in the chamber. A proper chamber like this will have fantastic brass life with little to no trimming ever required, so long as the reloader knows how to bump shoulders responsibly.

Ammo fits, which is great, because it needs to fit. Fired brass doesn’t, and doesn’t. This is perfect.

 

[horsemen61]

This is perfect.

This is how all rifle chambers should behave. The chamber is tight, so the brass isn’t moved so far that it springs back so much that it still fits in the chamber. A proper chamber like this will have fantastic brass life with little to no trimming ever required, so long as the reloader knows how to bump shoulders responsibly.

Ammo fits, which is great, because it needs to fit. Fired brass doesn’t, and doesn’t. This is perfect.

^^ What he said

 

[Pate']

Good day gentlemen and thanks for your replies. Rifle: Savage 110 - 6.5 .284 Norma, 24" barrel, 1.8 twist, We have fired WInchester and brand new Peterson brass. We are using Hodgdon H4831SC, Berger 6.5mm 140gr VLD hunting projectiles and CCI BR2 primers. New and full body sized brass are the only way to get a round chambered without issue. A fired casing will not load into the rifle easily (or not at all) without a full body sizing. I do not have the once fired brass not chambering issue with any other rifle I have hand loaded for.

Also, caliper measurement wise it looks like the back half of the brass is slightly swollen where as the neck end fits in easily.

 

[Pate']

Tell us more about the rifle. Its possible that it has a tight neck chamber. Or it can be a rough chamber.

Savage 110 - 24" barrel, 1/8 twist. Using fire WInchester and new Peterson brass, H4831SC, Berger 140gr VLS hunting projectiles and CCI BR2 primers. New and full body sized casings will fit and shoot properly, some eject easily some do not. Fired casings will start into the chamber but then hang up on a slightly swollen lower end of the casing.

 

[edwardware]

New cases fit into the chamber and fire normally. Once fired the brass will not eject easily. Once ejected from the rifle the brass will not go back into the chamber without a full body sizing.

I have a Ruger M77 that exhibits the same behavior. After extensive measurement and experimenting, I finally found that the chamber is slightly egg shaped. I made a die set to fully resize the body without excessively setting the shoulders back.

You should mark an azimuth on a fired case, and see if rotating the case in the chamber reveals an orientation at which it fits back in.

 

[Pate']

I have a Ruger M77 that exhibits the same behavior. After extensive measurement and experimenting, I finally found that the chamber is slightly egg shaped. I made a die set to fully resize the body without excessively setting the shoulders back.

You should mark an azimuth on a fired case, and see if rotating the case in the chamber reveals an orientation at which it fits back in.

Thank you for your reply! Excellent idea! I do have a full size body only sizing die that I am using to avoid shoulder set back. Does a chamber like this have any affect on accuracy?

 

[gotboostvr]

Thank you for your reply! Excellent idea! I do have a full size body only sizing die that I am using to avoid shoulder set back. Does a chamber like this have any affect on accuracy?

It won't help accuracy, not gonna be good for brass life either

 

[edwardware]

Thank you for your reply! Excellent idea! I do have a full size body only sizing die that I am using to avoid shoulder set back. Does a chamber like this have any affect on accuracy?

Everything effects accuracy. . . but I'm confident you can't shoot the difference with a Savage. It will effect brass life as @gotboostvr said, but not too bad if you're thoughtful with the shoulders.

Now, if the issue also cut the neck/throat/lead off-centic, that will tell

 

[Pate']

Everything effects accuracy. . . but I'm confident you can't shoot the difference with a Savage. It will effect brass life as @gotboostvr said, but not too bad if you're thoughtful with the shoulders.

Now, if the issue also cut the neck/throat/lead off-centic, that will tell

-Necks are fine after firing, no marks, no scratches, straight. ok, I will continue on doing what I am doing. Your help is greatly appreciated!

 

[NZ308]

I am helping a friend develop loads for his 6.5 .284 Norma rifle. New cases fit into the chamber and fire normally. Once fired the brass will not eject easily. Once ejected from the rifle the brass will not go back into the chamber without a full body sizing. Is there something wrong with the chamber? Is the chamber cut incorrectly at the beginning of the chamber? I am concerned that if body sizing is required after each shot, am I over working the brass. This is the only rifle I have this issue with.

Anyone have any comments before I take the rifle to a gun smith for chamber measurements.

Have unfortunately had the same issue from a expensive barrel chambering job - minimum .308 95 Palma match reamer.
Issue 1, chamber was minimum cartridge dimension rather than chamber - no pressure signs but brass not able to shrink when fired so tight when reloaded could only fire factory fresh loads - reloads even when small based sized and milsurp not able to chamber.
Issue 2, rough chamber finish (shark skin appearance in bore scope image) - to much friction which made primary extraction near impossible.
Issue 3, on someone else's rifle from same idiot but chamber was hour glass shaped - self evident of Issue and simular to the egg shaped chamber.

Set up some marked and measured cartridges to measure before and after dimensions - fired cartridges came out either at the same or 0.0005 smaller.

The only solution was to have the chamber done by a good gunsmith again - used the same specification reamer and removed 0.004 of material from the chamber walls and polished properly- resolved both both the reloaded issue and extraction issue. The first hacks 'repair' required the replacement of the Barnard P bolt to get the action to shoot accurately again and cost $400.00 for him to replace a fully functional extractor that was only on its second barrel and slightly polish the chamber - with the same issue as it went in with when it was returned.

 

[Varminterror]

New and full body sized brass are the only way to get a round chambered without issue. A fired casing will not load into the rifle easily (or not at all) without a full body sizing.

As stated previously:

THIS DESCRIBES PERFECT CHAMBERING!!!!! THIS IS IS NOT INDICATION OF ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE RIFLE!!!

I do not have the once fired brass not chambering issue with any other rifle I have hand loaded for.

All of your other rifles have had oversized chambers, which is common for inexpensive factory rifles.

Don’t get distracted by any kind of red herrings about egg shaped chambers. The Savage 110 6.5-284 just has a properly cut, tight chamber.

 

[Varminterror]

Thank you for your reply! Excellent idea! I do have a full size body only sizing die that I am using to avoid shoulder set back. Does a chamber like this have any affect on accuracy?

Tight chambers PROMOTE accuracy, as they have less slop and less opportunity for misalignment between ammo and bore - in theory.

Tight chambers also improve brass life, because the brass is not moving more than necessary.

There is absolutely no reason for a rifle to need to chamber fired brass. You’re looking at used toilet paper and wondering why there are brown streaks on it. If sized ammo fits (unlike the user above who had incorrect dies for his rifle chamber), then you have everything you need.

 

[Varminterror]

I do have a full size body only sizing die that I am using to avoid shoulder set back.

Do not separately size the body vs the shoulder. You’re moving brass in two steps instead of one, with potential for less support in the second phase FL sizer, and you’re working brass twice as much as needed. If the FL sizer makes ammo that fits, this is all you need.

 

[Varminterror]

It won't help accuracy, not gonna be good for brass life either

Tight chambers IMPROVE brass life.

Y’all are chasing a problem which doesn’t exist. The OP just never has been blessed before with a rifle with a properly cut chamber.