Help! 22 hornet in savage mod 40

[henry1]

I had a case head separate and i cant dig out the leftover shell. any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I have tried getting it out with a short cleaning rod and a sharpened and bent nail. getting nervous that this one will have to take a trip to a smith.
Henry

ps mods, move this if you need to. I didnt see a place for model 40s. thanks!

[BillPa]

Try running a bronze brush part way in what's left of the case then pull it back out. Reversing it will cause the bristles to stand up and dig into the brass.

Bill

[bootsmcguire]

+1 with BillPa.

I have also had to use a screw extractor to remove brass from a model 40. Worked like a champ.

[AZ_GUN_NUT]

Get a 223 broken shell extractor it should fit just fine and get it out for you.

[henry1]

thanks guys! I will try the brush in just a minute, and boots are you talking of something like an ez out? I will keep that in mind as well, hopefully i wont have to take it that far! Thanks again guys! feeling better about this already!
Henry.

[henry1]

az gun nut, where can i find one of those? Thanks! i hope the first one is a solution!
Henry.

[bootsmcguire]

EZ-out, there is a misleading name if I ever heard one.

Seriously, an EZ-out is a type/style of screw extractor. I prefer the ones made by Irwin Brand or Snap-On. The Irwin's have straight flutes on them. I took mine and ground the tip down just a bit to keep it from entering the bore of the barrel, I put mine on an extension and reached in through the action and just used hand pressure and it plucked it right out with zero damage to the rifle.

[henry1]

awesome! do you by chance know what size it was? haha i will have to get one in town tomorrow, so far my bronze brushes have been crushed lol. they were used though so they might have already been used up... sucker is STUCK! such a bummer....
thanks again for all the quick help! So appreciated!
Henry.

[bootsmcguire]

Correction. It wasn't Irwin, its made by Hanson.

This one says ST-3 on it. It's been some time since I had built it, I ground the tip back just a bit, like 1/16", and then I relieved the larger part of the flutes. IIRC I used a good piece of brass to determine where I had to start relieving the larger dia flutes at.

[henry1]

ok great that is a great start! how did you relieve the flutes? i understand grinding the tip down so that it fits in the case, i assume you prolly just ground down the flutes to fit in the case then?

[bootsmcguire]

Yup I started grinding them down at the point where they were too big to enter the case. I used a bench grinder, and where you relieve you want that to be a smaller diameter than your major most gripping point on the flute. that way you get maximum grip with little effort to minimize potential for damage to anything you don't wanna damage.

Do not grind the area that will enter the case, you want the flutes proud and sharp.

[henry1]

got it! just gradual as can be! I will be trying this tomorrow eve! Will let you know what happens. Just in case, what if something gets damaged? then what?

[bootsmcguire]

Then time to find a smith to rechamber to 22 K-Hornet. LOL.

That's what mine is now. But not due to damage, just because. Seriously just be careful and take your time, it was not too difficult. A damaged gun is more of a pain than one with brass stuck in it.

[henry1]

haha thats funny! thats exactly what i said when i couldnt get it out the first few tries!

wise words! I eventualy want to have this one as a K Hornet as well. Did you ream yours yourself?

Also what did you use to extend your ez out (what a joke of a name) into the chamber?
Thanks!
Man, do i love this community!
Henry.

[bootsmcguire]

Actually I put a cheap 12pt 1/4"-drive socket that was a bit tight on the square drive of the "ez-out" and then just tapped it together to kind of press the bit into the socket, so to speak.

[henry1]

perfect! Thanks again so much! Will let you know what the outcome is!
H

[AZ_GUN_NUT]

You can probably find one locally at one of your local gun shops but if not Brownell's and other online companies sell them. I'd recommend getting one and putting it in your range bag. Seeing that your shooting a .22 caliber cartridge this will work as the shaft is narrow so as long as your case it not longer than a .223 round you're good to go.

http://www.brownells.com/userdocs/products/p_080000441_1.jpg

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/handgun-tools/stuck-case-removers/broken-shell-extractor-prod23311.aspx

[rjtfroggy]

Henry been there done that. The 223 case extractor does not work, too big to fit. Here is what I do 1/4 in self tapping screw tightened slightly into the neck, then from the muzzle end push-tap a cleaning rod down and out pops the case. After a few times you will get the feel of how tight to go.
I keep a few in the range box seems like it happens at least once every time I take the model 40 out. Don't bother sending back to Savage because it comes back the same way.

[henry1]

both are great options for me! Thanks froggy and az gun!

From the small amount of looking, it seems that this is quite common with the mod 40 and some in the mod 25 as well? I have a different load i use to get rid of my 45 gr bee's but its not super accurate, 3 shots in .503 at 100. its not bad i guess, but i want it better. so far the other two loads i tested before the case head separation were around 3/4'' with 5 shots at 100. Has anyone fixed the mod 40 issue by themselves? Sure a shame, what a sweet little gun. i believe mine is the lightweight varminter, has the gloss bluing...

[bootsmcguire]

Hey guys, something I started doing for mine (again mine was rechambered to 22 K-Hornet) because I got tired of dealing with the head separations was I bought the Lee Collet Dies for the 22 Hornet. I had to modify them a bit to work with the K-Hornet but it pretty much stopped the issue for me. Neck sizing only seems to be the way to go. The last trip out I started working with some Lil'Gun and I think I was right at my max because I noticed a couple of brass starting to crack down by the base, but with all the other mid-range loads I ran before I had no issues after going to the L.C. Dies.

Figured I throw that out there FWIW.

Henry did you find a suitable screw extractor?