Cartridges suddenly won’t chamber in 110 Storm

[PeaceAndGreens]

My trip to the range ended early today. I own a new 110 Storm in 6.5 Creedmoor, with about 50 rounds total down the barrel now. After firing a dozen rounds this afternoon, I could suddenly no longer chamber a round. The cartridges just “stuck” part way into the chamber, and I was unable to push the bolt all the way forward. It actually took a while to get the first one out (I finally grabbed the rim of the case through the pressure-relief hole in the right side of the action with a stiff piece of wire).

The ammunition used was Winchester 125 grain open tip range ammo. White box. The only two previous boxes of ammo through the rifle were Winchester 125 grain Deer Season XP. The cases were clean with no obvious defects. Previously fired cases continue to chamber without issue. The remaining live cartridges will not, but depth of the “stick point” varies from round to round.

One thing I did notice is that the necks of the spent cases had a fair amount of carbon residue on them. Far more than I’m used to when reloading. Perhaps this is common with factory ammunition?

Has anybody else experienced this?

[J.Baker]

Have you measured the neck diameters on the remaining live rounds in different spots to see if it's consistent or not? Almost sounds like some bad ammo with thick neck walls or maybe the case mouths didn't get deburred properly and they're hanging up because of that.

Only other suggestion would be to give the chamber a good through cleaning to make sure there's nothing in it that's causing the problem.

[mnbogboy2]

Possibly sounds like it could be a "tight" throat, add a little carbon ring and no way will it chamber. When clearances are measured in tens of thousandths it doesn't take much to stop the bullet from sliding into the throat.
First thing I would do is a good cleaning using a carbon removing solvent & brush in the neck/throat area.
CLR is what I use but super care must be taken because it will remove blueing (don't ask how I know that).
Secondly, with a "dummy" round, mark the bullet with a Sharpie and chamber. Note any unusual scratching on the bullet. In absence of a dummy round you can do this at the range with a live round using all safety rules.

A bore scope examination would help also, but the cleaning may be your best friend.

Good luck,
Randy

[Texas10]

Because you mention the gun is new, if you haven't already, clean the bolt thoroughly, especially the bolt head. I've experienced a well used extractor suddenly sticking and causing the symptoms you describe. Removing, cleaning and light oiling fixed the issue on the firing line.

[PeaceAndGreens]

Since it’s a factory savage barrel I doubt the neck would be that tight, but I’ll try to give the chamber a good cleaning. Also, the sharpie trick is a good idea. Hopefully that will reveal where it’s catching.

Thanks for the advice guys! We’ll see what happens

[jim_k]

I just had the same thing. The chamber had some foreign material in it, and nothing would chamber. Use a chamber brush, as well as the brush for the neck area, in the cleaning you are going to do, and see if that fixes it. Now I check my ammo by feel, to make sure it's clean.