Prvi Partizan .308 Match Ammo, Stiff bolt, Crappy brass?

[therichardpowell]

I just recently purchased my first barrel nut equipped rifle. A Stephens 200 in .308. Its a late model with the centerfeed mag. Bought it used with 5 rounds through it for $250... And I am in love.

Anyway, I am really getting into the precision rifle hobby and I decided it was time to start handloading. I purchased a Lee Challenger breech lock kit. I have since reloaded my first 45 rounds, and they are all great.

Anyway, I had ordered a box of Prvi Partizan's .308 168 grain "match" ammo. It was cheap. I am not knocking it. Accuracy wise it was good enough for me. But I noticed when I chambered a round the bolt closed very stiff. I tried 3 more and found the same with all 3, with a variance in the difficulty. I also had grabbed some Federal ammo and they chamber perfectly. I set out to figure out what was up so I started playing with them. I colored one with a sharpie to see if I could see it contacting the lands. No dice. I later built a tool and measured my rifle from bolt face to the lands and they aren't even close to sitting in the lands. So I thought maybe the shoulder was not pushed back correctly. I disassembled one of the cartridges and full length sized it. I used Hornady one shot case lube and when I ran the casing through the die, it chattered and took alot of force to press it up and then alot of force to pull it back out. I chambered the casing and it still gives a stiff bolt. Last ditch I measured the neck thickness on one of the loaded cartridges and came up with .015", That doesnt seem like too much to me but I am new to this and dont know a whole lot. I later shot out all of the cartridges and reseized them all. I lubed the hell out of them and they were all really sticky and chattered. I am at a loss. I am wondering if I should just pitch them in the garbage or what. I dont want to load them because I cant afford to have a super stiff bolt on a follow up shot on a bear or cougar. Any ideas?

[darkker]

Provided the brass isn't too long, I would bet the shoulder is what is contacting, not the bullet. Hard brass explains the difficulty in resizing.
IF the privi ammo was cheap..... Well there you go.
Also IF it was manufactured to 7.62 NATO specs that can explain the shoulder issue. It is a popular belief that the NATO and 308 chamber are the same, however. If you look at the NATO drawings and field gauges, the NATO chamber can swallow the 308.

Meaning if you have a tighter-end 308 chamber, and the ammo is larger NATO spec, you have an interference fit.

[therichardpowell]

That would make sense I guess. I forgot to mention I trimmed all of the cases.

[stangfish]

Darkker is right on. Put a second coat of lube on there and spray the inside of the neck. Let that oneshot dry a little as well if it is still wet it will chatter.

[DrThunder88]

Prvi Match gave terrible accuracy for me in my Axis, but reloads with the brass did quite well. It's really all I have to reload with, so I don't have a lot to compare it to. That said, I also had a few rounds that were difficult to close the bolt on and came out with a smear across the case head. I attributed it to me not getting them fully up into the resizing die, but now I don't know.

I suppose it's also possible I mixed in a few un-resized cases in with my sized ones since I decap separately.

[fgw_in_fla]

I have 500 pieces of PPU I got from a local guy. For free. Once fired, too! After resizing & cleaning, it works great in my 110 / .308....

I like to size my brass to a real close fit & have no chambering or accuracy issues.

Perhaps have another go at it before pitching it in the can? Are you using Lee dies? I sent a .243 die back to them because it was cut too long & my .243 brass wouldn't size up.

[therichardpowell]

I have 500 pieces of PPU I got from a local guy. For free. Once fired, too! After resizing & cleaning, it works great in my 110 / .308....

I like to size my brass to a real close fit & have no chambering or accuracy issues.

Perhaps have another go at it before pitching it in the can? Are you using Lee dies? I sent a .243 die back to them because it was cut too long & my .243 brass wouldn't size up.

I took your advice and gave it another whack. I changed to the Lee Case lube and applied it with my fingers and they ran through alot smoother. Pulled the first one out and chambered it... BINGO! Chambers like a dream. So I dunno what I missed earlier... I went through every step. Only thing I can think is that maybe the lube wasn't working well enough and wouldn't let them get far enough into the die to properly resize them. I may have not waited long enough for the Hornady lube to dry like stangfish mentioned. Patience has never been my thing, but thats why I started reloading, I am working on my patience issue... It's like therapy. At least thats what I tell my wife...

BTW: I am using the Lee Deluxe die set, but haven't had any issues with other casings. Also a note, I did run them into an out of the die three times each this time. Maybe the were way off and it took a few tries to get em right.

Thank you for your thoughts gents!

[fgw_in_fla]

I've been getting real good mileage using Imperial. The can will last for a few thousand cases. A little dab will do ya. (Anyone remember Brylcreme?)

Glad to know it's working for ya.