Live round VERY hard to extract?

[81police]

Let me prologue by saying I'm not a gunsmith, nor reloader. We have been using factory loaded AA 120gr. Barnes and AA 120gr. Nosler. Here is the issue...

After being afield hunting, we return and have attempted to empty our rifles and found that it's extremely difficult to extract the live round from the chamber. We have raptor charging handles so luckily we can get two hands on it but have to practically pry the bolt back. On one occasion we worked hard to get the bolt back and when the case finally ejected the bullet had been pulled from the case approx. 1/4". Sounds to me like it was seated way too deep? This has happened in 3 of our Grendels, one of which was an AA built upper. Does this sound like an issue with round OAL? It's certainly not the rifle as all our rifles have experienced this issue. Any ideas or suggestions would help. We plan on measuring the remaining cartridges we have.

[LRRPF52]

Your ogives are engaging the rifling lands. Question on the AA upper: Does it say "Alex-A 6.5 GREN" on the left side of the upper receiver? IS the ejection port larger than a standard AR15?

Next question: Are there any barrel markings on the top or bottom of the fore-end of the barrel on the AA built upper?

From your description, it sounds like the chambers are short with land engagement, which should not be happening with AA loaded ammo and an AA gun. Can you use calipers to measure the Cartridge Overall Length of the unchambered factory ammo, as well as the one that was pulled out ~1/4" from the case and report those numbers for us?

Also, for future reference, if you don't already know, you can use the "mortaring" technique for extracting tough cases like this. Just be sure to fully collapse any telescoping stocks, and slightly impact the heel of the butt (not the toe, but the heel) on the ground while pulling on the charge handle.

[81police]

The AA upper is marked 6.5 Gren, both other rifles (one of which is an AA 18") are marked "6.5 Grendel". Issued experienced have occured with all 3 rifles using AA factory ammo. A bit frustrating, we'll measure OAL and see what's up. It's got to be the ammo if issues are with 3 guns. Never had a problem with Hornady ammo.

[81police]

For anybody that was following this thread, I think we found the issue. We tested every AA cartridge we had left. A surprising number of the 120gr. Nosler cartridge OAL measured 2.27+. Some of the 120. Barnes loads measured outside of maximum OAL length as well. This is probably why some rounds stuck in the chamber and others ran fine. I contacted AA about this but they have yet to respond. I would have expected better quality control from them.

[Variable]

For anybody that was following this thread, I think we found the issue. We tested every AA cartridge we had left. A surprising number of the 120gr. Nosler cartridge OAL measured 2.27+. Some of the 120. Barnes loads measured outside of maximum OAL length as well. This is probably why some rounds stuck in the chamber and others ran fine. I contacted AA about this but they have yet to respond. I would have expected better quality control from them.

That is long. I've loaded some (120 Nosler BT) that ran out as far as 2.271-2.272ish and got away with it, but I wouldn't load for general use that way. I usually load to 2.267ish these days.

ETA: I wonder if the ogives are a touch different on the bullets in question? That could account for the seating depth variance if no one caught it...

[OFBHWG]

I have a similar prob but round will not load all the way in and when I try to extract it takes a small dead blow hammer tapping on the charging handle and the extrtacted round has scraped marks on it. All help is appreciated.

Bumfuzzeled in Texas!!!!

[Dogue]

In my Grendel I'm hitting the lands at 2.252 with the 120 NBT so those bullets would certainly be an issue in my gun too.

[JASmith]

Good troubleshooting!

How long have you had the ammunition? Did you buy directly from AA, or through an intermediate retailer? Is there a lot number?

That information will help us know whether the stuff we have needs to be closely checked and give some troubleshooting tips for the AA QC folks.

[sureshot]

Does the casing or the bullet have the marks? Be very careful using that Hammer!!

[montana]

I have a similar prob but round will not load all the way in and when I try to extract it takes a small dead blow hammer tapping on the charging handle and the extrtacted round has scraped marks on it. All help is appreciated.

Bumfuzzeled in Texas!!!!

What ammo are you using. I have Horn factory ammo that will not seat completely in my AA case gauge but will chamber perfectly in my 18 inch AA rifle. When I first started reloading I was not chamfering my brass cases enough and when I seated the bullets they would push the shoulders out of spec. I thought I had my seating die down too far at first but I backed it out with the same results. If you are using fact ammo it doesn't necessarily mean it is in spec.

[Whelenon]

Sound like you need to figure out if it's the ammo or a short chamber. Hornady makes a good chamber measuring gage.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/570611/...olt-action
and bullet comparator gage
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/709931/...rator-body
you have to buy the .264 insert separately.

I'm not real surprised at the stuck cartridge, it seems there's some variation in chamber throats. I've measured the Nosler 120 BT in both an AA 16" and a Saturn/Liberty 18" barrels. There was .015 difference measured at the ogive. With the 18" barrel I'm reloading the 120 BT COL at 2.220 that's .015 off the lands. I measured AAs 120 BT factory ammo and it's COL was 2.240, didn't have any problems with it but it was into the lands by .005. Hopefully going forward this problem will disappear with the Grendel's SAAMI approval and barrel makers will have a very specific throat dimension.

Please post your solution, we are all learning from others experiences, good luck.

[Kikn]

I had that issue before and door to Bill he has me send in the rifle and one of the rounds i was using and he ranged out the throat. O haven't had any issues with factory ammo since. (my reloads is another issue) lol

[81police]

The chamber wasn't the issue, we had factory loaded AA ammo, purchased directly from AA stick in the chamber of 3 rifles...an AA upper, a Loki, and one with a Satern barrel.

I will check to see if we still have the boxes left for a lot number. The problem has been resolved, we had a friend seat the bullets a tad deeper and we have yet to have any stick in chambers since. The cartridges as received from AA were outside of max OAL, a response from AA told us to send the ammo back. 10 boxes of ammo, no thanks, the time it takes them to fill an order it would be deer season 2014 by the time we got it back.