Stuck bullet in a 300 mag

[seek100plus]

I have a 300 mag that is custom built , I’m seeking advice .I have shot about a 50 rounds of factory loaded ammunition through this gun, now it was time to try reloading some rounds to see if this gun is a tack driver . My gun is a Winchester, so that means I have a Winchester receiver on it, the receiver was blue printed and there was a Shillings barrel put on.

I started with all the old brass , that has been shot before out of the gun , looked over all the brass for defects and did all the tool prep work on the brass , I had tools for to get them ready for reloading. I put magnum primer in and loaded the bullets with 76.5 grains of I1000 powder and capped them off with a Barnes bullet poly tip 180 grain. I took my gun out to the range to see what kind of grouping ,I would get with this grain weight , pop off one round ,1 ½ high center , second shot just to the left, grouping was nice , pulled the bolt back ejected the round ,grabbed another bullet , waited a minute , stuck the third bullet in , pushed the bolt in , the bolt went in all the way , but wouldn’t lock down, something weird was going on , tried to pull the bolt back to eject the bullet out , the bolt was stuck and would not move . I was trying to get the bolt to move back for about ten minutes and one the helpers at the range, was watching me do this and said he would seek some help to remove the brass and said he would be right back, after about ten minutes, walked down there and was watching a guy take a brass rod and hammer and was pounding on the rod. I stopped him and first off are you crazy that is a live round and second that is a $1400.00 gun you’re ramming a rod down . He , handed the gun back to me and I started walking away and piece of my Leopold , fell off , from the pounding, ok I’m starting to get little red in the face now. I put the gun back in the case and Monday I would seek out a gunsmith to eject the bullet, the gunsmith who built my gun , closed up shop last year do to health reason’s so I called some gunsmiths and several said they wouldn’t touch it do to it being a live round and one gunsmith , wont mention names, took it to the back room and you could hear him , beating a rod down the barrel, hoping he knew what he was doing , came back and said that bullet is really stuck , cant help you. I am sitting at home driving my self nuts trying to figure out a way to get the bullet out, but that would be stupid to do myself, the bottom line is I need thought on what I did wrong so it wont happen again, I know I could open up along series of a lot of what prep work you did, but had a very experienced reloader helping me and he to is stumped on what went wrong any good thoughts on this .

 

[firstcoueswas80]

AS far as I am concerned, the only way to get that piece out of there is how people have been trying.

 

 

How is your sizing die set up? It sounds like it might not be completly resizeing the brass. When your arm on the press is extended so that the shell holder is all the way at the top, do you have the die screwed in enough so it is contacting the shell holder?

[.270]

you can pound a rod down the barrel forever and you won't get it out until you get the bolt rotated back to where it can come open. i've had to do it with a piece of wood on the bolt and a hammer. tap it until the bolt rotates. hopefully it will release from the round. then you can drop a rod down the barrel and get it out. if the bolt locks are rotated into place, you can't get it open until you rotate it back. after you get it open and get the round removed, you need to look at a couple things. overal cartidge length is good place to start. if you loaded em too long and bullet is in the rifles, it can be a pain. also need to make sure you are full lenght resizing the cases. if it isn't an overall length problem, it just about has to be a resizing problem. could also be a neck that is too long. but that is technically a resizing problem. but if your bolt is rotated into the locks, even just a tiny bit, you have to get it rotated back before it will open. whatever you do, be careful and have the muzzle pointed at gamehauler or some other guy that needs shot. Lark.

[seek100plus]

AS far as I am concerned, the only way to get that piece out of there is how people have been trying.

 

 

How is your sizing die set up? It sounds like it might not be completly resizeing the brass. When your arm on the press is extended so that the shell holder is all the way at the top, do you have the die screwed in enough so it is contacting the shell holder?

Yes, every thing was done on a Dillion press.all that stuff was checked on dead cases.I'm really starting to think in doubt get a bigger hammer , but this is my Baby ! I have the bullet ,almost past the belt, it wont move anymore .

 

[firstcoueswas80]

Like Lark said, if the bolt is rotated to the "open" way, it WILL come over eventually. Just becareful

[seek100plus]

you can pound a rod down the barrel forever and you won't get it out until you get the bolt rotated back to where it can come open. i've had to do it with a piece of wood on the bolt and a hammer. tap it until the bolt rotates. hopefully it will release from the round. then you can drop a rod down the barrel and get it out. if the bolt locks are rotated into place, you can't get it open until you rotate it back. after you get it open and get the round removed, you need to look at a couple things. overal cartidge length is good place to start. if you loaded em too long and bullet is in the rifles, it can be a pain. also need to make sure you are full lenght resizing the cases. if it isn't an overall length problem, it just about has to be a resizing problem. could also be a neck that is too long. but that is technically a resizing problem. but if your bolt is rotated into the locks, even just a tiny bit, you have to get it rotated back before it will open. whatever you do, be careful and have the muzzle pointed at gamehauler or some other guy that needs shot. Lark.

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I have the bolt completely out of the gun now , with rubber mallet, I quess ,I should of mention that before , that is how I can see the primer and almost the belt now , the bullet will not move no more , I poured oil down to try to break free the bullet , but with no luck

 

[Snapshot]

If the bullet was seated all the way in with the bolt closed you could have taken it out to the desert and fired it, if there was no danger of an exploding case, and then run a long dowel into the case through the end of the barrel and tap it out. But since the live round has been pounded on from the inside of the barrel the bullet could be damaged and it would be extremely dangerous to try and clear it by live firing it at this point.

Don't know what to say except maybe contact a pro if you can't get it out. Good Luck.

[seek100plus]

Ok, this is crazy,the gun is in a gun vise and we used a 2 pound wooden mallet and yes ,I broke down and used a brass rod , we wacked it about 15 times ,still wont move anymore !

[Snapshot]

I probably wouldn't pound on it anymore because the bullet is being driven into the case and compressing the powder and probably just making the case tighter, and much more dangerous. Maybe take it in and have the barrel removed if a gunsmith is willing to do it.

[seek100plus]

You guys are all right , its better to pay a good gunsmith or worse case ,buy a new barrel , then blow my hand off and never hunt again!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks so much for the advice

[ronaldo]

Not to add insult to injury.... But heres another reason to stick with FACTORY AMMO!!!!!!!

I had a similar expierence with reloads years ago and swore them off for good....

You could shoot reloads for the rest of your life and not save as much money as its gonna cost you to fix this gun..

Sorry...but there just not worth the hassle to me....Good luck..

Ron

[elmergoo]

Your going to think this is crazy, but how about taking everything out of the stock and applying a little ( and I mean A LITTLE ) heat to the chamber. The steel should expand just enough. I would try a oxy-acetlyne torch with a rose-bud tip and way out in the hills somewhere with emergency standing by.)Seriously though I am really interested on what a smith will do. Please keep us posted.

[.270]

that's a good way to get hurt real bad. instead of the bullet going down the barrel, all the explosion is gonna come right back out the action. probly blow your hand off. seriously. Lark.

[Red Rabbit]

Copper and lead (ie the bullet) expand and contract at a greater rate than steel (compare their coefficients of thermal expansion). Place the gun in a deep freeze overnight and then tap with the brass rod as soon as you remove ti from the freezer. The bullet should have contracted more than the hole in the steel barrrel. Good luck.

 

This deep freeze method also works for actions stuck in the bedding if you did not use enough release agent when bedding the action/stock.

 

RR

[.270]

but the best fix is to unscrew the barrel and turn it into a real gun. a .270. Lark.