Bolt won't close on factory ammo.

[Yella Dawg]

First post. Been lurking and reading.Went out back to try some new ammo with my Micro-Hunter .22 Hornet this afternoon and couldn't get the bolt to close.The ammo was Hornady 35 gr. V-Max. I have been shooting factory Win. 46 gr HP with no problems,just a little stiff.This is a fairly new weapon with around 200 rds. thru it. Is it a problem with the chamber or bullet seating depth or something else?Just getting everything set up to start reloading and don't have a clue. This rifle shoots dead nuts with the Win. ammo. Just trying something else for the simple reason to be shooting.I have never had any problems with factory ammo before.Thanks in advance.Forgot to say this, tried the Win. ammo after I tried the Hornady and it shot lights out.

[Lloyd Smale]

got to be the oal is just to long for that gun or the chambers to tight.

[gr8ful]

Sounds like OAL to me too, try coloring the bullet on one of your loaded rounds with a magic marker then try to chamber the round.  Take the round back out and inspect the bullet to see if it touched the lands in your barrel (the ink will show marks where it touched).  If it is touching readjust your seating die until the round chambers and the bullet is just off the lands.

[Yella Dawg]

The OAL is the same as the Win. ammo.Both rounds are factory loads.Colored the Hornady round and no marks on the bullet but there is a small indention on the neck of the brass.I think it may be the bullet type. Read somewhere that this is a ongoing problem with the V-Max bullet due to seating depth.May be the chamber. I have a friend that reloads and is going to take a look at the two rounds and see if he can determine whats going on.

[iiranger]

the rim thickness in the .22 Hornet. One article, many yrs back, recommended RWS brass for a more consistent rim which is what determines headspace in a rimmed cartridge and the support against the hammer  blow, firing pin, primer discharge. Hornady may just have gotten generous with the brass in the rim. I would take them back for exchange. I had a couple boxes of Hornady many decades past where the flash holes were off center. Broke decapping pins. Old friend told me of Hornady loading '06 and .270 in surplus military brass. They are out front and some times they drop the ball. Luck. Happy trails.

[Yella Dawg]

Measured rim thickness on both factory brass.These are the results:The average for five Win. .0615. All chambered.The average for 5 Hornady brass .0640.Some will chamber and some will not.The load books that I have all list the standard rim thickness as .0650.Is my guns chamber or bolt face out of spec? What is the correct terminology to try and explain this to Browning. Is this headspace or some other term? Thanks for any and all responses.

[1armoured]

Hi YD,

I have a similar problem,
in that while the factory 35gr V-Max chambers fine in my Savage M40 Hornet, and shoots accurately,

they are very tight to fit in the Anschutz 1730 Hornet. (Although with a bit of pressure on the bolt handle, they will chamber)

I put it down to chamber dimensions, as the Anschutz's generally are known for tight chambers.
Possibly the neck ?
The Hornady brass may well be a little thicker than others, I don't know,
or the V-Max's diameter might be a little generous.
Might be as well to measure the neck diameter dimensions of the different loaded rounds.

I doubt very much that it has anything to do with OAL !

I have no trouble with my own reloads of the V-Max or other bullets and brass in either rifle.

My favourite load is the Nosler 40gr Ballistic Tip over 13grs Lil'Gun and small pistol primers.
A very accurate load in both rifles.

cheers,
SS

[Flynmoose]

The OP mentioned a small indentation in the neck of the brass. I wonder if he has some overlong brass? I have
noticed length differences in most brass these days.
FM

[Yella Dawg]

OAL is in the window of the SAMMI spec.A little longer than the Winchester  but still in spec.The problem seems to be combination of upper level rim thickness of Hornady cartridge (.0645 avg.) and very tight chamber in Browning Micro-Hunter.All measurements of the cartridge are on the upper end of cartridge specs.Probably will leave gun as is and shoot Winchester and use Winchester brass.

[Lloyd Smale]

Had to chuckle. Ran into the same thing myself today. Ive got a rem bdl in 7mag. Ive shot this gun for years and only had rem brass. Picked up a bunch of once fired win brass and not thinking loaded a bunch of ammo. The bolt closed real hard over it. I figured it was that it had been fired in a larger chamber so i sized it with a small base die. Same thing, bolt closed hard. My buddy has a 7 mag and doesnt reload and i knew he had a bunch  of factory ammo so i went over to his house and grabbed a box of federal and a box of winchester. Federal went in smother then silk and the winchester had the same problem as my brass. Stiff closing. Never measured it but im guessing the rim thickness or rim diameter is a bit differnt on the win brass.

[Yella Dawg]

Took the rifle and put an ole fashion cleanin' on the whole thing.Lots of solvent in the barrel and chamber. Went to the bench with 3 boxes of factory rounds.The first was the Winchester 46 grain HP.No problems chambering rounds.Nice 3 shot group @ 50 yds. Next was the PP factory round.45 grains SP.Another nice group at 50 yds.No problems chambering round.Last was the Hornady 35 grain V-Max.Another tight group with no problems chambering.Seems the problem is not a problem after the cleaning.Apparently all I needed to do is clean the gun. Thanks for all the input.

[gr8ful]

I guess sometimes it is the simple things.

[1armoured]

I have a similar problem,
in that while the factory 35gr V-Max chambers fine in my Savage M40 Hornet, and shoots accurately,

they are very tight to fit in the Anschutz 1730 Hornet. (Although with a bit of pressure on the bolt handle, they will chamber)

I put it down to chamber dimensions, as the Anschutz's generally are known for tight chambers.
Possibly the neck ?
The Hornady brass may well be a little thicker than others, I don't know,
or the V-Max's diameter might be a little generous.
Might be as well to measure the neck diameter dimensions of the different loaded rounds.

I doubt very much that it has anything to do with OAL !

I have no trouble with my own reloads of the V-Max or other bullets and brass in either rifle.

Time has come to reload the rounds for the Anschutz 1730.
I checked the fired rounds for chamber fit, and still need excessive pressure on the bolt to close,

Maybe it's the rim. The head base feels a bit different, sort of cupped a bit and stamp a bit proud,
 so F/L sized and then ran the head base a couple licks over a medium stone, to even things out a bit,
and no problem, they now chamber without any undue bolt pressure.
Now to reload with 35gr V-Max and give them a bit of Lee factory crimp die treatment,
and see if I can get them under .5MOA as the Savage can do.
cheers,
SS

[charles p]

When OAL is too long, it is common to extract the case and leave the bullet stuck in the lands.  This dumps powder in the receiver as well.  You must determine where you are headspacing.  Could be the rim thickness or case length.  If it is the bullet, I think you would have already pulled one out of its case.

[1armoured]

My problem wasn't cartridge OAL or case length,
the sized case was still within spec.
Problem was at the rim end. Needed a bit of rim 'trueing' for a snug fit.
cheers,
SS

[1armoured]

Well this batch of once fired Hornady (Frontier) certainly has more brass in it.
I only managed 12 grs of Lil'gun, to leave me a bit of space to seat the projectile.
(I'm not a fan of compresed loads).
I can do the same thing with 13grs of Lil'Gun in the RP brass.
I have loaded 25 of the 75 Hornadys that I have , with the 35gr V-Max, but haven't crimped, as they were pretty tight to seat.


I've also loaded 50 of the RPs with the 40gr Sierra Blitz King, which I have had good results with previously,
and will shoot some groups after CHRISTmas, and see how they go.


I don't have any problem with the S&B, Prvi & Win brass that I have.
I enjoy the loading bit, but case prep is a bit of a pain in the ass.
cheers,
and y'all have a good CHRISTmas holiday.
SS