New .308 Barrel-- Headspace is suspect

[RickC.]

NEF finally got the .308 barrel to me that I mentioned in earlier threads.

 After 3 range sessions with FL resized brass and factory loads, I've had 3 case head separations, one with a Remington factory load.  I keep a close eye on my brass, and earlier this year retired a bunch of cases that were still in good shape just because I'd had them a while-- so none of these cases have been sized to death.

 I've never had a problem with seperations in .308.  Had one with .44 Mag and one with .30-30 in years past when I tried to get too much out of the brass, that's why I trashed the older .308 brass. 

 So this barrel's going back, which is a shame given the trouble I had getting it in the first place.  I'll just put the .30-30 barrel back on and hunt with the ".308 Roberts" loads I worked up for it, I won't have time to change the scope back and sight in a new (or repaired) barrel in time to hunt with it.

This barrel has not been terribly accurate anyway, which was an unpleasant surprise.


                      Rick C.

[quickdtoo]

Obvious excess headspace will be apparent by checking how much a chambered round is below the chamber face, ideally it should be flush or just slightly above flush , depending on barrel to frame gap. I've had several barrels that had more headspace than I liked, my 308 bull barrel being one of them, the SAAMI maximum spec is .006", if it's more than that, I'm sure H&R will replace the barrel.

Tim

[RickC.]

Right-- and that looks OK.  If it were just my handloads that had the seperations I'd look again at my setup, though I've been loading for .308 Win since 1981 without ever having this happen.  The factory load seperation is what leads me to believe it may be headspace.

 Pretty unsettling to have that happen with a high pressure cartridge!


 
                     Rick

[quickdtoo]

I don't think I'd be too hasty considering Remington's track record of factory ammo, lately I've read of a lot of problems in general , lots here with the 35 Whelen ammo, several misfires on the Encore forum, and another at Handloads with no flash hole in factory ammo, seems  maybe their QC of late has been very poor to non-existent. You might try firing a resized and primed empty case in the chamber, then checking it to see if the firing pin impact has pushed the case further into the chamber which would confirm excesss headspace and a poorly done chamber.

Tim

[trotterlg]

Do like Quick says, a primed empty piece of brass will have the primer blown back against the breach and the brass all the way forward against he sholder.  Then just measure how much the primer is raised above the rear of the case and you will know exactly how much headspace you have.  Larry

[RickC.]

Thanks guys, I'll do that.  Also bought some Winchester factory loads today which I never do because I don't like Winchester brass. 

Just for grins I dug out my old Lee Collet sizing die and sized the once-fired brass (fired in the the NEF) with it.  No head separations, but not very accurate and had two instances of the action locking shut after firing-- took quite  a bit of doing to finally get the release button to move at all.  That's never happened with my other Handis, even with max book loads.

  These neck-sized rounds would not even come close to chambering in my Remington 788.

                       Rick

[PigBoy Crabshaw]

Does a Go-no-Go gauge not verify head space in your specific caliber?
Or would is this only be used for old military weapons and C&R's as a quick check used at shows
when a purchase is in the works on a desired weapon? -g

[RickC.]

It should, PigBoy.  I don't have one though-- didn't think I'd need it for a brand new barrel!

 I did put 20 rounds of Winchester 150 gr factory loads through it today (gray box, Walmart) without a hitch.  Wasn't the most accurate stuff (especially for .308), but I didn't see the issues I had earlier in the week.

 What's got me scratching my head now is the separation I had with the Rem green box 150 gr load-- could be lousy QC as Tim said.

 So now I have 20 once-fired cases that I've neck sized and loaded with 150 and 165 grain low-to-mid level .308 loads, a couple in the .300 Savage range.  If I can find some Flitz or JB locally I plan to polish the chamber before the next trip to the range.  Can't hurt.



                                                    Rick

[RickC.]

Follow-up:

 40 rounds of Federal Blue Box and 50 rounds of various loads with 150 and 165 Speer BTSP using WW and Fed brass-- not one problem.
Firing a primed, empty case also turned out OK.

  All I can figure is the Rem brass was questionable, as Tim suggested.  First time I've run into that in 25+ years of loading the .308 Win.

  Whew!

 Only problem now is that I bought this barrel for my wife to hunt with-- she enjoys shooting it but HATES the extractor, much preferring the ejector in the other 3 barrels.  Great...

[handi243]

I got some in 280 several that didn't go bang i called remington the guy told me "hey there my not be any powder in them" send in the rounds and we will look at them. I ask him if they would pay the shipping like sending me a call tag they said no i would have to pay go figure!!!!

[Mac11700]

My last box of 270 Core locs all went bang...but they were so erratic I didn't bother to shoot them all... Seems they are having a real issue with their current ammo lately...I've had real good luck with the blue boxed Federal Power-Shok...and the Fusion ammo...for the lower priced ammo...It has given excellent accuracy from just about any gun I've shot it in...same for the gray boxed Winchester ammo too...I don't see any reason to spend more for Remington's ammo any longer...and have bought my last box of it from them...Good luck on getting your ammo returned from them...Their ammo department isn't like their gun department...and don't like returning ammo even when it is clearly defective...I've been down this road with them before...I did manage to get it taken care of...but it took over 6 months and about 20 phone calls...and they still claimed it was with in specs...Pity...it used to be real good stuff...but...IMHO...would be the last I would buy from now on...

Mac