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| Member |
I was finally able to take my Noveske out for some accuracy testing today…..(Covid kicked my butt for the past two weeks). Anyway, the gun shot well using two different hand loads. One was 44gr Varget with a 168gr SMK and the other was 40gr Benchmark with 168gr SMK. Groups were around 1” or smaller. This is not a bench gun, so I felt the groups were very acceptable for a 16” barrel and 10x scope. The problem I was having was I was unable to extract live rounds using the charging handle. I had to mortar them out. The OAL length on my reloads are 2.80 which is well within spec. I was having the same issue with full length sizing dies so I purchased small base dies and still having the same issue. The gun either has a very tight chamber or a short chamber. Shortening OAL increases pressure so…….. any ideas?.      | ||
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I Deal In Lead |
Got a pic of the ejected cases with the primers showing? | |||
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| Member |
Here you go. Thanks for your help.   | |||
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| Freethinker |
Some definite high pressure signs, IMO. Primers that are flattened (I believe) and cratered (clearly), and perhaps even some marking and “smearing” of the headstamps. People tend to worry about bullet setback’s causing high(er) pressures, but in rifles like that my experience has been that it’s more likely to be caused by the bullets’ contacting the rifling before firing. If it’s a tight chamber, the leade may be a little shorter that what you’re used to. A simple way to determine that is to load a dummy round, blacken the bullet with a match or other sooty flame, chamber it, and then inspect the bullet for rifling marks. If it’s touching the rifling, I would seat the bullets a bit deeper. ► 6.4/93.6 ___________ “We are Americans …. Together we have resisted the trap of appeasement, cynicism, and isolation that gives temptation to tyrants.” — George H. W. Bush | |||
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| Member |
In my experience 44 grains of varget is a bit much for a gas gun, but that has been in JP chambers, your Noveske might be as sensative. What was your trim to length? Autoloaders can sometimes be very picky on trim length as well as OAL. | |||
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| You have cow? I lift cow! |
Looks good. About what I'd expect accuracy wise. I know Noveske has chamber voodoo. I'm too ignorant to speak on it. | |||
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| Member |
The primers look just fine. 44gr of Varget for a 168SMK is just fine, mid-level load. I think that was not virgin brass, probably many times loaded. Do you have a case guage for .308 Win? If not, why not? My guess is that the brass was fired in a more generous chamber and then resized. It has been my experience that even using an SB die after the brass has been fired in a larger chamber a couple of times, the base will NOT be brought back to original. My experience has been that with a tight chamber, used brass won't work well; it will load fine, the bolt is big and heavy with quite the spring behind it. But when trying to eject, I have had the extractor jump the rim and leave the case in the chamber. You're lucky that it only grabs and holds an unfired round, which must be mortared off. Get the guage and drop in your loaded round. If it doesn't go flush by itself, you have your problem. The only solution is to use virgin brass and ALWAYS use the SB die for full length resizing after every firing. You can also measure the OD about a half inch above the extractor groove. It will be > .473 inch. https://www.brownells.com/relo...gauge-prod99059.aspxThis message has been edited. Last edited by: NikonUser, | |||
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| Member |
Thank you for the sound advice. I have a case gauge and the loaded rounds drop into it just fine. You are correct in that the brass is not virgin brass. It was fired in my LMT which I think does have a generous chamber. It has also been loaded a few times. I’ll just buy new brass and fire form it to my chamber and go from there. | |||
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| Member |
If the loaded rounds all go in the guage without issue, then you might want to try some factory ammo in the rifle and see if you can pull out the chambered rounds with the handle without having to mortar the rifle. If you have the same issue with factory rounds, it's time for a call to Noveske. | |||
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| Member |
this. the minute someone using only their handloads has issues on a new gun I say fire a few factory rounds and see what is the situation. Nearly 99+% of the time they figure out its them. It might not be of course, but its a simple and easy diagnostic. “So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.” | |||
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| Member |
This was my second time out with the rifle. My first trip I ran factory ammo without issue. I had the range to myself, so no reason the unload the rifle. This time I had another shooter on the range and when called cold, that is when I discovered the issue. | |||
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| Member |
I figured out what was happening. The sizing die had loosened just enough that it was not sizing the entire length of the brass. That is the point at the very base where it was hanging up. I tightened the die, resized a few of the pieces of brass I had to mortar out and they cycled by hand using the charging handle without issue. Problem solved.  | |||
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| Freethinker |
Thanks for the update. It's always good to learn how these things turn out (and that's not something that would have occurred to me). ► 6.4/93.6 ___________ “We are Americans …. Together we have resisted the trap of appeasement, cynicism, and isolation that gives temptation to tyrants.” — George H. W. Bush | |||
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