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Hopefully some opinions can help clarify the issue that I'm having. I bought my Satern 6.5 Grendel barrel off gunbroker as new. It came with a bolt headspaced to it. I removed the extractor and checked headspace off new Alexander Arms rounds. I checked it with 100g Berger, 123g Lapua, and 120g Nosler. They all closed. Applied two pieces of tape, and no closure. My experience with AR15's told me that this is good to go. So I first shot the Lapuas, and I'm thinking that I may have a tackdriver on my hands. The Noslers were about the same, the Bergers a little off. I ran a box of Wolf through it, and refuse to waste any further barrel life on it.
So I prepped the brass with a stainless tumble, full resized with a standard Redding full length die, and reloaded with 123g Amax to 2.260 and Win748 with CCI mag small rifle primers. Needless to say accuracy wasn't very good. I went up and down ladder testing...without very good accuracy. Typical groups were 2-3 MOA off a bench rest. I thought the new scope combo was to blame, it is after all, a quick detach...but its ADM, so I trust it. I tried it on my 6BR, and the scope tracks and groups a typical ragged hole, so the mount and scope are good. I thought maybe I didn't torque the barrel into the sweet spot during assemlby, so I bought a torque wrench and noted that I had it on there at 35 ft/lbs. I cranked it to the next hole on the barrel nut to 60 ft/lbs, reassembled, checked its headspace, and decided that I would switch to 8208XBR.
First reloads I decided to go 26.5g of xbr in 2x fired Lapua brass that was full length sized. I annealed the cases prior to firing; I use the drill-spin-drop in water bucket method. I've annealed hundreds of 308 and 6.5CM and have refined my technique to the point where the annealing is not in question. I never get crazy with it, they spin until I detect faint red, then they drop in water.
So I loaded up the rounds, went to the range, and got three shots off before I had a jam. I checked the case which had a mangled neck, but then I noted the case head had a swell, the primer was out, and I was getting an ejector mark and swipe on the rim. I also noted that the ejector on the bolt had cracked as well. The lip was sheared, so I packed it up. Too much pressure at 26.5g didn't seem reasonable from the loads people have been posting, and I went middle ground by the Hodgdon online data which gives 28.5g as max on 8208xbr, so I began troubleshooting.
Anyway, I ordered a heavy duty bolt from AA (still waiting for it 4 weeks later) and because of the long wait, I ordered a new extractor which showed up this week. I got it in and decided to trouble shoot the reloads.
I dropped the charge to 25.5g of 8208xbr. This is thrown on an RCBS Chargemaster, which gets freshly calibrated in between reloading sessions, and once during a string of reloads. Again, I used Lapua brass, again its 2x fired due to the failure to get through the previous 50. After pulling bullets, I full resized without the decapping pin in the Redding dies. First reload fired out under 123g Amax at 2.260 and I have a blown primer. Pack it back up for more troubleshooting.
I had reloaded the first batch with Redding dies with an RCBS shellholder. I thought maybe manufacturer compatibility was the issue, so I ordered a Redding shell holder. I also have a set of Lee dies, so I resized a couple pieces of brass with them over the RCBS shellholder. I noted that they did indeed bump the shoulder back 0.002 beyond the Redding full length. I was hopeful, because it seemed to clinch my hunch that the shell holder was probably to blame. So the Redding shellholder shows up. I resize the rest of the brass with it (Redding die/Redding Shellholder) measuring the resultant shoulder bump at 0.003 beyond what they were with the RCBS shellholder.
So I decided to shoot OCW testing. I still want to use 8208xbr, so I decided to drop the charges a bit. I chose 0.5g increments; 25, 25.5, 26, 26.5, 27, 27.5, 28. Again, 123g Amax at 2.260. So at the range, I fire the Lee resized round...popped out primer, big extractor mark, they're retired from the round robin. I fire the 25g, case loooks good. I fire the 25.5g case looks good. At 26g primer pops out, extractor mark, case bulged. I would have let the gun cool, but it wasn't even luke warm. I checked the chamber, clean. Barrel free of obstruction. Recovered the primer from the FCG. Then went back to a 25g round. Primer pops out, case bulges, extractor mark, swipe...I'm livid. Try the 25.5g same result, 26g same result...I pack it up.
I call Satern machining, they're apologetic for my troubles. I give the serial number on the barrel and she tells me Bill wants it sent back to them for inspection with a few rounds of my reloads. She said that it may have a chamber issue, because its from a batch where some dimensions changed, but she really doesn't give a firm affirmation of whether its the culprit or not. With Camp Perry, I'm looking at 4 weeks before it can get sorted out if its the barrel or not. I'm hoping to gain a collective opinion here first, before resorting to that.
On one hand, the barrel has never shot like a Satern. Its performed poorly, which I attributed to being new, and my naivety with the Grendel round. I'm never surprised when I have to tune my rifles to perform. But this is not getting any better, and I don't want to keep wasting Lapua brass. I'm wondering if this is the powder, but others love it. Or, is the chamber is out of spec or something.
I'm hoping to get an experienced reloader's opinion on this topic. Brass pictures are below. I've been reloading for 2 years now, and this is the first caliber/rifle that I'm having a great deal of trouble with. I reload 308, 223, 6.5CM, 6BR, 45, 40sw, so I'm not really new to this rodeo.
Any help appreciated.
So I prepped the brass with a stainless tumble, full resized with a standard Redding full length die, and reloaded with 123g Amax to 2.260 and Win748 with CCI mag small rifle primers. Needless to say accuracy wasn't very good. I went up and down ladder testing...without very good accuracy. Typical groups were 2-3 MOA off a bench rest. I thought the new scope combo was to blame, it is after all, a quick detach...but its ADM, so I trust it. I tried it on my 6BR, and the scope tracks and groups a typical ragged hole, so the mount and scope are good. I thought maybe I didn't torque the barrel into the sweet spot during assemlby, so I bought a torque wrench and noted that I had it on there at 35 ft/lbs. I cranked it to the next hole on the barrel nut to 60 ft/lbs, reassembled, checked its headspace, and decided that I would switch to 8208XBR.
First reloads I decided to go 26.5g of xbr in 2x fired Lapua brass that was full length sized. I annealed the cases prior to firing; I use the drill-spin-drop in water bucket method. I've annealed hundreds of 308 and 6.5CM and have refined my technique to the point where the annealing is not in question. I never get crazy with it, they spin until I detect faint red, then they drop in water.
So I loaded up the rounds, went to the range, and got three shots off before I had a jam. I checked the case which had a mangled neck, but then I noted the case head had a swell, the primer was out, and I was getting an ejector mark and swipe on the rim. I also noted that the ejector on the bolt had cracked as well. The lip was sheared, so I packed it up. Too much pressure at 26.5g didn't seem reasonable from the loads people have been posting, and I went middle ground by the Hodgdon online data which gives 28.5g as max on 8208xbr, so I began troubleshooting.
Anyway, I ordered a heavy duty bolt from AA (still waiting for it 4 weeks later) and because of the long wait, I ordered a new extractor which showed up this week. I got it in and decided to trouble shoot the reloads.
I dropped the charge to 25.5g of 8208xbr. This is thrown on an RCBS Chargemaster, which gets freshly calibrated in between reloading sessions, and once during a string of reloads. Again, I used Lapua brass, again its 2x fired due to the failure to get through the previous 50. After pulling bullets, I full resized without the decapping pin in the Redding dies. First reload fired out under 123g Amax at 2.260 and I have a blown primer. Pack it back up for more troubleshooting.
I had reloaded the first batch with Redding dies with an RCBS shellholder. I thought maybe manufacturer compatibility was the issue, so I ordered a Redding shell holder. I also have a set of Lee dies, so I resized a couple pieces of brass with them over the RCBS shellholder. I noted that they did indeed bump the shoulder back 0.002 beyond the Redding full length. I was hopeful, because it seemed to clinch my hunch that the shell holder was probably to blame. So the Redding shellholder shows up. I resize the rest of the brass with it (Redding die/Redding Shellholder) measuring the resultant shoulder bump at 0.003 beyond what they were with the RCBS shellholder.
So I decided to shoot OCW testing. I still want to use 8208xbr, so I decided to drop the charges a bit. I chose 0.5g increments; 25, 25.5, 26, 26.5, 27, 27.5, 28. Again, 123g Amax at 2.260. So at the range, I fire the Lee resized round...popped out primer, big extractor mark, they're retired from the round robin. I fire the 25g, case loooks good. I fire the 25.5g case looks good. At 26g primer pops out, extractor mark, case bulged. I would have let the gun cool, but it wasn't even luke warm. I checked the chamber, clean. Barrel free of obstruction. Recovered the primer from the FCG. Then went back to a 25g round. Primer pops out, case bulges, extractor mark, swipe...I'm livid. Try the 25.5g same result, 26g same result...I pack it up.
I call Satern machining, they're apologetic for my troubles. I give the serial number on the barrel and she tells me Bill wants it sent back to them for inspection with a few rounds of my reloads. She said that it may have a chamber issue, because its from a batch where some dimensions changed, but she really doesn't give a firm affirmation of whether its the culprit or not. With Camp Perry, I'm looking at 4 weeks before it can get sorted out if its the barrel or not. I'm hoping to gain a collective opinion here first, before resorting to that.
On one hand, the barrel has never shot like a Satern. Its performed poorly, which I attributed to being new, and my naivety with the Grendel round. I'm never surprised when I have to tune my rifles to perform. But this is not getting any better, and I don't want to keep wasting Lapua brass. I'm wondering if this is the powder, but others love it. Or, is the chamber is out of spec or something.
I'm hoping to get an experienced reloader's opinion on this topic. Brass pictures are below. I've been reloading for 2 years now, and this is the first caliber/rifle that I'm having a great deal of trouble with. I reload 308, 223, 6.5CM, 6BR, 45, 40sw, so I'm not really new to this rodeo.
Any help appreciated.
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