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Posted: 9/17/2025 7:19:37 PM EDT
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I have a bit of a situation with my son's rifle deer rifle. We have two 6mm rifles. I hand load for them and only neck size the brass. My daughter's 6mm has a larger chamber so it has always been critical that we keep their brass separate because while brass forn fired in my son's has no issues in my daughter's. The other way around not so much. And Somewhere they must have mixed their brass up. Today we brought my sons 6mm to the range. The first round he grabbed and he couldn't get the bolt closed. He hit it pretty hard with his palm a second and third time trying to get the handle down before it dawned on me what was wrong. I took it to the house and tapped on the bolt handle a little with a mallet. Unfortunately the extractor slipped off the case. I re engaged the bolt and tried it again and same. At that point I stopped. Rifle is a very nice Ruger M77 tang safety. No threaded barrel so grease gun and what not are out. I'm not sure a wooden dowel down the barrel is a good idea with a live round. What's my next step? Try to extract the primer with glue or epoxy? Are there any methods im just not familiar with that anyone knows? |
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@Sovereign14er You can also use canned air (usually CO2 or freon) to speed it up. Turn the can upside down and hose down the round as best you can. BTDT. What I did after freezing mine (Model 70 in .257 Bob) was gently re-engage the bolt and put a dowel rod down the bore and put pressure on the round as I manipulated the bolt to extract it. I got lucky and it came out. If the rim ripped off, you may be forced to pull the barrel. Standard cautions and warnings apply. |
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| I would switch to full length resizing, there isn’t really any benefit to neck sizing only. It’s an outdated reloading practice now. Benchrest and F-class shooters found full length resizing to be more consistent and thus more accurate. If you’re using the same caliber in two different rifles you could buy a case gauge to setup the full length sizing die to size to fit a case gauge. The case gauge should be minimum chamber spec for the caliber. If the brass fits it should function in any SAAMI spec chamber for that caliber. It would prevent this issue from ever happening again and be more reliable. |
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[Update: it's out!] So the barreled action spent the night in the freezer. The inside of the case rim was already too peeled to get a decent hold with the extractor. But the freezing made enough of a difference that I was able to get the bolt closed while cold so I went that direction because I was much more comfortable working with a stuck empty than a live round. So I fired it while still cold in the hopes that it would form fire with the chamber tight. I then left to run errands and let the rifle come back up to room temp. When I got home I used a wooden dowel down the barrel and it popped out without too much struggle. Thanks for the freezer idea. I do believe that was key to making this process fairly easy on me. |
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Originally Posted By chocolateisyummy2: I would switch to full length resizing, there isn’t really any benefit to neck sizing only. It’s an outdated reloading practice now. Benchrest and F-class shooters found full length resizing to be more consistent and thus more accurate. If you’re using the same caliber in two different rifles you could buy a case gauge to setup the full length sizing die to size to fit a case gauge. The case gauge should be minimum chamber spec for the caliber. If the brass fits it should function in any SAAMI spec chamber for that caliber. It would prevent this issue from ever happening again and be more reliable. I think you're right. Its a known compatibility issue with 2 rifles in the same house that causes a lot of extra organization and nonsense. A FL sizing die would take all that away. When I used to competition shoot 30 years ago I was taught that neck size only, fire form brass before use ect. Its also less struggle on the press handle to neck size. So out of habbit every die set I own has a neck sizing die. But not all have FL dies. Its one of the many voodoo rituals that everyone did, very few tested to see if it mattered. |
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