Winchester 30-30, backed out primers????

section8smkr

section8smkr

New member
Recently purchased a used, circa 1975 Winchester 30-30. Took it out to the range with 2 boxes of ammo the owner gave me. As well as one box of new Winchester white box. Yep, actually found a box of ammo /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

So after 60 rounds, and drifting the iron sight, I returned home to give the brass a bath. After the tumbling I was rubbing my thumb over the spent primer and said, WTH? Felt like pimples? Granted, the two boxes the owner gave me were from about the same year as the gun, the same thing happened on the new box I bought?

Any ideas? Never had a lever actioned firearm, so all I know is backed out primers are a no-go, something is wrong.

Here are the pic's

30303.jpg


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y172/section8412

[img]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y172/section84122/30302-1.jpg

Any ideas? Never had a lever gun, but backed out primers speak to me in a way I don't like....

Thank you in advance
 
Suprisingly the only rifle I've shot that backed out primers was also a lever 30/30. I contributed it to a head space problem. If it was reloads I'd say it was a low pressure load not reseating the primers. But, since you shot factory loads I would say headspace. Have a gunsmith check the headspace. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
I agree with stexyote.
Quite a few Winchester 30-30's back the primers out a bit with factory loads. Most people don't even notice it. It's always best to have the headspace checked and if it needs to be adjusted Winchester Bob has standard and .010 over-size locking bolts for $60.00, here is a link, towards the bottom right hand side you will see "Win 94 Lever Rifle 1894" you will find the locking bolts just below that. It is a very hard web page to figure out, a mess really! But the only way to adjust head space is with a new or over-sized lock bolt.
Good luck!

http://www.gun-parts.com/winchesterrifle/
 
There is another possibility.

Many 30-30s that are checked by smiths are within specs. And then the question becomes, if it is within specs, why do the primers show excess headspace.

It has to do with the relatively low pressure load that is used in the 30-30. The case will be driven forward by the firing pin and as pressure builds the case will stick to the chamber wall. Often the pressure of the load is not enough to break this friction and force the case back. The primer will be forced out the distance between the case head and bolt face. The same thing can (often) be duplicated in bolt action rifles by using a low pressure load.

You can play with checking your own headspace using this method.

Regardless of what is actually causing the situation, you can use minimum resizing techniques to minimize the problem.

There are four (or five?) 94s in our family and I have been reloading for all of them. I can give you some tips that I have learned if you like.

The cases will stretch and case head separation is a real possibility. Educate yourself on how to check cases for this problem. Even with minimum resizing I smash and toss the cases after the third firing. Once fired 30-30 cases are everywhere around here. (I can't find any reason to push the number of times I reload a 30-30 shell.)

Jim
 
I doubt if anything is wrong with the rifle. Low operating pressures of the 30-30 would be my guess. I even bought a Redding neck sizer thinking I would blow the shoulder forward and have the case headspace on the shoulder. In my Rem.788 the brass is the limiting pressure factor not the gun (thin brass). Even with loads that are above book maximum for a lever gun, I still can't blow the shoulder forward and the primers still back out.
 
I've never heard of this, but never had a 30-30 either. Would polishing the chamber do anything one way or the other?

peace.
unloaded
 
No, if you don't have ejection problems your chamber is fine. You don't
want the brass to stretch. It takes about twice as much pressure to expand
a case vs. stretching it so it will stretch lengthwise long before any pressure
signs show. Sounds like the shoulders would not need to be bumped at all
if the case isn't lengthening.
 
Nope, no ejection problems. All the primers are backed out approximately .006". The OAL I get while measuring just to the side of the primer is (don't have a die set for this caliber) 2.025" avg. Speer calls for max case length of 2.0395". Trim to is 2.030". Hope this may help..... Safe to shoot, or should it be looked at by a smith?

Thank you for all the input

Ed
 
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