Browning 223 wssm problem

[Barlow]

An acquaintance of mine has a Browning rifle chambered in 223 wssm. He said after 4 or 5 shots he couldn't get the bolt open without beating it open. This is with factory ammo. I have not seen the rifle or any components. Anybody familiar with this problem? Barlow

 

[Laurie]

I had very hard bolt lift with the .243 version in a Winchester 70 'Stealth', again including factory ammo. The factory stuff is loaded pretty hot and it is a high pressure number - but so are others which don't produce this symptom.

I read an opinion by a respected gunsmith in the BR world on the Benchrest Central forum a few years back trying to account for the problem. If I remember right, he reckoned that there is insufficient 'meat' around the large diameter chamber used by this very fat case-body design in factory Winchester and Browning sporting rifles and that the barrel reinforce expands excessively under firing and then contracts back onto the case as much as or even more than this heavy gauge, strong case does after firing so the chamber walls continue to grip the case really tight. Hence hard extraction.

I suspect it's a combination of several things. The cases really are thick-walled, so maybe that's a contributor too.

 

[jonbearman]

I have heard that because the neck is so thick that it causes the sticking case syndrome and turning a couple thou off cure's some of the ill's.Can he rechamber the brass after firing regardless of the sticking.If not,try inking the neck up with sharpie and see if by chambering it leave's marks in the case neck.I also would put some lines of ink on the body as well to figure out where it is really sticking.This happened to me with a no turn 6 BR and it turned out it was the neck.I also had a no turn 22-250 AI that did the same thing with a no turn neck.

 

[Barlow]

I told him to mic the fired case necks and compare to unfired necks as I thought the clearance may be to tight. Also told him to check case length as it may be crimping. We were both at our cottages and he was 150 miles from his rifles. He is a hand loader and has neck turning tools, but never thought of these possible fixes. Thanks for the input, I will pass them along. Barlow