Ejector marks

[Gary O'Neal]

While shooting Sunday I had a unique experience. My Waypoint 6.5 PRC has less than 100 rounds on it. All were factory loads, either Hornady 143 ELDX Blackbox or Berger 156 EOL. I had no problems previously. Sunday I fired 2 5 shot groups with the Hornady and one 5 shot group with the Bergers. I had 2 of the Hornadys left so I load them. The first had some slight bolt lift and the second had more. I looked at the primers and saw that there was very heavy extractor mark. To the point that it raised a fudge that caught on my finger. None of the others had any marks at all. What could have caused this? I’ve been shooting almost 60 years and never had this happen before.

 

[M-61]

To the point that it raised a fudge that caught on my finger

What’s that?
How about a pic of the cartridge?

 

[J.d. Popkes]

Pressure spike from a carbon ring, fouling of some sort? Scope it probably.

 

[DIBBS]

When was the last time the rifle had a thorough cleaning? Is it possible that a carbon ring has developed? Was there any moisture on the last two rounds, that could have caused pressures to jump as well?

 

[Gary O'Neal]

Sorry. That should read ridge.

 

[Gary O'Neal]

It’s been probably 30-40 rounds since the last cleaning.

 

[TTE]

IMO, with less than 100 rounds through it, my thoughts would not be a carbon ring.

I would think more along the lines of temperature, or just weak brass. Hornady brass is not exactly very strong in my experience.

Actually, Hornady is my last choice for bullets and brass. But, I'm more of a hunter than a target shooter.

 

[Steveb]

Just curious as I had the exact same thing happen last Sunday also but using my handloads with a load I have used for years without any issues. Shot 1 relay without issues. Shot 5 rounds into second relay after the barrel was cold (shooting at 22 degrees F) then had 10 rounds showing extracter marks and slightly more bolt lift. I checked the primers and they were looking exactly like the previous relay. I started the third relay using rounds I had loaded last and fired the rounds in reverse order. I had no issues and these rounds looked like the first relay. I ended up with a few unfired rounds left over from the order of the second relay and pulled them apart to check. I couldn't find any issues at all. All measurements from powder weight to bullet weight to case length to neck thickness were perfect.
A friend suggested defective primers but I don't know.

 

[L.Sherm]

It’s been probably 30-40 rounds since the last cleaning.

Clean it it good borescope make sure there's no carbon ring, ive had Hornandy factory ammo over pressure before and ive heard others mention the same. If you get it cleaned and are sure there's no carbon ring shoot some more factory ammo and chrono the loads I had some 300WM horny ammo shoot 100Fps faster from 1 round to the other in same box.
Hard bolt lift and ejector swipes are to hot if its not a cleaning issue, as stated to Horny brass is soft.

 

[J.d. Popkes]

Sorry. That should read ridge.

Ejector mark. And that’s a real good one, dang!

I’m still in the carbon ring camp. If you’re not scoping after your cleaning job, chronograph numbers etc, it’s a crap shoot. Factory ammo, junk brass….

 

[Straightshooter1]

While shooting Sunday I had a unique experience. My Waypoint 6.5 PRC has less than 100 rounds on it. All were factory loads, either Hornady 143 ELDX Blackbox or Berger 156 EOL. I had no problems previously. Sunday I fired 2 5 shot groups with the Hornady and one 5 shot group with the Bergers. I had 2 of the Hornadys left so I load them. The first had some slight bolt lift and the second had more. I looked at the primers and saw that there was very heavy extractor mark. To the point that it raised a fudge that caught on my finger. None of the others had any marks at all. What could have caused this? I’ve been shooting almost 60 years and never had this happen before.

Interesting to me, especially for me as I shoot a 6.5 PRC, in that I've read a few other reports on Hornady 6.5 PRC ammo that have had this kind of result, like on Hornady Match 147 gr. ammo. I have yet to hear what might actually be causing this. Speculation is that the Hornady cartridges are loaded HOT, given the velocities being reported.

 

[K22]

Ok, let's start with what we know.

The pronounced extractor mark is almost always a sign of a pressure surge especially in junction to hard bolt lift.

You are shooting factory ammo.
Rare, but these days the rare is becoming not rare. I suspect that there is something inconsistent with the individual loads from the manufacturer.

In 50+ years of shooting a ton of ammo and rifles, I never experienced the carbon ring issue relative to performance of reloads. I am not saying that it doesn't exists as an issue, it's just I never experienced any pressure or other issues that could be traced to a "carbon ring".

My bet is on the ammo being defective and inconsistent.

 

[jdh47]

The ejector is suspect. Try pushing it down with a punch to see if it goes flush. Could be its too long or the spring could be defective. It doesn't look like a load issue to me. The primer doesn't show any overpressure signs.

 

[C.E.Smith043]

To me those primers look fine, makes me think the brass had too much headspace from the factory

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Hornady just loaded on the edge of a real hot load.

 

[Webster]

Clean it it good borescope make sure there's no carbon ring, ive had Hornandy factory ammo over pressure before and ive heard others mention the same. If you get it cleaned and are sure there's no carbon ring shoot some more factory ammo and chrono the loads I had some 300WM horny ammo shoot 100Fps faster from 1 round to the other in same box.
Hard bolt lift and ejector swipes are to hot if its not a cleaning issue, as stated to Horny brass is soft.

The ejector marks are far worse than any I have seen. The brass would have to really be soft to account for it. I would guess every round in the box would be soft if any. They should all be made the same way? Recently read an article on making brass. One of the final steps is to run a punch into the case to increase the work hardening of the head area.

 

[L.Sherm]

The ejector marks are far worse than any I have seen. The brass would have to really be soft to account for it. I would guess every round in the box would be soft if any. They should all be made the same way? Recently read an article on making brass. One of the final steps is to run a punch into the case to increase the work hardening of the head area.

If you have 1 round shooting 100FPS more than others which I have on horny factory ammo wouldnt the PSI be significantly different? Its exactly why I said chrono the rounds. Ive had no ejector swipes on brass then 30fps more there they are.
Its not uncommon at all to have 50 fps difference in factory ammo.

 

[J.d. Popkes]

Ok, let's start with what we know.

The pronounced extractor mark is almost always a sign of a pressure surge especially in junction to hard bolt lift.

You are shooting factory ammo.
Rare, but these days the rare is becoming not rare. I suspect that there is something inconsistent with the individual loads from the manufacturer.

In 50+ years of shooting a ton of ammo and rifles, I never experienced the carbon ring issue relative to performance of reloads. I am not saying that it doesn't exists as an issue, it's just I never experienced any pressure or other issues that could be traced to a "carbon ring".

My bet is on the ammo being defective and inconsistent.

I think it’s an ejector mark. If you are close to max pressure and a carbon fouling condition exists it will spike pressure that extra bit. But that’s one extreme ejector mark. Maybe multiple things can be true at the same time.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

The ejector is suspect. Try pushing it down with a punch to see if it goes flush. Could be its too long or the spring could be defective. It doesn't look like a load issue to me. The primer doesn't show any overpressure signs.

^^^^ this first clean bolt head parts if capable. The flatish primers/factory rds have a bit too much headspace.

 

[SmokinJoe]

Any chance those two rounds had any sort of lubrication on them? And BTW I have also had some Hornady factory ammo that acted like hot loads, and not a big fan of Hornady brass, either. Try another ammo in it and see what happens.