Missfires

[scamp]

have a Blaser R8 6mm br, i am using foster fl and bullet seating match dies with new lapua brass, recently i have had a few missfires where the firing pin has not struck the primer at all, i have also had on 3 occasions a bullet head stick in the barrel when i have tried to eject an unfired round, any advice would be most welcome.

 

[timeout]

have a Blaser R8 6mm br, i am using foster fl and bullet seating match dies with new lapua brass, recently i have had a few missfires where the firing pin has not struck the primer at all, i have also had on 3 occasions a bullet head stick in the barrel when i have tried to eject an unfired round, any advice would be most welcome.

You have not provided anywhere near enough information. As far as the bullet staying in the barrel when you eject a cartridge, the bullet is obviously seated so that it is reaching into the rifle lands. That is a no-no on hunting ammo. An educated guess on the misfires is that you have the sizing die setup incorrectly and the shoulder of the cartridge is being pushed too far back. You need to measure shoulder to base dimension on a fired cartridge and then set your die to "bump" the shoulder back about .002". Short of understanding that procedure, purchase a Wilson cartridge case guage and check the cartridges with that. Of course you could also have a malfunctioning rifle causing the misfires.

 

[watercam]

Regarding the misfires: one of two things may be wrong. The cases may not have sufficient length to headspace properly in your chamber. If you are loading new, un-sized cases they may have come from the factory as such though I have never had that problem with Lapua brass before. You could seat some bullets long enough to contact the lands (with a lighter load) and shoot them, then size so that your shoulders bump back .001-.002".
OR, it is possible there is some dirt/grease/combination of the two in the firing pin area. No idea how to field strip your bolt but I would check this first. Clean the firing pin as well as the inside of the bolt to flush an debris out.

Regarding your "sticking bullet heads" - If you have bullets staying inside the barrel when you eject an unfired round (thus leaving you with an action full of powder), seat your bullets a bit shorter. The problem with jamming bullets into the rifling and minimal neck tension makes this a real problem. If, however, you mean the round sticks but comes out complete 1) your brass may be too long - measure and trim if necessary 2) your brass may not be sized sufficiently. Again, if shooting new, un-sized brass, use a fired case and size. Check the headspace of that round and check against a fired case. Your sized case should be bumped back only .001-002" (as above). You can loosed your locking ring and turn the die in or out in small increments to achieve this. I would start with the die 1/4 turn OUT to start and work you way back in 1/16 turn increments.
To measure your headspace, go to the Sinclair International website for tools to check headspace. Wilson case checkers are one, Sinclair bump gauges are another, as well as products from RCBS and others.
If you call Sinclair they have always been a great source for technical information in my experience.
Best of luck!
Mike