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brass shavings in chamber

4K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  Danoobie 
#1 ·
hello,
I'm pretty new to bolt action rifles.I bought a ruger hawkeye 3006 been reloading and shooting it for about a year.I've been noticing little brass shavings in the action up by the chamber? what could be causing this?
any help would be appreciated
 
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#2 ·
It could be several things.
1. A rough chamber - Look at your brass before you chamber it,and then look at it when you eject it. It is scratched up?
2. Could also be a head space issue. Only way to know that is to have it checked with a Go / No Go gauge.
3. Since you reload,What type of case sizing do you use - Full length or Neck sizing?
4. Do you know how much you are bumping the shoulder of the cases back when you resize them? If you set your dies up correctly,you should set the shoulder back .002"-003" when you size them.
 
#3 ·
no scratches on the brass. do not have a gauge. fisrt reload was full the rest[4] have been neck sized.I double check the bump back
 
#7 ·
couple of questions.

1) has it always done this, or just started?
2) how many round approximately in total have been fired through the rifle?
3) are you noticing any extra effort in taking the case from the chamber during extraction?
 
#10 ·
i just noticed it on the last 150 rounds
exactly 450 round
smooth extraction
no crimp
the brass was reloaded 5 times
o.a.l 3.325"
just looking at the picture you provided, it was hard to tel exactly, but are they just specks of brass or particles, than actual shavings?

if so, i would just do a thorough cleaning and lubing, and see if it continues to happen. i have noticed the same thing with some of my rifles when they were new, and it ended up going away. didn't matter whether it was factory ammo, or my handloads.
 
#12 ·
just my thoughts, and if it were my rifle, i'd do a good cleaning, oiling, and as long as there are no feeding, or extraction issues like binding, or difficulty, and no presence of over-charging of the loads or signs of it, i wouldn't be too concerned as long as it didn't get worse, or some other problems arose.

now that is simply my assessment based upon past experience with the same issue with some of my rifles in the past. also might not be a bad idea to get it checked by a competent gunsmith to make sure that there are no headspace issues, or any other problems that i may be overlooking. his eyes on the actual gun might be much better than mine of just looking at a picture. it sure doesn't hurt to get a second opinion.
 
#15 ·
Late to the party, but does your Ruger have the Mauser style claw extractor? If it does, I have seen the end of the claw on those extractors shave particles like you show from the cases extractor groove. It's hard to see scratches in that case extraction groove unless you have magnification.
It might be worth checking the edge of the claw on your extractor and if it is found to be sharp, some judicious stoning to provide a small smooth radius will eliminate the brass particles.

You may not see the particles get shaved from a reloaded case due to the extractor claw previously sizing the extractor groove to its liking.
 
#16 ·
You may be pushing it, reloading the brass that many times. My 30.06 cases start
getting a little yimsky after 3 firings. I'd keep a very close eye on the casings. I'm
usually trimming the necks after 2 or 3 firings, and they start getting raggedy in
general, after that. Wouldn't be surprised it's either dust from trimming the necks,
or the crimp cannelure is getting soft and thin.
 
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