HELP....

[dogdoc]

So my daughter shot her buck with my Tikka 25-06. We are shooting some handloads that a friend made up for me. I have shot a good box through them with no problems but when she shot the buck and through all the excitement I told her to chamber another round. Well when she tried she lifted the bolt handle up but couldn't pull the bolt back to chamber another round. I pulled the bold back and it was a little tough. When I did the bolt came back but the brass did not come out of the chamber. Remember this is all during the excitement of just shooting a buck and I was wanting another round in case we needed a follow up shot. When I took the gun off the rest the little extractor arm fell off the bolt.

Well fast forward to today I was able to get the brass out and removed the bolt from the gun. The little extractor that fell off doesn't appear broken but when I put it back where it belongs it just falls off???? Is there a little spring that broke or something. A complete bolt replacement is over $300? Here is a pic of what I am talking about.

I can order spare bolt parts for 60 bucks or should I just take it to a gunsmith?

thanks
todd

 

[deer patch]

I just went and took a look at mine and it has a small round pin with what looks like a e clip to hold it in place. It slides in the bolt at the bottom of the u shape holding in the extractor.

Try calling the factory and see if they will replace under warranty or malfunctioning of the bolt being a safety issue. You never know it might work out for you.

 

[Native Hunter]

Doc, I've never had an extractor problem with a rifle but have had many to break on shotguns. My guess is that a gunsmith could get whatever part is missing and fix it in a jiffy, and it shouldn't cost much.

You might ask your friend if he is full length sizing your brass. Sounds like he might be just neck sizing, and I don't like to do that for a hunting rifle. That may not be issue at all, but worth asking about.

 

[buckdeer1]

The only time I had something like that was from shooting some too hot reloads and it damaged the bolt face.it didn't break but I couldn't eject the shell.Remington fixed mine

 

[dogdoc]

thanks guys. I have no experience with reloading. He had me order some 25-05 casings and he already had the powder and bullets. He wants to see the casing that did this. Something weird happened during the shot. The back of the shell is black and the primer/cap fell out and is not in the casing. I called him and he was just happy nothing bad happened. He said he has never had that happen and he does a lot of reloading. He things he can get the part to fix my bolt. If not I'll run it to a gunsmith. Makes me nervous to shoot the hand loads again. He did a lot of experimenting with different bullets and powders to get a very accurate load. I don't remember which bullet he put in the load but it created the most devestating wound channel I have ever seen out of the 25-06. I could almost stick my hand through the exit wound.

Hopefully all will be fine and we can get it fixed.

todd

 

[Ed K]

It sounds to me like you had a high or overpressure situation with the blown primer and stuck case.
You said he had you order brass. Was it new brass, or once fired you purchased?
It can happen from a number of reasons. I would start with weighing them and if needed , pulling the bullets and checking powder charges.
And undercharge can also cause a pressure spike as well, the bullet will actually lodge in the rifling for a millisecond, before heading down the barrel.
When he was ladder testing the loads, did he use your daughter's rifle? If not, that could be a problem. When handloading, I find that I like to be rifle specific, and start and minimum, and work my way up. My .30-06 has a difference recipe for what works well verses my Dad's .30-06. I also keep my brass once fired, rifle specific. Even after full length resizing.
At least everyone is Ok. Thats most important!

 

[Gravel Road]

That does sound like a classic pressure excursion. I don't know much about the Tikka's, but have read that the extractor will shear with a case blowout. Please, please, do not shoot any more of those loads! Maybe it was a one time event due to an unknown issue, but I would not bet my eye or hand on any load.

A stated above, if those loads weren't worked up in YOUR 25-06, then throw them away and get a new reloading partner. If he did, then as a minimum I'd be pulling bullets and checking powder.

 

[dogdoc]

Thanks guys. My friend came over to the house and made me give him all the loads I had left. I've shot at least a box of them with no problem. He has been reloading for a good 20 years and yes they were specific for my gun. He had my gun when he was trying different loads. They were not new brass. I ordered the brass from a place out of Montana and they are once fired brass. Makes me nervous to shoot reloads again?? The shot went off perfect and she made a perfect shot on the buck. Everything seemed perfect when the shot went off. Like you said just glad nothing bad happened.

 

[Ed K]

I would not be afraid to use handloads again. Who knows. That 1 case may have had some issue that just could not be seen.
Pressure spikes can be caused by myriad of things.
I know many guys who handload, and only check charge weight every 5 charges. Something as small as a grain of extra powder when already near a max charge may not be noticed when visually inspecting charged cases before bullet seating. I tend to do this myself when using some ball type powders that meter quite well (Like what I use in .223).
Chances are, the extact reason this happened will never be found.
Just this past summer, I had a "difficult to open" bolt on my .300 Win Mag, 1 time, out of 50 that were all loaded at the same time. I could find no reason as to why/what caused it. I did however toss that case in the scrap brass bucket, even though it still measured out fine, and I could'nt find anything wrong with it.

 

[Shack]

This is why I weigh every charge I load.

 

[Chestnut Valley Farms]

This is why I weigh every charge I load.

X2 doesn't take much longer to make precision loads

 

[dogdoc]

Ordered the rebuild kit for 60 bucks and bolt is back up and running!

 

[deer patch]

Glad your back up and running. Did you do the rebuild yourself?