First time out with lr308, big trouble, stuck casing

dehamma · Mar 31, 2012

Took out an LR308 I bought in like new condition. Lower marked .308 Winchester, barrel marked 7.62x51. aa box of Tula .308 Winchester, no problem. Switched to ammo that came with rifle, Nato headstamp F 78 and 36 I think. First 10 rounds fine, then a fired case got stuck in the chamber. What I did next was probably dumb. After the next round was fed into the stuck case, I removed the magazine, cleared the breech, closed the bolt and dropped the hammer. Now the action is stuck solid. I tried tapping a steel ak cleaning rod down the barrel. Nothing budged. Any advice before I try pouring kroil down the barrel and a tapping harder with a bigger hammer? Never had this before, failures to extract yes, but never a stuck casing.

speedtriple · Mar 31, 2012

I think you are on the right track. Are you sure it is a spent casing?

Pour a little Kroil and let it soak for a while. Maybe a little at the front of bolt. Best of luck and try to figure out the root cause of the stuck case before shooting it again.

dehamma · Mar 31, 2012

Yes, it's spent the action cycled after firing but the casing remained stuck in the chamber. Thanks for saying it tho, lol you can never be sure enough! Tap, tap, BOOM!

Okay, gonna go to town on this mutha, right now i'm thinking it's ammo related, sounds like this could be French ammo? The Tula ran fine, hopefully after extracting the case there will be a clue. Any suggestions are certainly appreciated. . . .

Okay, got it out. No obvious signs of trauma to the casing, no bulging, cracks, primer's still in it. . . Any suggestions on the cause of this I'm all ears. . . I'm thinking the rest of that ammo will go through the Saiga, I will try shooting the dpms again but with different ammo

Hardwood floor guy · Mar 31, 2012

sounds like the case pressure was too much for the brass(or steel casing if thats what it was)pretty common in some of those surplus ammos.
i would stick to american made ammo even if it costs a little more.your new barrel will cost much more or even worse your face if you get a kaboom!
i hear this happen a lot with the belgium ammos.

Velzey · Mar 31, 2012

Clean your chamber really well! There may be some varnish in there from steel cased ammo!

bmgm37 · Mar 31, 2012

If it is like the ammo in the pic attached it is Chilean and is known to be HOT! I have a bunch that I shoot in my Browning M37 because it can handle it but I wouldn't run it in an M1A or AR10 style of rifle IMO.

dehamma · Mar 31, 2012

Thanks, yes it looks just like the Chilean round, but doesn't have the 3 little stake marks. But it does have the F 78 headstamp, silver primer and green sealant. The case wasnt ruptured or anything, but yes I think I will avoid it in this rifle.

And yes I will be scrubbing the chamber before firing again. Thanks for all the replies.

deadshot2 · Apr 1, 2012

Also check the extractor on your bolt. May be part of the problem. Worn edge, weak spring? Works good on cases that don't have any "stick" but those that are a little harder to extract, it looses its grip. This happened a lot on AR's until they improved the springs and added the little rubber "buffer".

speedtriple · Apr 1, 2012

No harm checking the extractor, but if the bolt was stuck closed along with the brass, the extractor was doing a good job of holding on to the case head.

dehamma · Apr 1, 2012

Yes the case was STUCK the extractor tore off a piece of the rim. I'll clean the chamber and cycle some dummy rounds, I suspect the rifle's okay but it doesn't like this ammo. . . I bet a Saiga would devour it. . .

parallax · Apr 1, 2012

throw that unknown ammo away... it could be someones reloads, that were not sized properly,, i had same problem, and found out reloads from my supposs-ed reload expert buddy were not sized right.,,( sorry about the bad spelling am trying to type from back seat of helicopter at 9,000ft..

unklekippy · Apr 1, 2012

I would have to agree with speedtriple. Hot loads or just freaky stuck cases happen. It could happen on your LR308 or anything else. If it is in "like new condition", there should not be enough carbon in the chamber to cause a stuck case. A 24" LR308 is very high on my list. I would suggest buying an M-60 for the "unknown, possibly Chilean" ammo. Why waste $60 worth of ammo when a $30,000 machine gun will fix it fine? In all seriousness, I had stuck cases when first loading for my Garand. parallax could be right about that.(Please excuse my proper speling and grammar, I am trying to type from my couch at just above sea level. BTW, if you are in a heli at 9,000, don't you have better stuff to look at than this site?) ;/ Kip

dehamma · Apr 2, 2012

Thanks for all the help, yes maybe this stuff should occupy a campfire along with the ADCO 9mm I bought years ago. Yikes! Scary bad, pop, pop, BANG! pop, pop, KERPOW! Only shot half a mag, never got to the KABOOM! Thanks again

DoubleTapDrew · Apr 2, 2012

If I understand the OP correctly you fired steel cased ammo then switched to brass?
That's what happens in AR-15s as well (and why so many people complain about wolf). The steel ammo doesn't expand in the chamber so it blows fouling around the case and into the chamber. Then when you switch to brass (which does expand), it sticks itself to the gummy fouling the steel cased ammo left in the chamber.
In ARs if I plan to shoot both typed of ammo, I shoot brass first then switch to steel cased and always clean the chamber good after shooting steel cased ammo before you run brass though it again.

deadshot2 · Apr 3, 2012

DoubleTapDrew said:
If I understand the OP correctly you fired steel cased ammo then switched to brass?
That's what happens in AR-15s as well (and why so many people complain about wolf). The steel ammo doesn't expand in the chamber so it blows fouling around the case and into the chamber. Then when you switch to brass (which does expand), it sticks itself to the gummy fouling the steel cased ammo left in the chamber.
In ARs if I plan to shoot both typed of ammo, I shoot brass first then switch to steel cased and always clean the chamber good after shooting steel cased ammo before you run brass though it again.

An essential tool for any AR type rifle is a good stiff bronze chamber brush. Frequent applications of this tool will keep the weapon functioning well. Even plain old brass ammo will leave enough "schmutz" in the chamber to eventually cause a stoppage of one sort or another. Dewey makes a great tool. A rod with a chamber brush on it that's just long enough to reach into the chamber and twist it vigorously.