22 hornet hard to extract

Rimfire bolt action rifles, lever action, pump action and self loading rifles. Air rifles.

22 hornet hard to extract

Post by DaleH » 25 Mar 2014, 11:16 am

A mate of mine in the bush reloads his 22 hornet but is finding it difficult to extract the empties from the rifle once fired (I don't believe that there is any trouble loading the round into the gun).

He is probably a bit less than diligent in cleaning the rifle and cases but my thoughts on the cause of the issue are as follows:

1. Dirty breach / chamber
2. case neck growth (I don't think that he has ever neck trimmed his brass, cleaned the brass or any of the normal practices)
3. build up of copper in barrel throat area

He has had a local gunsmith look at the rifle and had found nothing wrong. I am uncertain if this was just a mechanical check or a complete once over.

I have suggested that he try one or two factory rounds and see if he has the same issue - that would go part way to identifying if the issue was his reloading or the state of his rifle.

Any thoughts?
DaleH
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Re: 22 hornet hard to extract

Post by Apollo » 25 Mar 2014, 11:48 am

For a start, what type of rifle, action ... like Martini, Falling Block, Bolt Action.

Secondly, I would fix all the points you raised. Clean the breach / chamber. Measure the fired rounds. Clean the bore and chamber with a copper solvent but that is unlikely to affect extraction.

Does a case that is hard to extract then rechamber and extract easily or hard.

Is he using "hot" loads. The .22 Hornet case is very thin and will not withstand a great deal of pressure.

Should be fairly simple to discover the reason, especially if he uses a nice shiny case with no marks on it then studies the case on extraction to see if there are any marks anywhere on the fired case. Measure the difference between an unfired case and the difficult to extract one.

If he doesn't clean anything well that might explain a lot.

The only time I have ever had a problem extracting a Hornet Case is a dummy loaded round being too long in a Martini. The bullet was sticking in the throat and the extractor of the Martini too weak to pull it out. Not the case with a bolt action.
Apollo
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Re: 22 hornet hard to extract

Post by Grrzrr » 25 Mar 2014, 1:22 pm

Apollo wrote:Is he using "hot" loads. The .22 Hornet case is very thin and will not withstand a great deal of pressure.


Mmm, without knowing more bulged cases would be my first thought too.
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Re: 22 hornet hard to extract

Post by DaleH » 25 Mar 2014, 2:00 pm

Thanks guys.

He has a bolt action. Not sure if he has tried re-chambering the fired rounds - I will check and see what I can find out.
DaleH
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Re: 22 hornet hard to extract

Post by Humir » 25 Mar 2014, 2:27 pm

DaleH wrote:I have suggested that he try one or two factory rounds and see if he has the same issue - that would go part way to identifying if the issue was his reloading or the state of his rifle.


Has he not tried any factory ammo in it at all yet?

That'd be the first step for sure.

Stating the obvious but if the factory ammo is smooth then it's his hand loads. If the problem's identical then it's a rifle issue.

Step 1 - Shoot some stuff!
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