elkchaserreturns
Active Member
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- 349
I recently picked up a left hand Sako M591 barreled action chambered in 220 Swift. It is not an original SAKO Barrel. It was from an estate sale and had not been fired. I had a custom stock from a previous project, and it seemed like a match made in heaven!
Long story short, I finally got it all fitted together, loaded up some test loads, and took her out for a test run.
My normal routine on a "new" gun is to sight it in with factory loads, clean it, and then start in with the test loads to really see what it can do.
I never made it past the factory loads!
Upon firing, the factory loads were visibly swelled just forward of the web area. .010 larger than an unfired case! Some of them were so bad that they were difficult to re-chamber. This is usually a sign of extremely high pressure.
The factory loads were Hornady Varmint Express with a 55 gr. V-Max Bullet.
My assumption is/was that factory loads are usually safe!
At first, I thought the chamber was cut oversize. Now, I'm wondering if the factories were just far too hot for this gun. I hate to ruin a bunch of cases firing test loads if the chamber is oversize.
I have been handloading since 1972 and I have never had anything like this happen.
Any thoughts, suggestions, similar experiences out there?
Thank you in advance for any feedback.
Elkchaser
Long story short, I finally got it all fitted together, loaded up some test loads, and took her out for a test run.
My normal routine on a "new" gun is to sight it in with factory loads, clean it, and then start in with the test loads to really see what it can do.
I never made it past the factory loads!
Upon firing, the factory loads were visibly swelled just forward of the web area. .010 larger than an unfired case! Some of them were so bad that they were difficult to re-chamber. This is usually a sign of extremely high pressure.
The factory loads were Hornady Varmint Express with a 55 gr. V-Max Bullet.
My assumption is/was that factory loads are usually safe!
At first, I thought the chamber was cut oversize. Now, I'm wondering if the factories were just far too hot for this gun. I hate to ruin a bunch of cases firing test loads if the chamber is oversize.
I have been handloading since 1972 and I have never had anything like this happen.
Any thoughts, suggestions, similar experiences out there?
Thank you in advance for any feedback.
Elkchaser