7 PRC brass life and chamber/die issues

[jmad_81]

I've been shooting a 7 PRC that I built with a 22" Bartlein carbon barrel. The thing shoots lights out and I absolutely love it. I noticed after my initial firing that the cases seemed to go into the sizing die fairly hard right at the last 1/4" of the press stroke. It was noticeable between the 1st and 2nd shot, but yesterday when I was loading between the 2nd and 3rd firings I stuck 5 out of 25 cases in the die and had a lot of others that were hard enough to pull out that I bent the rim. I'm using plenty of lube, the dies are clean, and I'm completely baffled. I've never had this much trouble with a cartridge before.

I've been reading a bunch about how the Saami 7 PRC is a very tight chamber and is causing people to have case extraction issues or "clickers". Apparently, Alex Wheeler has come out with a reamer that fixes this by taking an additional .003" out of the chamber at the .200 mark. I've read a bunch about this, and his reamer seems to be very successful in solving the chamber issue.

I want to do this to my rifle, but I'm thinking that if I'm not having much of a chamber extraction issue and having a fairly major resizing issue with the die after 2 firings. Does it make sense that expanding my rifle chamber dimensions to solve the "clicker" issue would create a larger issue with my Saami specked sizing die? Would I need to "fix" the chamber AND get a new die to account for the new chamber dimensions?

 

[SJB358]

From what I’ve gathered Wheelers reamers clear up that clicker stuff. Just a case where they didn’t provide any room for expansion/contraction which isn’t a problem with factory ammo but if you reload you will run into the problem in only a matter of time.

 

[xphunter]

I've been shooting a 7 PRC that I built with a 22" Bartlein carbon barrel. The thing shoots lights out and I absolutely love it. I noticed after my initial firing that the cases seemed to go into the sizing die fairly hard right at the last 1/4" of the press stroke. It was noticeable between the 1st and 2nd shot, but yesterday when I was loading between the 2nd and 3rd firings I stuck 5 out of 25 cases in the die and had a lot of others that were hard enough to pull out that I bent the rim. I'm using plenty of lube, the dies are clean, and I'm completely baffled. I've never had this much trouble with a cartridge before.

I've been reading a bunch about how the Saami 7 PRC is a very tight chamber and is causing people to have case extraction issues or "clickers". Apparently, Alex Wheeler has come out with a reamer that fixes this by taking an additional .003" out of the chamber at the .200 mark. I've read a bunch about this, and his reamer seems to be very successful in solving the chamber issue.

I want to do this to my rifle, but I'm thinking that if I'm not having much of a chamber extraction issue and having a fairly major resizing issue with the die after 2 firings. Does it make sense that expanding my rifle chamber dimensions to solve the "clicker" issue would create a larger issue with my Saami specked sizing die? Would I need to "fix" the chamber AND get a new die to account for the new chamber dimensions?

In your research, I would look up and find the dies that best work with Wheeler's reamer.
I have my smith use a Wheeler spec'd reamer for my 6.5 PRC

 

[IdahoCTD]

It almost seems like the clearance between the end of the barrel and the bolt is excessive or the chamber was cut overly large at the back. Effectively you have a much larger chamber then your die spec.

 

[jmad_81]

It almost seems like the clearance between the end of the barrel and the bolt is excessive or the chamber was cut overly large at the back. Effectively you have a much larger chamber then your die spec.

I think this makes the most sense in my head given what I'm seeing and fighting. Maybe I'll see if I can find a die for the Wheeler reamer first and see if that fixes things. Or knock the action off and see if things are going into the chamber as much as they should be.

 

[TackDriver284]

Measure the base of a few cases that you have sized and compare them to the fired cases, if any ? I would measure the base of virgin brass and see how much expansion was created at the base after firing. Just a thought

 

[IdahoCTD]

If there is too much of the case unsupported, too much clearance between the bolt and barrel, it usually leaves a bulge that can be felt or seen. I would do as Mark suggested and measure a new case, a fired case, and a sized case to try and figure out what the issue is.

 

[sako2]

This seems to be a issue with all the prc's. Do a search for 6.5 prc click.

 

[sako2]

This may help you.