22 Hornet with most of the case stuck in the chamber...HELP!

[Big Caliber]

Bought the rifle last year from a friend. It came with 500 pieces of Winchester brass that had only been loaded once, and a few rounds that he loaded. I processed the brass per Hornady manual and loaded some rounds to about 2600fps. His loads Chony'd at around 2900fps. Long story short... when I pulled the bolt to eject one of my test loads, only the rim and about 1/4" of case came out. :? The rest is stuck in the chamber. Is this common for this caliber? I've tried pushing a 25 caliber brush down from the muzzle to dislodge the stinker but no luck. Anyone have any ideas? If not, I'll be talking to Mr. Gunsmith. Thanks.

 

[MFD]

Let me suggest you take a flex handle cleaning rod/pistol type, 4-6" long, put 22cal. brush on it, insert from chamber end, sort of jam it into chamber. Those brush bristles when you attempt to remove the brush, pulling backwards, will bite into the inside of the stuck brass, grip it if you will, and most likely will pull out the case that is stuck in the chamber. Might suggest that you double check your resizing of the brass for you may well have sized too small and when fired, case expands and will separate. Most old match shooters, I am both old and a match shooter, will have the set up described to do just what you are trying to accomplish. By tring to remove from the muzzle end, there is nothing for the brush to contact and won't work that way. Hope this works out for you.

martin

 

[edlmann]

I've tried pushing a 25 caliber brush down from the muzzle to dislodge the stinker but no luck.

Let me suggest you take a flex handle cleaning rod/pistol type, 4-6" long, put 22cal. brush on it, insert from chamber end, sort of jam it into chamber. Those brush bristles when you attempt to remove the brush, pulling backwards, will bite into the inside of the stuck brass, grip it if you will, and most likely will pull out the case that is stuck in the chamber. Might suggest that you double check your resizing of the brass for you may well have sized too small and when fired, case expands and will separate. Most old match shooters, I am both old and a match shooter, will have the set up described to do just what you are trying to accomplish. By tring to remove from the muzzle end, there is nothing for the brush to contact and won't work that way. Hope this works out for you.

+1
What MFD said.

You need to have the bristles angled back toward the breech, which means that you need to insert it from the breech end of the barrel.

 

[Big Caliber]

OK, thanks. I'll give it a try. As far as the sizing, I neck sized them only.

 

[MFD]

Neck sizing for your particualr rifle is good, but perhaps the former owner had resized/full length and pushed the shoulder back more than necessary?? The Hornet brass is not very forgiving in that it is very thin walled and just a suggestion that you measure a fired case from your gun and then resize some 2-.003 less than that and then you would know for sure if the cases are sized to your chamber. Again, just a thought.

martin

 

[Sam Johnson]

Here is a little trick that has worked for me. Remove the wood and put the action in the freezer for about three hours then try the brush. worked on my 7.65 Argentine.

 

[Pinecone]

Big Caliber, On the extremely hard stuck cases I screw in the appropriate size "taper tap" just enough to take a "bite" on the case wall, saturate with kerosene and tap out from the muzzle end with an appropriate size "brass" rod. Works like a charm and have used this method for many, many years. Don't screw in to tight as you "don't" want to "score" the chamber!........................Dick :idea:

 

[buckeyeshooter]

I have a t-shirt on this deal. I have sprayed a bunch of liquid wrench down the barrel-- so the case gets some around the walls outside and generally filled inside. Then I have an aftermarket single piece steel cleaning rod. After 24 hours soaking I insert steel cleaning rod, then tap with a brass mallet until the case flys out and drenches everything with liquid wrench for me to clean up!

 

[Big Caliber]

Thanks again for all the help. I tried a tap but had no way to turn it. Long story short...it's at the smithy. Oh, and I will double check the sizes of the fired cases. And yeah, the previous owner did and does have a "thing" for HOT loads. :shock: I'll look at the brass more closely from now on.

 

[Pinecone]

Big Caliber, I should have mentioned that I normally have to use a tap "extension" to be able to get a tap wrench clear of the receiver channel.........................Dick

 

[GP100man]

I`ve been checkin into the hornet & everybody says go with remington brass it was`nt as easy to bruise as WW brass.

 

[WARD]

If you have a rat tail file of the correct size - go in from the rear and screw the file gently into the brass case and pull it out the rear. You want a file that won't go thru the case and touch the barrel but will just nestle into the remaining brass.

I once had a Savage break action single shot with a scored chamber (as a kid) and had to contend with this all the time. As I remember it worked quite well.

Ward

 

[SBH4628]

2900 fps is the max load in my Hornady manual with a 45gr bullet with W296 powder. You may not want to shoot any more of them. Pull the bullets and start from scratch. I never have trusted someone eleses reloads,Your face,eyes and life are worth more then a few rounds of ammo.