Bolt (click)

[WHL]

I have HALL action when opening bolt to remove empty cartridge , at the top of the stroke there is some resistance , followed by a clicking and then it removes the cartridge. a new shooter looking for some answers to help solve the problem.

 

[Mike Swartz]

If these are reloads back your powder charge off 1 gr. and see if you still get bolt click. Is the extraction cam greased??

Mike Swartz

 

[MColeman]

I have found that once the brass begins to cause this it's time to make new cases and, as Mike said, reassess your loads.

 

[Nader]

Hey Bertha,you might have a BIG BUTT !

Wheelie,depending on your chamber, some dies are not aggressive enough .The rear portion of the case not being squeezed down enough usually causes the click at the top.As an extra step in your reloading process a Redding small base die or Clarence Hammond's SBD should fix the problem,but if your primary die was more aggressive you wouldn't need either of them.
Joel

 

[Wayne Campbell]

Nader's right

Get a full length die that will properly size the base.

 

[wnroscoe]

I had the same problem with a 6BR. The Redding Small Base Die solved it.

 

[Worker]

That happens to me

I shoot a 6x284 varmint rifle. When I shoot Lapua brass that " Click" happens but when i shoot Norma brass ( Same hot load) there is no "click". I think it has some thing to do with case hardness. I tried annealing Lupua brass and it didn't fix the problem.

 

[jackie schmidt]

Whl

As has been said, a properly fit die will probably cure this problem. Most Benchrest Shooters get prettyy aggresive with the sizing.
Worker, the bolt click is usually caused by the web and head area of the case not being sized down enough, where you should NEVER anneal. I am sure you know this, just a reminder to others.
Usually, your situation is just the opposite of what most shooters experience. While Norma makes excellent brass, it is considered a tad on the soft side for use with the elevated pressure loads found in Benchrest..........jackie

 

[Gene Beggs]

This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart, and the primary reason I chose to develop my own line of cartridges.

There can be other reasons for the 'click-at-the-top' extraction, but the culprit is usually mismatch between the chamber and the sizing die. With the 220/6mm Beggs cartridges you KNOW the two will be compatible.

Ocassionally you will find a chamber that was poorly done and has chip rings in the body area. This will cause difficult extraction even with mild loads.

Another thing that is critically important and that is knowing how to properly adjust the sizing die so headspace is correct. Just today at the tunnel I encountered a shooter who was confused about this and was wondering why he was getting case head separations. A bit of measuring revealed the reason; he was pushing the shoulders back .015

Gene Beggs

 

[Boyd Allen]

A couple of things that can come into play are the size of the chamber at the very back, and the length of the chamber vs. the length of the die.

If a reamer is too small at the very back of the chamber it can cause a problem as the web is increased in diameter by repeated firing with hot loads.

Imagine a hamburger patty (raw) being pressed between the opposing palms of your hands. It gets bigger and thinner.

The easy way to tell that this is happening is to use a .0001 mic. To measure the diameter of the rim of a case before firing, mark the case, and record the measurement. Fire it hot 15 times or so, and then remeasure, in several places. You will see that the rim has grown in diameter, and that the diameter is less even than at first. This is all predicated on loads that are near or at the “upper window” for a 6PPC.

Another situation can occur when the length of the body portion of the chamber is sligltly longer than that of the die. An overly large chamfer at the mouth of the die can cause this. If you have a case that clicks, put a bullet in the fired case neck (to keep it from collapsing), chuck the neck in a cordless drill (lightly), support the back of the case against a piece of smooth wood, and use some sort of fine abrasive on a stick ( I used a coarse diamond lap) held parallel to the centerline of the case to reduce the diameter of the case in the area immediately bordering the extractor groove 2-3 thousandths, and then polish with 0000. Load and fire the case as hot as would have previously have caused a click. Where did it go? You just "blueprinted" the leading edge of the web back to new brass diameter. I'll bet that you didn't get the click on the first full load firing of a new case, unless you have a defective action, or chamber.

In my experience regular dies don’t do much about reducing the diameter of the actual solid web of the case. They may reduce the case immediately in front of the web enough to ease bolt closure, but with an enlarged web immediately adjacent, firing springs the case into interference. If the web is smaller, the case has a tendency to pull back from chamber diameter after firing.