[tunabreath]

Thank you very much!

[tunabreath]

Appreciate it 🙂

[tunabreath]

It was definitely crunchy, but I loaded at 2.481″, which gave a bit more room.  I loaded the whole previous ladder at 2.460″, which heavily compressed the 25.5gr and up loads and deformed the bullets badly with my Lee seater die.

No deformation at 2.481″ with 25.7gr, but I am still a bit worried about bullets potentially working their way out, since it's still pretty compressed.  I'll be settling the next set before seating with an old electric razor I have kicking around.
Taking a page from these guys:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSChoYoGKq8

[tunabreath]

Just finished my A-max round robin this afternoon.  Last month, I had run a wide ladder for pressure work up and to spot the nodes, but my camera battery died in the -15C weather and the whole ladder was in a 4″ circle at 300m.  The whole group was promising, but I got no useful data other than my max loads (I stopped at 25.8 with no apparent pressure signs).

So I loaded up two round robins which covered most of my no-data ladder, and ended up with a pretty little 1.15″ group at 25.5gr (300m), and the vertical on 25.4/25.6 being identical.  Average group size across the whole set was ~2.5″, and I was definitely pulling a few of them because my hands were getting numb towards the end (-15C again today, warmer tomorrow when I'm busy, of course).

One note of concern, I was having ejector marks on my brass for one 25.6gr and one 25.7gr case.  Not entirely sure what it was, since I didn't have any marks whatsoever going higher on my previous ladder.  I'm guessing it might have been snow in the chamber or something like that.  Should I back off more?  What can I expect from the Varget once the temperature starts going up?  It's one of the more temp stable powders, so I'm not sure exactly how concerned I should be.

[tunabreath]

Ah, I'm the one with the Shapeways follower.  An anti-tilt version could definitely be made, but because of the way the follower is retained/installed, you would probably have to split the magazine to install it.  I'm not sure if that's a huge problem for people, but splitting the magazine is certainly a lot of effort vs just tipping out the follower in stock configuration.  Stronger springs are probably a better bet.  An anti-tilt follower would also probably reduce capacity, since the standard follower comes pretty close to bottoming out at capacity (maybe 5-6mm more travel?)

I actually had this problem while playing with my prototype followers – the first was because I made the follower too short initially, and the material I used to extend it had too much drag on the magazine body.  The correct length replacement got stuck at the front because it was tilting and wedging itself stuck.  I ended up taking material out to allow it to tilt freely, but extending the follower downward to prevent tilting would probably work also.

Moving where the spring mounts to the follower back by the ~5mm that it has would also probably help.

[tunabreath]

Not yet, I've just started developing a load for this rifle myself, so I've been following all this chatter closely!  ;D
That 1000yd  milk jug shot got me real excited about the 75gr A-Max…  My local gun shop consistently has good stock on most of the Hornady lineup too – I recently got some promising results out of the 55gr varmint SPSX (one of the cheaper ones on the shelf), ~3/4MOA at 300m across a 1.9gr charge spread on my ladder, so I'll be refining that and my A-Max load next time I'm out.

I'm using Lee dies, and it leaves a light ring on the bullet where it contacts from 25.2gr and up at 2.460 COAL.  I'll probably do my next set of loads seated a bit further out.

[tunabreath]

Not sure exactly how consistent T3 chambers are, nor A-Max overall bullet length across lots, but my .223 stainless varmint touches at 2.498″

I have a bit of a problem with seating marks/powder compression/bullet crushing seating at 2.460″ with 25.5gr Varget in Nosler brass, so that might be a consideration as far as the 25+gr loads go depending on your case capacity.

[tunabreath]

Bluh, so the problem was just lubrication…  I was using a heavy oil since it was all I had on hand while cleaning and it was wholly inadequate.  A nice grease with anti-seize smoothed and lightened it out to the point where the cocking lift is almost as light as closing the bolt on a round.

I feel so stupid right now, but at least it's a relieved stupid.

[tunabreath]

The problem persists whether there's a round in the chamber or not, fired or not, it's something directly related to the mechanical cocking action.

The rifle has seen less than 100 rounds of factory ammo since I got it, mostly hornady or nosler match, and I haven't noticed any pierced primers or cratering or anything.

I disassembled the bolt and cleaned it out.  There doesn't seem to be any problems with the cocking piece or the ramp on the bolt, but pressing them together and simulating cocking the firing pin by hand, it definitely feels gritty despite the surfaces being smooth and undamaged.  Lube and light sanding didn't seem to have any effect.

[tunabreath]

I couldn't find any way to do it other than drilling out the plastic plug in the center top.  There's a phillips screw under it holding the cheek piece to the stock.

[tunabreath]

Bumping this because I'm having the same problem.  It's quite extreme though, requiring that I get up over the rifle and use two hands to forcefully lift the bolt.  There's no way I can cycle the bolt from a shooting position, it's too stiff to lift, cocking the firing pin back.

Once the firing pin is cocked, there's no more resistance.  Cycling in a new cartridge or fired brass is fine, no excess resistance doing that, but once the trigger is pulled or the rifle decocked, lifting the bolt to recock is extremely difficult.

Is there anything I can do to resolve this myself, or do I have to go in on warranty?