Winchester factory 270 ammo fails to chamber

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

Went out shooting today, let my wife shoot my 270 as she only has a 243 and a 3006 which she hates (it kicks like a mule, its too light). I'm trying to talk her into a 270 Weatherby Vanguard S2.

Anywho, out of a box of factory new Winchester 130gr ammo I ran into several shells that just wouldn't chamber. Fired half the box. I need to break out the micrometer and take some measurements but it sort of looks like the shoulder isnt set back far enough.

I have several other boxes of the same lot of ammo... I really dont want to mic everything, should I contact winchester? I wouldnt use any of this ammo without first running it through a rifle to make sure what does and doesnt chamber properly.

Its wierd, I've never seen factory ammo that wont chamber.

-DallanC

Elvis

heard of it happening a bit of late.
get the gorse out of your pocket and fit a limbsaver to the 06 and if allowed a suppressor too.
get code off box and get emailing straight away Mate,the folks in quality control need to get this sorted really quickly.

Vince

Yep, I'm with Elvis mate. First up, get onto Winchester and let them know about the problem and include any findings you have found in the measurements. I contacted Winchester here in Australia some years ago about some badly deformed brass in their reloading component range and they were very quick to come to the party and replace them. I would imagine they would be the same with defective factory ammo.

As for the 30 ought six, I like the idea Elvis has...a good quality recoil pad and or a recoil reduction system would solve the problems SWMBO doesn't like. Here are some ideas...

Taming Rifle Recoil

...and this one even gives Pointblank a good plug as well.

Taming Recoil in the 30.06

Bushmaster

Call Winchester....

slimjim

The LimbSaver makes a significant improvement, Dallan. I too have notice more reports of factory ammo not chambering lately. The demand remains high and is pushing production to the limit.

slimjim

Last month, had shooting buddy get velocity spikes and pierced primers with factor ammo. The company quickly replaced his ammo - with the same lot. Hopefully, you will get positive action from Winchester.

Pumpkinslinger

I'm with them. Contact Winchester. Also, those LimbSaver recoil pads are REALLY good. My Rem 700 .35 Whelen had one on it when I got it. I was so impressed that I got some for my Marlin 1895 (.45-70) and T/C Encore (.50 ML) too. They made a big difference in shooting comfort.

Another thought on the .30-06 is to stick a Boyds laminated stock on it. Add some weight and maybe change the ergonomics.

Bushmaster

Dallan...I thought you reloaded your own ammunition.

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

Bushmaster wrote:

Dallan...I thought you reloaded your own ammunition.

Oh I do... but I couldnt find any 130gr loads for the 270, all were 150gr Grand Slams. I have a few boxes of factory ammo people gave me for presents over the years and whatnot, I just grabbed one of those.

-DallanC

Elvis

I've heard of a few guys having issues with superpreformance stuff being really hard to re open bolt...well you cant make omlets without breaking eggs...
Privi/highland factory loads with wrong round in a sealed box and also .270 loads done in 30/06 head stamped brass,so yip guess production is getting pushed past quality controls limits.

Gil Martin

I hate it when that happens. Hope you get this sorted out soon. All the best...
Gil

dhc4ever

Dallan,
Was the issue a slight bulging of the case just behind the shoulder?
I've noticed this a few times when I've miss set the resizing die, looks OK but won't chamber enough to close the bolt.
I would imagine something similar could happen at factory level give the rate of production.

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

Was cleaning some guns today and finally remembered to mic the box of 270 ammo. SAAMI spec on the shoulder should be 1.948", the ones that didnt chamber went as much as 1.998", some of the shorter ones in the box went 1.890"

That is an astounding difference in tolerances. Several cases showed extreme flattening of primers vs other cases. I'll send this info to Winchester. I have a 2nd box of the same lot # and will mic those cases as well to see how shoddily they were put together.

-DallanC

slimjim

Dallan, certainly not what you expect from Winchester.

Vince

DallanC wrote:

Was cleaning some guns today and finally remembered to mic the box of 270 ammo. SAAMI spec on the shoulder should be 1.948", the ones that didnt chamber went as much as 1.998", some of the shorter ones in the box went 1.890"

That is an astounding difference in tolerances. Several cases showed extreme flattening of primers vs other cases. I'll send this info to Winchester. I have a 2nd box of the same lot # and will mic those cases as well to see how shoddily they were put together.

-DallanC

That is a lot of variance mate, and well out of what one would expect to be an acceptable QA tolerance. It will be interesting to see how they reply and what action/s they take.

I'm with Slim on this one...certainly not what you would expect from a large company such as Winchester.