Need help w/ .358 blr

[kreyten]

Good Morning,

I am a newbie to the world of cast bullets. I have reloaded for lots of years and want to try my hand with cast boolits.

I am having an issue with the BLR in .358 win. My magazines are giving me fits...
I close the action and insert a magazine with 3 rounds, and when I cycle the lever, I sometimes get a jam 'cuz two cartridges have jumped up from the magazine. Happens with both 50$ factory mags on a semi-routine basis.

I have tried to put 4 rounds into the mags, but as you can imagine, this compounds the problem.

Was wondering if anyone else has had this issue. Can I lightly bend the lips of the magazine inwards a little to provide a litte more grip on the case? Bullet shape makes no difference...happens with spitzers or flatpoints...

If I can get this feeding issue sloved, will then start working up some 245 gr saeco 352's purchased from Montana bullet works. Going to start with 37grs of IMR 4320...looking for about 1800 fps or so.

Any thoughts/suggestions/recommendations would sure be appreciated. I really like my lever gun, but it is not reliable at the moment.

Thanks

kreyten

[runfiverun]

most feeding issues are found in the mag,and usually in the lips.
i'd carefully try the tweaking they already don't work.

[Boerrancher]

Yeah Dad always liked that BLR over the mod 99 sav, and I never could figure out why. His 308 had the same problem and by the time he got both his mags to feed properly they looked like they had had the snot beat out of them. There is nothing more aggravating than having a new mag spit the ammo out faster than you can put it in. I have got to go with runfiverun on this one, and if it helps I have never seen him give bad advice. Also check and see if there are any burs underneath the folded over lips that could be pushing the rounds out prematurely. When you go to tweeking it go in small amounts. I would suggest making up 3 or 4 dummy rounds with no powder or primer so you can check the feed with out the chance of a negligent discharge. Yes the legal term now is negligent discharge instead of accidental discharge because accidental implies there was no way to prevent it from happening.

Best wishes

Joe

[kreyten]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I worked with the rifle again last night...attempted to feed some of the cast loads I worked up. I had the slug seated out too far for the flat nose to chamber..had to seat them back another .1 or so....they seem to feed fine now with a COL of 2.63. Now if I can get the rifle to routinely feed from the magazines...

I will check for burs under the mag lips...hope I can get this thing sorted out.

Appreciate the help.

Cheers

[MT Gianni]

If you absolutly need to take it somewhere, Doug Wells moved his shop to Huson a few years back and is a great mechanical gunsmith. I am not sure if he retired or not, he would be in his late 60's now.

[59sharps]

never had a feeding problem w/ mine. I have the older blr that holds 4 and 1 in the chamber. I have 3 clips for it. What I have a problem with is keeping rounds in the clips when not in the gun. all you have to do it seams in breath on them and the rounds pop out. other problem I have is it will not shoot a group. tried different powders different bullets nothing seams to work well. checked the scope everything is tight. bore sight says there is no change in point of aim after firing is so I do not see it being a scope or mount problem. [smilie=b:[smilie=b:[smilie=b:Its so bad I went back to my mod 94 in 32 spc. at least I can trust it to hit were i point.

[MT Gianni]

59sharps. Min in 308 is the old style bottom hanging magazine. I have one mag that if I drop it it will self eject 3 cartridges. No similar issues with the other two. I suspect accuracy issues are not mag related as mine is a shooter. What caliber is it?

[runfiverun]

levergun accuracy problems are usually in the forestock area either back at the reciever or under the stock itself.
a screw holding it to the bbl is too tight, or a dovetail is too loose, or something is binding.

[59sharps]

59sharps. Min in 308 is the old style bottom hanging magazine. I have one mag that if I drop it it will self eject 3 cartridges. No similar issues with the other two. I suspect accuracy issues are not mag related as mine is a shooter. What caliber is it?

its a 358 win. know acc is not due to mag. just as I had said the mags are sensitive when being carried. I really need to sit down and work on the problem w/ accuracy. BUt I spend my free time w/ mine and my sons CW black powder comp guns. time to change gears, but I really enjoy the cw stuff more so its tuff. Got a new cW smoothbore in the works so I know the BLR may get pushed to the side if I do not work on it first. the mfg said send it back and they would take care of it. that is an option.

[kreyten]

MT Gianni...I know Doug very well....was saving him as a final resort if I can't get this rifle sorted out.

Thanks again to all for the help. I worked with the rifle again last night and it fed perfectly from both mags when I worked the lever quickly with some authority...wonder what that is all about...

The saga continues..