Hard Extraction?

[2wheelDuke]

I just got a new to me Marlin 336 in 30-30. Looks to be in great shape, and the bore and chamber looked clean when I inspected it before buying it. It's an older micro groove gun, 1975 or so.

I don't have dies or brass yet for 30-30 but I have some nice looking boolits for when that comes in.

I figured that factory ammo is readily available, might as well see how it does with factory. I bought some PPU 170gr JSP and some Federal 150gr JSP.

I hit the range and loaded up some of the PPU. I took a shot, and wow, It felt like my .308 going off. I thought the 30-30 would be more mild mannered. Then I couldn't get the action open. I had to really jerk on it and force it to extract/eject.

I tried the next 2 rounds in the tube with the same results.

The primers looked pretty bad, if I had a handload with a primer looking like that, I'd be setting them aside marked to be pulled down.

I tried the Federals, and they felt pretty stout as well, but at least they extracted/ejected smoothly. The primers on them look pretty bad too, and are definitely backed out a bit.

This can't be normal for the caliber, right?

[Frank46]

Nope. I've a few 30-30's in both Winchester and Marlin brands. And never even saw anything even remotely like what you are describing. At first thought I'd say maybe you had a bad batch of ammo but with two different brands that kind of rules that out. And since you more or less dated it to 1975 we can rule out it being a remlin. can you post pics of the cases and bolt face?. From what you are saying this might be rifle related and not the ammo. How does the chamber look?. Scratches, rings in the chamber stuff like that. One thing to consider. I have a win canadian centennial carbine not mint by a long shot. First firings were giving me hard extraction using ww 170 grain power points. the mouth of the case did show some markings as if the chamber was a few thousandths too short. Reloaded cases trimmed slightly below listed trim to length showed no problems. It was like shooting over long ammo in a short chamber. After about 40 or so rounds the problem went away. Something to think about. But the primers backing out would be a sign of excessive headspace. Frank

[Lonegun1894]

Do you have any fired cases you haven't resized yet so you can measure them and compare them to what it is "supposed to be" measurement wise? Or maybe compare it to one of the unfired rounds, if you have any left, and measure both side by side? I also agree that it seems to be showing a headspace problem, but if so, I would think you have two options, either fix it, or use light loads to fireform your brass to your chamber and consider it as if it was a wildcat round. I wouldn't go worrying about any serious issues like that yet though til you get the fired brass measured. Also, I would give it a very thorough cleaning just in case there is some abnormality or some kind of build-up causing your issue. I have a '71 336 also in .30-30 and it is a great rifle.