I need help. My reloads are not cycling smoothly. About every third shot theyre either not extracting from the chamber or are not fully seating against bolt. I am not having this problem with store bought ammo. My loads are once fire lake city brass, hornady 150 grn fmj's, 42.4 grns IMR 8208 XBR, and remington 9.5 large rifle primers. 150 grn Hornady fmj's are loaded per HOrnady manual data, not the service rife data, I couldt find the exact 150 grn data in the service rifle section. Guns up bro's, semper fi.

Ive only been reloading for 9 months so any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

Are you full length resizing?
Which dies are you using?

Yes, full length resizing. using RCBS .308 winchester dies.

Being gas operated the M1a requires a certain level of gas to operate.
From your description this is your problem.

The adi powder site (who make the IMR 8208 XBR) lists th following;
150 Bench Mark 8208 24" 40.0 2605 45500 psi 44.5 C 2870 60800 psi

www.adi-powders.com.au...87.62mm%29

I would try a bit more powder staying within the listed maximum which is a compressed load in this case and see how things go.

You could also try a slower powder like AR 2208 (varget) and see what results you get there.

Also go back over your die settings and confirm all is well there.
RCBS also make a small base die specifically for semi autos, perhaps look at these if you have no joy with powder variations.

Are you using a powder thrower or throwing each load by hand and weighting each one?

No doubt others who get the pleasure of playing with semi autos will chime in shortly.

Another forum to pose the question on is;
www.ammosmith.com/forum/

Good luck with it.

Edit;
Just to confirm my remote diagnosis take a factory round and one of your reloads and compare the difference in recoil, and how the rifle cycles between the 2. If the factory round has more recoil you'll need to load yours to a similar level. More research and trial and error= more range time so its not all bad

I'd make sure you are setting the shoulder back enough before I'd switch to a small base die. I had to buy a Hornady case gauge to measure that I had set the shoulder back enough. Easy to do on a bolt gun without one but not a semiautomatic. I also would not use 8208 in a semi.

Also, don't crimp.

Also, don't crimp.

Yup, Slimjim has the stutters again.

Okay I see two distinct problems, and due to the fact that I never have a M1, I cannot answer for specific rifle.
OTOH, these are common problems for most semiauto systems.

1. spent brass not extracting.
this can be due to many things, from low charge (pressure) to activate the extraction mechanism, to weak extractor claw, to damaged ejector pins, to dirty gas op lines, wrong location of gas lines, sticky chambers etc.
Speed of powder burns also would made difference in extraction.

If your extraction problem is due to the chamber/brass interaction problem, you would have some extractor claw marks on the lip of the brass.

if it is due to gas op system, them most likely you would have slight bulge on the wall of the brass.

Not seeing the brass, its difficult to pinpoint the problem.

2. Cartridge not fully seated.
This usually due to the error in sizing or weak main spring.
OTOH, if factory load are seated good, then the spring is not your problem.
Do you mike the neck of the reloaded cartridge? is the size the same as factory ammo?
What size projectile you use? does it bulge the brass?
Mind you often in a tight chamber even 0.001 inch would made difference.



Oh yeh.. welcome to the site

1. As mentioned above, I also think your load is probably a bit too low though I don't have a Hornady manual in front of me.

2. I would recommend mil spec primers. Though it doesn't happen often, using regular primers in the M1A could cause a slam fire.

3. A small base die probably isn't necessary but if the chamber of your gun is tighter than is usual it could be.

You might want to think about using a small base die from RCBS. That's all I use now and that's for bolt action rifles.

Hodgdon does recommend that powder for 7.62 NATO loads. Powder charges from 40 to 45 grains DEPENDING ON THE BULLET USED.

Am I allowed to tranlate "M1A" into "FAL" ?
Mine is just a short-barreled para-FAL, but I also think your load is on the soft side. In my opinion the burning rate of the powder is fine and 146 to 165 grs bullets are splendid. Using slow powders brings the pressure peak later in the barrel and then it's very difficult to adjust the gass-valve.
So: or you increase the amount of powder or you open the gass-valve a few points untill it works OK. Don't forget to readjust that valve when you use factories again!

EDIT: I just Googled M1A and they showed me what we call the .30 M1, but that's in .30 Carbine and not .308 Win and it's no gass-operated thing... so I'm a little confused here.

Aloysius wrote:

Am I allowed to tranlate "M1A" into "FAL" ? Mine is just a short-barreled para-FAL, but I also think your load is on the soft side. In my opinion the burning rate of the powder is fine and 146 to 165 grs bullets are splendid. Using slow powders brings the pressure peak later in the barrel and then it's very difficult to adjust the gass-valve. So: or you increase the amount of powder or you open the gass-valve a few points untill it works OK. Don't forget to readjust that valve when you use factories again! EDIT: I just Googled M1A and they showed me what we call the .30 M1, but that's in .30 Carbine and not .308 Win and it's no gass-operated thing... so I'm a little confused here.

M1A

M1A

Thanks. That's close to our SA FN.
When it's gass-operated like the SA FN (in 30-06) or the FAL (in .308 Win), then my remarks are still valuable. Or is your gass-valve not adjustable?