Bad day at the Range

Need some HELP

Me and a friend went to the Turcotte range Sunday afternoon and was first on the firing line. I pulled out my dads 308 handi rifle and went to shoot it with some new hornady lever revolution ammo and went to put one in and the rifle would not close all the way, so we didn't get to shoot it cause dad only brought me one box of bullets and not the good ones for some reason.

next i grabbed my new Encore with my new MGM 35 Whelen barrel on it and put a round in it and it shot thank goodness but I went to take the spent case out and it would not come out. I had to get my cleaning rod out and basically hammer it out it was so stuck in there. I shot it again and same thing so I put it up.

Next was my friends Ruger M77 338 win mag it was his dads gun that he used in Alaska when he was stationed on Kodiac. we put a shell in it and the bolt wouldn't close all the way. so we didn't get to shoot it either.

Then we pulled his new 44 mag handi rifle and it performed great and never missed a beat. we shot it 6 times and it was right on target.

My question is is this all a ammo problem? I know my 308 shoots cause I have had it for 3 years, it was the first time I have shot my 35 Whelen, and first time my friend has attempted to shoot the 338.

Any help would be appreciated

338 sounds like ammo problem...was it a reload?

why shoot leverolution ammo in a 308?...Have never seen a Handi in 308...ya'll try other .308 ammo in it?

There have been a few reported problems with Encore's in 35 Whelen having headspace problems...this info on another thread.

Hope that gets you started

I did not know there was such a thing as a bad day at the range

msredneck wrote:338 sounds like ammo problem...was it a reload?

why shoot leverolution ammo in a 308?...Have never seen a Handi in 308...ya'll try other .308 ammo in it?

There have been a few reported problems with Encore's in 35 Whelen having headspace problems...this info on another thread.

Hope that gets you started

I did not know there was such a thing as a bad day at the range

no reloads for the 338 factory ammo
my dad bought a few boxes of lever revolution ammo for the 308
I haven't heard of haveing a problem of not being able to remove the case just not firing

and when you take 4 rifles to the range and only effectivly shoot 1 it wasn't fun but we ended on a good note

I have had a couple of Handi's in 308 never had a problem with either of them, but I never tried leverevolution ammo in them. If you have used other ammo in it before, I think the problem is the leverevolution ammo.

Is the Handi chambered for 308 Winchester or 308 Marlin Express? You mentioned Leverevolution ammo, and it is in 308 Marlin Express I would think. It's different than 308 Winchester ammo. As far as the Encore 35 Whelen, I had one that had the same ejection problems along with "clean barrel" accuracy problems. The rifle would shoot over my 24"x24" target board @ 100 yards from a clean barrel. It would take about 7 more shots to "dirty it Up" so it would go back to zero. TRADED IT!!! Encores are not what I expected them to be. I should have kept my 444 Handi.

Magnum man wrote:Is the Handi chambered for 308 Winchester or 308 Marlin Express? You mentioned Leverevolution ammo, and it is in 308 Marlin Express I would think. It's different than 308 Winchester ammo.

We have a winner. I got the ammo from my dad and didn't bother looking at that and didn't even realize that it was different ammo. that could have been UGLY if something went bad.