Help! cannot extract spent casing

[Chuckindenver]

i tested some ammo do to this problem a while back, ill see if i can find the post about them.

[Alfred]

Heard the HXP uses Olin Ball or a Greek made clone ball powder, could be excessive pressure due to degraded propellant.
I have some HXP .303 that still looks fresh, no bad odor from the powder from a pulled round.

A site with a run down on the .303 HXP complained of a great variation in neck wall thickness.
A thick neck in a tight chamber, or a chamber with built up fouling in the neck, can cause excessive pressures.
I had pressure signs with one of my No.4 rifles till I used a homemade brass tube scrapper to remove built up fouling in the neck, after that the same loads showed no pressure signs.

I used a length of brass tubing, cut angled slots on each side and saw teeth into the edge.
Soaked the chamber for days, then carefully turned the scraper in the neck, bending the teeth outwards after every pass.
The fouling came out like thin threads of black plastic like material at first, then I hit a layer of what I figure was graphite, that came away like pencil shavings.
When I reached bare steel I could tell by the feel, brass won't cut steel, so the teeth just slid over the surface.
I cleaned up remaing residue with a .38 brush on the end of a rod section in a hand crank drill.

Modern carbon solvents should make cleaning easier. Used some foaming carbon cutter recently and got a good deal of carbon out of the neck and shoulder of a chamber that to the eye had looked perfectly clean.

Ball powders contain a lot of additives that leave hardened fouling thats hard to get out, especially when its set up for decades.

[bb1]

I beleivethat the brass was made "soft" so that it wouldn't be torn in two in machine guns. The soft brass wouldn't turn loose from chambers of bolt guns.Try it in your 1919 A4.

[Chuckindenver]

had another shooter bring his rifle by yesterday, with Greek ammo issues.
some were a bit on the long side, some sticky.
i tried a few other factory, match, and military live rounds...
no issues with his rifle, just issues with the Greek stuff.
i heard it works well in Garands,. but would avoid it in bolt guns..