Reeder Custom Guns - 7mm Raptor, loading, forming questions

Love the 257 Raptor in the Encore so much that I had to grab the 7mm Raptor Contender from a Saturday sale.

Made a few rounds a while back with Sierra 120gr spitzers loaded to the 2.5" OAL.
The round chambers loosely and the extractor does not pick them up; not surprised with this until they fire form. The problem is they drop into the chamber too far or get pushed forward by the firing pin and the firing pin does not strike them hard enough to ignite.

New Lapua 204 Ruger brass with CCI 450 Mag primers.

What say you?

Thanks for the input in advance.

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You sure it's not a 7mm GNR on the .30-30 case? That would have a ring around the chamber hole to allow the rim to recess. A Raptor should have a smooth hole. In the fury of things some can get miss-marked, labeled.

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A photo since I switched over to Apple products.

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[image] [image] [img

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under that extractor. You have to knock out the little pin and slide it out. The spring sets in a little cut recess. This spring forces the extractor up and in a position to catch the rim.

Your spring very well may be AWOL. That would do it.

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that fits under the extractor between 2 notches in the bottom of the extractor. But if it is a 7 GNR chamber it will not need a spring.

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My thoughts were that the extractor controls case depth since the cartridge will have nothing to headspace on until fire formed. I was thinking that the cartridge will fit loosely until the taper is fire formed out of it and the shoulder developed. Correct me if I am wrong

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my gut tells me it is a 7 GNR and not the 7 Raptor. In the top pic there is a lot of room around the rim of that 7 Raptor and the extractor doesn't come anywhere near the rim plus the extractor has a fairly deep rim cut in it and the Raptor doesn't need that much. Get the barrel to me and I will build you a 7 Raptor immediately and switch with you. Probably my screw up engraving the caliber on it.

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This was a complete gun that was previously owned by Eric if I am correct.

I was thinking that the 7 GNR was based on the 30/30 but I see that it is on the 7 x 30 Waters. A 30/30 case does not fit in the chamber. I do not have any waters cases

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When you neck the case down, do it a tiny bit at a time until the case will just barely fit in the chamber, resting on the shoulder. If the shoulder is too far down it allows the case to drop too far in and goes past the extractor. Looking at the pics again I don't think it is a 7 GNR. And if it was a gun that had been used the flat spring should be in there to hold the extractor up enough to grab the rim. Push down on the extractor and see if there is spring tension. If so then that part is fine. If it flops up and down then the spring has dropped out or someone who had it before you may have taken the extractor out to clean it and lost the spring. If so get with me and I will get you a new spring. let me know on this.

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I would have to say that the flat spring is in there. I can press it outward and it springs back. The movement is minor but just enough to get under the rim. I suspect until the parent case is fire formed there is just enough wiggle room for the cartridge to slip out from under the extractor.

It cannot be a cartridge based on the 730 waters because the 204 Ruger based raptors are .090” smaller than the waters case and they would never fit in this chamber; Plus there is no recess for the rimmed case.

Next point on shoulder location. The cartridge is being necked up rather than necked down so the initial expanding process, in my limited knowledge, is not affecting the shoulder at all. The shoulder would only be affected after fire forming and then full length resize.

I could be way off on this. Thank you for your help.

On a positive note. I got a call today that the 99 arrived! Can’t wait to see it.

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we will check it out.

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7mm Raptor, loading, forming questions

Post a picture of the back of the barrel chamber.

I’ll try, but I have not been able to post

Chamber

I can see it! There is a teeny spring

it is not a normal spring. It is a flat spring

I will have to investigate the spring further.

Joe, was there a fired case in the barrel when you got it?

I do not believe that there was a fired case.

Joe, nate and I have been going over this situation.

Shoulder/chamber/neck sizing

if you can't get it figured out, get it to me and