Sauer 100 field ethos problems

[coolusername]

Alright fellas, I seem to be in a rifle, possibly ammo predicament. It’s kind of long but here go.
At the end of last year I got myself the goes ethos rifle to take on my upcoming hunting trip to South Africa. I bought a few boxes of PPU 285gr to break it in and everything ran flawlessly minus the last couple of rounds that were soft primer strikes. I figured it was an ammo issue.
Moving forward from that I had purchased some custom hand loads from someone that has been recommended on this forum by quite a few people. I took the rifle to the range today to get it zeroed in and only 14/38 rounds actually went bang. The rest were soft primer strikes. I called Sauer and they said they don’t think it’s a rifle issue and most likely an ammo issue and recommends to only use factory stuff. But also said I can send my bolt in for warranty work.
I called the ammo guy and he said it’s most likely because his rounds have magnum primers and sauer’s are known for not doing well with magnum primers.
Now this isn’t a bash on this guy and his ammo. For the ones that did fire, they were damn near in the same hole as the previous round fired so very accurate and he even offered to make me new rounds with bench rest primers to replace the stuff I bought. So he’s making it right and potentially fixing the issue. Which is great.
Now here’s the issue. As I type this, I’m 30 days away from leaving for my trip. I ordered one box of hornady and one box of lapua rounds which should be here this next Wednesday to see if they’ll fire without an issue. It’ll be roughly 1.5-2 weeks before I get the new batch from the ammo guy. Im worried about trusting this new batch because of what happened with the first. I’m more or less looking for guidance from some experienced people that may have gone through a similar issue. Should I buy all new ammo entirely? I saw buffalo bore restocked their 250gr TSX. Thanks to everyone that stayed until the end.

 

[dchum]

The Hornady 286 SP will be plenty for all plainsgame.

Bummer about the light primer strikes. But being that it was the customs loads AND the PPU… it points to issues with the rifle.

In regards to the Hornady box you ordered, Best case scenario it shoots a box of that with no issues and that would be enough to get your confidence back! The Hornady DG 286 sp was very accurate in my S100. Hope it is for you. I would go ahead and order some for your trip.

The Sauer 100 is a “budget” rifle. I know your particular rifle wasn’t a budget price tag because it has a field ethos logo on it.
I had to send my 100 back to Blaser group for work…

Hope it works out and it really was ammo “issues” and not a firing pin problem

 

[coolusername]

I only ordered one of the hornady and one lapua to try two different factory loads. I’m going to disassemble the bolt and clean it pretty thoroughly just in case some oil and gunk made its way in there. But if the hornady works just fine I’ll order 3-4 more boxes

 

[dchum]

I only ordered one of the hornady and one lapua to try two different factory loads. I’m going to disassemble the bolt and clean it pretty thoroughly just in case some oil and gunk made its way in there. But if the hornady works just fine I’ll order 3-4 more boxes

I think that is a great plan!

What are you after in SA? Post of pic of your set up! They are cool rifles and always accurate!

Keep us posted! Good luck.

 

[Rimbaud]

I would call Sauer and see what they say. I’m having an issue with a Wilson Combat upper I built to use for DMR competitions, and have had a number of calls with WC and Hornady about ammo quality. Also, you might want to use Birchwood Casey gun scrubber to spray into action to clean out any gunk, and otherwise give it a good cleaning. Good luck finding the ammo your rifle likes best and getting to the bottom of the riddle.

 

[coolusername]

I think that is a great plan!

What are you after in SA? Post of pic of your set up! They are cool rifles and always accurate!

Keep us posted! Good luck.

Here she is! I’m going for a gemsbok, blue wildebeest, zebra, warthog, blesbok, and a baboon. I’m excited. It’ll be my first time over there. As mad as I was about that ammo not really shooting, the ones that did shoot were extremely accurate.

 

[coolusername]

I would call Sauer and see what they say. I’m having an issue with a Wilson Combat upper I built to use for DMR competitions, and have had a number of calls with WC and Hornady about ammo quality. Also, you might want to use Birchwood Casey gun scrubber to spray into action to clean out any gunk, and otherwise give it a good cleaning. Good luck finding the ammo your rifle likes best and getting to the bottom of the riddle.

I did call Sauer. They said to try hornady and if it kept having issues to mail them the bolt.

 

[dchum]

Here she is! I’m going for a gemsbok, blue wildebeest, zebra, warthog, blesbok, and a baboon. I’m excited. It’ll be my first time over there. As mad as I was about that ammo not really shooting, the ones that did shoot were extremely accurate.

Nice scope! Good looking set up my man.
Since you got FE collab rifle I bet you might be hunting with Crusader?
They seem like a great east cape outfit!
If you are hunting there. I would def do a 2 inch high at 100. That way you can just aim high shoulder at 300. East cape has some nice terrain.

Regardless, I look forward to your report when you are done! Going to be epic!

Cheers

 

[coolusername]

Thanks! I’m actually going with Infiniti Safari out of Limpopo.

 

[dchum]

Thanks! I’m actually going with Infiniti Safari out of Limpopo.

Oh nice that suits the 9.3 perfectly!

My friend @jnotzon hunted with and had a great time. He killed a crazy big nyala.

 

[Safari Dave]

Over lube everything in the Sauer bolt and action.

Hornady ammo has always preformed well for me.


If something is still amiss, take another rifle.

If you have a .30/06, .308, .300 mag, etc., that has proven to be accurate, you should be fine.

(I would recommend 180g bullets (cup & core), but if you want something better, I'm sure that there are many other members who will gladly recommend other options...)

 

[coolusername]

Over lube everything in the Sauer bolt and action.

Hornady ammo has always preformed well for me.


If something is still amiss, take another rifle.

If you have a .30/06, .308, .300 mag, etc., that has proven to be accurate, you should be fine.

(I would recommend 180g bullets (cup & core), but if you want something better, I'm sure that there are many other members who will gladly recommend other options...)

Are you saying it sounds like the bolt and action are over lubed or telling me over lube them?

 

[Fryeguy]

Was the ammo that was custom loaded hornady brass by chance? I had issues with my 9.3 and a batch of brand new hornady brass several years ago. I had one click when shooting at a deer. First time it happened and it was surprising for sure. I checked all of those pieces after that at range. 4-5 would fire. It was a headspace issue with brass. All I did was expand necks when I bought them, loaded and done. From the factory some of the shoulders were set back too far. I pulled bullets, re-primed, but seated bullets further out enough to engage rifling, just like you would fireformingwildcat cartridges or an ackley, and all worked.. since then no troubles at all. Just something to think about. The 9.3 has very small shoulder. Needless to say I use lapua and Norma brass now. Not saying this is what is up with your gun, but it’s a possibility.

 

[Hyde Hunter]

what part of the country are you, if you are close to SD I would be happy to help on loads mine has no issues but I also only use Norma brass

 

[coolusername]

what part of the country are you, if you are close to SD I would be happy to help on loads mine has no issues but I also only use Norma brass

I’m right outside Houston. Might be a little bit of a drive

 

[TOBY458]

I had this happen once in a Ruger 35 Whelen. The headspace was a little off, so Remington factory ammo was a sloppy fit. Once the brass was fire formed to the chamber, the issue went away.