cant cam over bolt
- Thread starter wayupnorth
- Start date
I don't see how a dirty die can make your brass too big. After all this, is it true that the cases you sized are fine and the ones your father sized would not chamber? This is what I get from this thread, or am I just confused. Does your shell holder touch the die at the end of your press travel and does your father also make sure his cases are sized all the way. Touching while sizing not just set to touch while not under pressure
Bullet seating depth will not stop the bolt from closing. The problem here, which has been mentioned like 6 times in this thread, is that the case is too long because it hasn't been sized correctly.
Yes it will. Think about it.
I've been reloading for 38 years. It fricken won't. The camming action of the bolt will simply push the bullet back into the case.
The OP reported the bolt coming to a hard stop before the handle was fully down. There is ZERO possibility that is the result of a bullet seated too long.
The problem is the case is sized too long. Not sure how many times that needs to be said before it gets through thick skulls?
- Location
- Western Manitoba
There are at least two places that a cartridge case can run into a "hard stop" - the end of chamber neck is cut as a recess for the case - before the "free bore" starts - cases could be too long for that bolt and chamber - measure over-all length of the re-sized CASE and trim if required. OR, could be that the case shoulder has been de-formed or not sized back enough - can be caused by shell holder not snug against bottom of die when re-sizing, or bullet expander ball pulling the case shoulder forward when the neck is sized. That assumes that the sizing die is correct for that chamber - same shoulder slope. By and large, a bullet seated too shallow - is not a "hard" stop, although chambering is not a "smooth" action - usually can use the bolt handle to cam that bullet further into the case - not a good situation for "normal" re-loading, though, although some cast bullet target shooters did want the bullet jammed tight against the lands.
OP has really set up a difficult task - to use bench-rest case sizing to get a match to two different chambers - is challenge enough to get system to work for one chamber. Generally, I could never accomplish that - had to just "Full Length Resize" and seat for 0.030" jump to shortest chamber lands - if I wanted to use the same reloads in more than one rifle.
OP has really set up a difficult task - to use bench-rest case sizing to get a match to two different chambers - is challenge enough to get system to work for one chamber. Generally, I could never accomplish that - had to just "Full Length Resize" and seat for 0.030" jump to shortest chamber lands - if I wanted to use the same reloads in more than one rifle.
You aren't sure of much.
⁰
Yes it will and it has happened to me. It's possible that it may be too long for the lugs to even start camming, youwould have to push the bullet in farther before even turning it, but how would you know if the bolt wasn't quite far in enough? I don't. I also don't know if the bolt was far enough in to start camming and the bullet just wouldn't budge, I just know that sometimes if the bullet is seated too far out you can't close the bolt. That's a fact, not a theory I'm so sure about. Having said that I think his case is not sized enough
It certainly can.
I have to agree with "I Don't Care About You" here. It's been said like 10 times already - the case isnt getting sized down enough. If you short stroke the press, even by just a couple thou, the squeezing action on the case walls will actually push the shoulder forward - it's that last little bit on the handle stroke that pushes the shoulder back.
Seating the bullet too long to the point where it's being jammed into the lands will certainly make it harder to close the bolt, but unless it waaay too long or your crimp is psycho tight, the camming action of the bolt closing should just deform the bullet and push it back into the neck.
A really dirty die can oversize the case and cause misfires when there's too much headspace (been there), but it doesn;t make sense that it would undersize it. Still, regular die cleaning should always be part of a reloader's process - there are a number of problems dirty dies can cause.
Anyway, good luck and I hope you can sort this all out. Out of curiosity, have you measured a fired piece of brass to check your headspace? That should always be part of the process too.
wayupnorth
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Alberta
no actually i have not.
i will now though!
so, i have read a couple say its strange that the rounds i loaded where fine and the rounds my dad did alone where the bad ones.
that was ringing in my head too when this first started.
im thinking that maybe he didnt set the die properly or didnt cam is down fully as well.
i was not there so i cant speak to what he did or didnt do.
all i know is that i cleaned the die, reset the die and pressed out some rounds and they work fine in both rifles.
there was a lot of information passed along in here that i think was good and some more new and exciting steps i think we are going to add into our reloading.
the first is i think we are going to keep our brass separate and start keeping track of how many times we have reloaded brass.
my dad will be coming back up here in a couple week and we are gonna go out and do some hunting.
we will, im sure, look at those rounds again and pull them apart and go over them.
thanks for all the help guys.
wayupnorth
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Alberta
witchcraft!!!
You’re on the right track now. Like these other fellas suggested, when I have a load established and a gun sited in, every piece of brass that I am going to load for hunting gets chambered in the gun before the primer even seats or the powder gets measured. Yes it takes some time, but in the long run I know that I won’t run into unexpected issues in the field. No big deal on the range, but when you are out on a hunt, unable to feed is a no go!
This is a waste of time and is not necessary if you are doing all the other steps up to this properly. That is what we have calipers for, and they are WAY faster to measure the brass than dropping each one into the chamber of the rifle.
