Lee 243 die tight in chamber

shoot_to_kill

shoot_to_kill

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I am having an issue with my 243 full length sizing die. After I sized my brass and trimmed it, I went to chamber the casing in my bolt action model 70. The case was tight to close the action on. I tried it on factory ammo and It seems ok to close. Visually on the cases i could see where the die stopped resizing on the case. Is this normal? Also on some of the cases that were tight to chamber in the gun, I could see a slight rub mark on the headstamp. Sorry but I am new to reloading, and I am kinda bummed because I have to pull a bunch of bullets now because of this. I tried a different shellholder thinking it was the issue. I am thinking it is my die. Any suggestions are appreciated.
 
Thanks NShunter for the informative link. As far as I can tell I have the die adjusted properly. De-capping pin protrudes 3/16 and , shell holder and die seat are set right. The brass I got was fired out of other unknown rifles. And I am not sure how many times it was fired, I am just looking for pressure signs as I go. Could that be my problem? I am tempted to ditch the Lee dies and go with Hornady, I use them for 30-30 and the difference is night and day.
 
You guys have missed the reason the bolt won't close, or closes hard, on resized brass shot in other rifles.
243 calibre bolt rifles seem to have close tolerance chambers. I have had two that reacted exactly as yours does. I couldn't resize the old brass enough for it to go in the chamber.
The solution is to anneal the shoulders of the old brass. Then full length resize, making sure the die is turned in some, after it hits the shell holder, and the cases will go into the chamber with ease.
The cases fired in your own rifle should not need this treatment.
 
The shell holder need to hit the bottom of the die and your press handle should cam over. This should sort out your problem. However your used brass may have been fired out of a really sloppy chamber and you might have to run it through your die a couple times.
 
The problem is NOT the die. The problem is NOT the brass.

The entirety of the problem is that the die is not set up properly and is not sizing the case down far enough to fit the headspace of the chamber. Without a headspace measurement tool you will need to size the case and then try it in the chamber. Then turn the die down 1/4 turn and try it again until the case goes into the chamber.
 
Thanks for the ideas guys, yes I did chamber a loaded round before I loaded others. I also fired it, seemed to work well. So i thought all was good and I loaded up a bunch. I guess im going to have to test chamber all my reloads and pull the ones that are tight in the chamber. I will try to re-size them a couple of times, or look into annealing like mentioned above.
 
Suputin said:
The problem is NOT the die. The problem is NOT the brass.

The entirety of the problem is that the die is not set up properly and is not sizing the case down far enough to fit the headspace of the chamber. Without a headspace measurement tool you will need to size the case and then try it in the chamber. Then turn the die down 1/4 turn and try it again until the case goes into the chamber.
Click to expand...


This is what I originally thought the problem was, but I cant see how else I would adjust the die to size the case down any further.
 
shoot_to_kill said:
This is what I originally thought the problem was, but I cant see how else I would adjust the die to size the case down any further.
Click to expand...

That's right. You can only go until the die and shellholder are tight togetheer when the handle is full down, with the pressure on it.
I've been through all this, with more than one rifle.
Anneal the old, hard brass, and it will work fine.
 
If it's full length sized it wouldn't matter where the brass came from.
Click to expand...

In theory yes, but not always in practise. Over the years, I have seen this same situation occur several times. The sizing die was properly adjusted, but the shoulder would not bump back far enough to allow chambering in a rifle with a tighter chamber. I have seen people go as far as grinding the shellholder down to push the shoulder back enough, without it springing back. I choose to not bother with this, especially if the history of the brass in question is unknown.
 
NShunter1254 said:
If it's full length sized it wouldn't matter where the brass came from.
Click to expand...

Don't bet on it. Cartridges fired in a sloppy chamber might not size down to fit in snugger one. Dies seldom take a case down to its original minimum dimensions, and there is a certain amount of spring-back on a sized case. Couple the chambers with varying dimensions with dies that vary a bit and you start seeing that not every case fired in every rifle and sized with any die is going to chamber in every rifle. Most? Sure. All? No. I haven't even brushed on hot loads yet.

A guy has to be careful with planeing shellholders and grinding down dies. This works if the problem is the shoulder not being set back far enough. The problem can also be the body not getting enough squeeze. On these ones grinding the equipment may get them chambering too, since shoveing a tapered case farther into a tapered hole is going to size it down more. Trouble is; it also pushes back the shoulder that could have been in the correct position is the first place. What that can do for increaseing headspace is considerable.

A small-base die will normally get any case into any chamber. I've never seen it fail yet, but I also haven't tried every possible combination either.

OP,
Those smudge marks you are seeing on the headstamp are likely from hot loads extrudeing brass into the ejector hole. If that's the case, it's a sure sign of extreme pressures. Did you know that? The guy who tossed them probably did. Do you know how to check for incipent separation? Until you know a few of these things that free brass isn't worth messing with at your level of experience. Do yourself a favor and chuck everything with an ejector mark, and honestly you may as well just toss the rest of the unknown cases while you're at it. Buy a bag of new brass and save yourself some grief. You can play with range pickups later if you still want to.
 
A lot of good Ideas.
I would look at 4831's idea as I have had the same issue.
I reload the 243 a lot and with my LEE die, I had the set the shell holder to die clearance with a .006 feeler gauge ( I bought the Redding comp. shell holders since).
As my brass hardened I would have to reduce the clearance to get them to chamber. The brass would bounce back after re sizing, as much as .003" measurable with the tools that I have made to measure case head to neck dimensions.
David
 
Thanks dogleg, yes I was aware that was a sign of pressure. I'm going to play around with the stuff again this afternoon. If it wont re-size after annealing, I might just throw the brass away. I don't want to ruin a shellholder by grinding it down too much. Plus then I could cause a unknown problem. I am still new at this and don't want to ruin my nice winchester model 70 featherweight.
 
H4831 said:
You guys have missed the reason the bolt won't close, or closes hard, on resized brass shot in other rifles.
243 calibre bolt rifles seem to have close tolerance chambers. I have had two that reacted exactly as yours does. I couldn't resize the old brass enough for it to go in the chamber.
The solution is to anneal the shoulders of the old brass. Then full length resize, making sure the die is turned in some, after it hits the shell holder, and the cases will go into the chamber with ease.
The cases fired in your own rifle should not need this treatment.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this. You may have indirectly solved a problem I have.
 
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