30-30 die problem

[oldrodder]

I did a search and didn't come up with an answer. Here's the question:
I have an old (40+yrs) set of Lyman dies for 30-30 Win. I used them to load for my M-94, (late 60's vintage) I find that every so often, ( every third or fourth round) the cartridge is hard to chamber.
The die is properly adjusted and the loaded round is correct as to COAL.
I read somewhere that if you remove a few thousands of an inch from the bottom of the sizing die, to slightly bump the shoulder back, that should resolve the problem.
It should also size the base slightly smaller.
Has anyone done this and did it work??
Thanks for your help,
Mike

 

[357Maximum]

Try trimming 20 of your brass a couple of thousand less then minimum. Resize & Load these , test if any are hard to chamber.

357

 

[howard2]

I had this issue on my marlin 3030 and I found I needed to trim more as well. I didn't have to go shorter than min but a little trimming corrected the problem.

 

[yomomma]

I have done this for my M305. After I replaced the bolt I had a 1.631 chamber. A little too tight for a semi.
I took 0.002 off the shell holder, now I get 0.003 clearance.

 

[pearcetopher]

i find i have to turn in the resizer further for easier chambering

 

[oldrodder]

i find i have to turn in the resizer further for easier chambering

The sizing die is adjusted as instructed: With the ram in the "up" position, the die is screwed down till it touches the shell holder. Can't get any tighter than that.
I will try trimming a little shorter. Thanks all!
M

 

[kamlooky]

Go a wee bit more so the lever cam's over a bit.

 

[H4831]

The sizing die is adjusted as instructed: With the ram in the "up" position, the die is screwed down till it touches the shell holder. Can't get any tighter than that.
I will try trimming a little shorter. Thanks all!
M

Yes you can get it tighter than that!
The pressure of sizing the case takes up all the slack and give in the press, with the result that it didn't fully resize it.
With the ram up, turn the die down until it hits, then back off on the handle and turn the die in another quarter to half turn.
Set like this it should fully size the case, to allow normal chambering.

 

[ipscgraz]

Try trimming 20 of your brass a couple of thousand less then minimum. Resize & Load these , test if any are hard to chamber.

357

I would consider this. 30 30 brass is very thin for whatever reason, and naturally stretches as it gets fired. Crimping too long of a case will case the shoulder to balloon a bit and that makes it tight to chamber.

 

[oldrodder]

Yes you can get it tighter than that!
The pressure of sizing the case takes up all the slack and give in the press, with the result that it didn't fully resize it.
With the ram up, turn the die down until it hits, then back off on the handle and turn the die in another quarter to half turn.
Set like this it should fully size the case, to allow normal chambering.

Thanks H4831! I know about adjusting to take up all the slack but I needed to be reminded. It's been a while since I used these dies and I can't recall if I did that.
I recently fell into a Shmidt-Rubin chambered in 30-30
and want to shoot it.
Brought back to memory, the problems I had loading for the M-94
Thanks again,
M

 

[pearcetopher]

after resizing try feeding the cases and if they chamber smoothyl they are resized

i broke the extractor off on my mossberg because i didn't resize p[roperly

they would not un chamber

 

[fingers284]

Sometimes just changing the shell holder will add a few thou. to the resizing stage. The top thickness of all shell holders are not created equal...easier than machining base off of a die if you don't have access to a lathe.

 

[kamlooky]

Another point of interest to consider is the seating die.
I've had it happen to me where the crimp was a tad tight and pushed the shoulder
down into a slight bump.
Worked on every rifle except my buddies Model 100.
A very slight bump it was.

 

[BCRider]

Yes you can get it tighter than that!
The pressure of sizing the case takes up all the slack and give in the press, with the result that it didn't fully resize it.
With the ram up, turn the die down until it hits, then back off on the handle and turn the die in another quarter to half turn.
Set like this it should fully size the case, to allow normal chambering.

This is pretty much the same thing Kamlooky is saying just above this reply.

Add the extra by feel on the lever. Different presses have different leverage ratios. And different presses will flex and take up the play differently. What you want to aim for is a kick over feel in the handle that requires 3 to 5 lbs worth of effort at the lever. In other words so you can feel a bit of a firmness but not so much that you really need to push through with much more lever effort. Any more than that and you're needlessly stressing the linkages, bearings, frame and dies.