So. I had a 6.5x55 that I found a great load for and reloaded a100 rounds that I still have. I sold that gun and bought another 6.5x55. My problem is that the 100 rounds that I reloaded won't chamber in the new gun. The oal seems ok. MAybe a tighter chamber on the new gun. My question is could I remove the decapper from my die and resize the loaded cases ? Or do I have to pull the bullets and start from scratch?
6.5x55 case dimensions
- Thread starter joey.45
- Start date
OP, what you want to do can and will cause all sorts of other issues that will slightly effect pressures and accuracy.
It will work, but it will also press the brass neck into the bullet jacket, which increases neck tension and slightly reduces diameter of the bullet.
I had to pull a few bullets to find out what the issues with accuracy and very flattened primers, with rotation marks on the cartridge face were.
The cartridge I tried this little experiment on was also the 6.5x55
Hitzy is giving you good advice.
You don't have to remove the primers. Just turn back the expander ball spindle or pull out the decapping pin, before you full length resize.
I suspect your problem is that you don't have a bullet puller?
Maybe you can borrow one. There are several different models out there. The cheapest are the inertia types. Don't waste your money on one with plastic handles. Get the model with the aluminum handle.
It will work, but it will also press the brass neck into the bullet jacket, which increases neck tension and slightly reduces diameter of the bullet.
I had to pull a few bullets to find out what the issues with accuracy and very flattened primers, with rotation marks on the cartridge face were.
The cartridge I tried this little experiment on was also the 6.5x55
Hitzy is giving you good advice.
You don't have to remove the primers. Just turn back the expander ball spindle or pull out the decapping pin, before you full length resize.
I suspect your problem is that you don't have a bullet puller?
Maybe you can borrow one. There are several different models out there. The cheapest are the inertia types. Don't waste your money on one with plastic handles. Get the model with the aluminum handle.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
To follow after bearhunter's comment, might want to understand that in a full length die, by the time the case gets high enough to press back on the shoulder of the case, the neck of the case will be fully into the neck sizing area, which is smaller than standard - that is why there is that expanding ball on the decapper stem - it will normally be inside the case when the outside of the neck has been sized too small - as the case is pulled out of the die, the neck is dragged over the expander ball and opened up, from the inside, to the correct size. That way, neck thickness does not matter as much - all cases are going to come out with the same inside neck dimension.
So, when you do go to re-size those brass, remove the de-capping pin, but leave the expander ball. It can be set a bit higher than normal. If you remove the stem completely, all of your case necks will be too small inside diameter - not likely you will be able to seat a bullet. On a fixed one-piece unit like some Lee dies, I do not think it can be done, but I have never tried - I have done so several times with RCBS dies, which have removable de-capping pins.
I have read in more than one place that you are looking for about .002" neck tension - in other words, the ID of the neck will be about .002" smaller than the OD of the bullet - inserting the bullet stretches the case neck that last little bit. There are some that will remove the stem completely - resize the cases which results in neck ID being too small, then re-install the expander ball and open the necks by setting that expander ball a little lower than normal and opening up the necks while running that case up over the expander ball, and then back out - not running the case neck far enough to enter the neck sizing area. It is claimed that opening the case neck on the ram's up stroke has less chance to stretch or deform the neck or shoulder, resulting in better concentricity, compared to "normal" procedure of pulling the neck over the expander ball on the ram's down stroke.
So, when you do go to re-size those brass, remove the de-capping pin, but leave the expander ball. It can be set a bit higher than normal. If you remove the stem completely, all of your case necks will be too small inside diameter - not likely you will be able to seat a bullet. On a fixed one-piece unit like some Lee dies, I do not think it can be done, but I have never tried - I have done so several times with RCBS dies, which have removable de-capping pins.
I have read in more than one place that you are looking for about .002" neck tension - in other words, the ID of the neck will be about .002" smaller than the OD of the bullet - inserting the bullet stretches the case neck that last little bit. There are some that will remove the stem completely - resize the cases which results in neck ID being too small, then re-install the expander ball and open the necks by setting that expander ball a little lower than normal and opening up the necks while running that case up over the expander ball, and then back out - not running the case neck far enough to enter the neck sizing area. It is claimed that opening the case neck on the ram's up stroke has less chance to stretch or deform the neck or shoulder, resulting in better concentricity, compared to "normal" procedure of pulling the neck over the expander ball on the ram's down stroke.
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You HAVE to pull the bullets and dump the powder and FULL lenght resize the brass to fit your new rifle ! Re-prime with new primers and refill with powder and reseat bullet to the correct COAL ! the ONLY way to do it ! RJ
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
If the cases are full length resized and chambering is still an issue, it could be due to the new rifle having a short lead, requiring a slightly shorter OAL for you loaded rounds.
A quick 'n dirty method of determining your seating depth is as follows -
Take a bullet and place it nose first into the muzzle of the rifle, and with moderate pressure, turn the bullet. This will scribe a line on the bullet where it first engages the rifling. Next, make up a dummy round with a flat based bullet seated nose down in the neck of the cartridge. Using small increments on the bullet seater, adjust the depth of this bullet until it chambers with a bit of resistance and the bolt closes. Now you have the gauge you need to A) measure the length of the chamber lead, and B) a gauge that determines where that particular bullet first engages the rifling. A bullet with a different ogive will have a different initial point of contact with the lands, so each style of bullet you load will need to be measured to determine where it first meets the lands. By comparing these gauges to your loaded round you can determine your seating depth with either contact, or a measured amount of jump or jam to the lands.
A quick 'n dirty method of determining your seating depth is as follows -
Take a bullet and place it nose first into the muzzle of the rifle, and with moderate pressure, turn the bullet. This will scribe a line on the bullet where it first engages the rifling. Next, make up a dummy round with a flat based bullet seated nose down in the neck of the cartridge. Using small increments on the bullet seater, adjust the depth of this bullet until it chambers with a bit of resistance and the bolt closes. Now you have the gauge you need to A) measure the length of the chamber lead, and B) a gauge that determines where that particular bullet first engages the rifling. A bullet with a different ogive will have a different initial point of contact with the lands, so each style of bullet you load will need to be measured to determine where it first meets the lands. By comparing these gauges to your loaded round you can determine your seating depth with either contact, or a measured amount of jump or jam to the lands.
That is True or Remove the Pin ! RJ
This seems over complicated. What I do is size a case and start the base of a bullet into the case mouth. Chamber this "dummy round" and in doing so, the chamber will push the bullet back into the cartridge. Carefully remove it from the chamber, then measure the OAL. Repeat at least two more times to verify repeatability and accuracy of your measurements. Take that length, and subtract 0.002 or 0.003 inches.
Bingo, you have determined the OAL in a few minutes with out math. It is that easy.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Been there, done that, have the T-shirt. The trouble is unless you use an oversized expander button, or slightly expand the case neck using an appropriately sized expander as you would for neck turning, that allows the bullet to move with just a bit of resistance within the case neck, attempting to close the bolt on a resized case, can be very difficult. With actions other than bolt guns, it will be impossible. When it does work, more often than not it results in an undetermined bullet jam length, so unless you smoke you bullets and measure the land marks in the bullet, you don't know where you're starting from, particularly with VLDs. I guess a guy could just buy a Stoney Point Chamber Gauge, oops I guess its a Hornady product now, and a Sinclair bullet comparator, but my system provides the same answer without spending additional money for each cartridge you load for.
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- Location
- Western Manitoba
Not sure where I read it - maybe Speer or Nosler reloading manual(?) - take a fired case from your rifle so it chambers - fired, so that a bullet slides easily through the neck with finger pressure or less. Press on the side of case mouth to make a slight dent - a flat - then Jiffy Marker up the bullet - start seating with fingers - leave way too long - insert into chamber and close bolt - open bolt - about 2 or 3 times that I tried this, the bullet ogive stayed stuck onto the leade - just the case came out. Gently push out bullet with cleaning rod - the Jiffy Marker will be scraped off the bullet shank - can re-set it into the case to line up end of case mouth with end of scrape mark - lets you measure case head to bullet tip at the "jam" length. Because of ogive shape differences bullet to bullet - want to repeat this with about 5 bullets from same box - there will be differences in COAL "jam" length, bullet to bullet. This is also many thousanths longer than the "smoke the bullet" technique mentioned by Boomer - the technique that he describes gives you the "just barely touching lands" length, this other method gives you the "jammed into lands" length.
New Camper
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Lurking in the woods near SFRC.
Redding makes dies that resizes the case body only... Redding Body Dies. Caveat? I can't think of any manual that would recommend the practice of resizing/working brass that isn't empty.
