Die Problem?

[TheCarpenter]

Hey folks.

Using my lee press the other day, all my dies are brand new hornday custom dies, the 100$ ones at cabelas. reloads 308, 357 fine. Went to reload twice fired brass for 3030 the other day and everything from PPU, S&W, Winchester, PMC etc are almost all bottoming out. the face/neck/top of case seem like they're expanded too much much and hit the sizing die and won't go in to be shaped.

All were fired out of a new never fired henry big boy X.

Virgin brass slides in and out no problem of course, 0 resistance.

Am I doing something wrong? I'm new to reloading but I didn't have this issue with the other calibers and with hunting season creeping up fast I don't want to go blow more money on ammo or new brass.

Thanks gun nuts!

 

[Keller]

They won't go in the die at all? Or they go in and hit bottom before the ram touches the bottom of the die?

If the latter, are you backing out the die the right amount when installing it into the press?

 

['Boo]

Your sizing ball may be set too high in the die and jamming the neck before the case can enter the die.

 

[maynard]

I am thinking the sizing ball and depriming pin is set too long. Back the stem off a couple turns tighten the locking nut on the stem and try again. The depriming pin only needs to stick out far enough to knock the old primer out.

 

[boxhitch]

the face/neck/top of case seem like they're expanded too much much and hit the sizing die and won't go in to be shaped.

Virgin brass slides in and out no problem of course, 0 resistance.

the bottom of the die is actually a size closer to the brass head diameter which is far larger than the case neck/mouth
if the brass won't enter at all, something has been mixed up

 

[jethunter]

The description doesn't make a lot of sense. If the neck won't enter the die then a problem should be obvious....

Take some pictures and post them. I want to see this fired 30-30 brass that has a neck too wide to fit in the mouth of a 30-30 die.

 

[I Dont Care About You]

Using my lee press the other day, all my dies are brand new hornday custom dies, Went to reload twice fired brass for 3030 the other day and everything from PPU, S&W, Winchester, PMC etc are almost all bottoming out. the face/neck/top of case seem like they're expanded too much much and hit the sizing die and won't go in to be shaped.

All were fired out of a new never fired henry big boy X.

Virgin brass slides in and out no problem of course, 0 resistance.

1. You need to more clearly describe where the problem is occurring.

If you are saying the case mouth hits the bottom of the die and does not enter the die at all then there is a serious problem. 30-30 has a shoulder and the neck is much smaller diameter than the base of the case. It would not be possible for the case mouth to hit the bottom of the die.

You say that new brass enters the sizing die no problem, and thus basic logic suggests the problem is with the fired cases and not the die.

You said the brass is "twice fired". How were the cases sized the first time? Were those cases fired in the same rifle both times?


2. Have you compared the fired cases to the new cases? Do they look the same basic shape? Do they still have a shoulder and neck?

The problem could be in the chamber of the brand new rifle - It is either not 30-30 or someone screwed up the chamber. 30-30 headspaces on the rim and so it could easily be fired in a much larger / longer chamber.

 

[I Dont Care About You]

The description doesn't make a lot of sense. If the neck won't enter the die then a problem should be obvious....

Take some pictures and post them. I want to see this fired 30-30 brass that has a neck too wide to fit in the mouth of a 30-30 die.

Agreed

30-30 has the same case head dimension as 45-70 and a slightly smaller case head than 300 Win Mag. It would certainly be possible to fire a 30-30 in either of those chambers. I'm sure there are numerous other, longer cases with the same or similar rim size that could accept a 30-30 round.

How one cuts a 45-70 chamber into a 30 cal bore is another story.