Difficult to insert reloaded bullet into my bolt action rifle, what to check?

[bigedp51]

We live in a plus and minus world, if you have a short or minimum size chamber and a resizing die at the maximum length you can end up with a full length resized case that is longer after resizing.

I have three .223 full length resizing dies and there is over .005 difference in shoulder location after full length resizing between these dies.

Sometime you will have to lap the top of the shell holder on some wet and dry sandpaper and remove a few thousandths to allow the cartridge case to be pushed further up into the die. As stated above the age and type of brass will have different spring back rates after sizing. "Sometimes" if you leave the case at the top of the ram stroke a second or two the shoulder will not spring back as much.

Make sure your die is making hard contact with the shell holder and the press cams over center.

The rubber o-rings on the bottom of the Lee dies allow the die to "float" and self center in the press and reduce case runout. The two things that have the greatest effect on case alignment and accuracy is having the die centered in the reloading presses threads and not locking down the expander button off center and pulling your necks off center.

The best investment any reloader can make is buying a Hornady cartridge case headspace gauge, and measure your fired cases and bump the shoulder back .001 to .002 on a bolt action and .002 to .004 on a semi-automatic.

Below a Hornady case gage in the front and retired Wilson case gauges in the rear.



Anyone want to buy a Wilson paperweight and pen holder?

 

[Longshot]

It's really simple. You haven't bumped the shoulder back enough. Really to measure this you need a precision mic. It's obvious that you die isn't turned down enough because you are getting varied amounts of shoulder bump.
Take one of the ones that won't chamber at all. Resize it,insert it into the chamber and try to close the bolt. If it doesn't go ,turn the die down a little and try again. Continue turning the die down until the case fits and the bolt closes smoothly. Once there lock off the die and resize the rest. Check every 10 or so to make sure they are still smoothly fitting. Now your die is set correctly!

 

[Evil_Dark]

Thanks for all your inputs. Tonight I have time for resizing and testing the empty cases on the chamber.
I'm also a bit curious about anealing process... Can we do this with our kitchen oven or it takes a special oven / heater to do this? Any accessible documentation?

Thanks a lot. I think that the problem is due to variables sources of brass (range collected), so I will resize and test every one before reloading. I'll just discard the bad ones...

Regards,

Dark

 

[H4831]

Thanks for all your inputs. Tonight I have time for resizing and testing the empty cases on the chamber.
I'm also a bit curious about anealing process... Can we do this with our kitchen oven or it takes a special oven / heater to do this? Any accessible documentation?

Thanks a lot. I think that the problem is due to variables sources of brass (range collected), so I will resize and test every one before reloading. I'll just discard the bad ones...

Regards,
Dark

No, you can not anneal the brass in your oven.
The most important thing in annealing brass rifle cases is to heat only the neck and shoulder of the case.
The base of the case must remain hard and strong. If the base of the case got annealed, the primer may blow out on the first firing.
Usual way to anneal by hand is to stand the cases up in a pan of water. The water line should be about a third the way up the case. I take the spent primers out first.
Using a butane torch designed for soldering, heat the top section of a case until it is just starting to turn red, under poor lighting conditions.
Most people then upset the case in the water. This is not necessary, as the case will anneal the same, whether it cools slow, or is dunked in the water.
Upsetting the cases can easily start a domino effect and all your cases end up in the water!

 

[Evil_Dark]

Ok, after a quick set of logical testings, I found the problem. Here is what I've done, maybe it will help the community experience and knowledge!
I've resized 25 cases. I primed them because I'm kinda a routinely robot, and forgot about my future testing procedure... Doh. Anyway...
I've chambered all those empty resized cases in my Browning A-bolt 30-06. (I've had a emotional moment, damm I like this rifle...) And ALL the cases just chambered perfectly, super confortably smooth.
Then I've seated a bullet on 5 cases, without powder (pretty sure that the powder won't cause a chambering problem!). Then i've tried to chamber those five's.

The first two were a breeze, the next three ones were impossible. So I've found the problem... In the seating process.
A very quick look showed me that there is a bead right after the case shoulder (a little wave in the brass), wich increase a lot the diameter. So i've analyzed my seating procedure, and found that i've setup my seating die for crimping, wich my bullet can't (no cannelure), so because the brass over crimped can't go into a cannelure, it is making a pressure down the rest of the case and the strenght of the case walls can't handle this pressure. the walls then "bend" into a little belly right after the shoulder. That makes my problem... So after a 27 second die adjustment, issue no longer exist!

Thanks again guys for all your advices! CGN is an awesome knowlege source!

Dark

 

[Evil_Dark]

Usual way to anneal by hand is to stand the cases up in a pan of water. The water line should be about a third the way up the case. I take the spent primers out first.
Using a butane torch designed for soldering, heat the top section of a case until it is just starting to turn red, under poor lighting conditions.
Most people then upset the case in the water. This is not necessary, as the case will anneal the same, whether it cools slow, or is dunked in the water.
Upsetting the cases can easily start a domino effect and all your cases end up in the water!

Thanks for the procedure!

Dark

 

[rodregier]

Dragging an expander ball back thru the resized case mouth can stretch out the case again :-(
Properly lubing the case mouths can help.

I took the easy way out, I use Redding dies with the optional carbide expander ball upgrade.
I didn't want to mess around with a family
of bushing dies, one for each different case wall thickness...

 

[577/450]

Do not do crimp with lee seat die. As another said it will bulge the cases. If you feel you need to crimp they make a factory crimp die that works really good. Are you trimming your cases to length? Also the bullet contour (ogive) can be different. OAL usually means it will fit in the mag, not the chamber.

 

[Shibby!]

No, you can not anneal the brass in your oven.
The most important thing in annealing brass rifle cases is to heat only the neck and shoulder of the case.
The base of the case must remain hard and strong. If the base of the case got annealed, the primer may blow out on the first firing.
Usual way to anneal by hand is to stand the cases up in a pan of water. The water line should be about a third the way up the case. I take the spent primers out first.
Using a butane torch designed for soldering, heat the top section of a case until it is just starting to turn red, under poor lighting conditions.
Most people then upset the case in the water. This is not necessary, as the case will anneal the same, whether it cools slow, or is dunked in the water.
Upsetting the cases can easily start a domino effect and all your cases end up in the water!

I find that interesting. I know nothing about annealing, but know some basic metalergy and most metal composition changes when cooled differently. If air cooled it can sometimes have drastically different characteristics than a metal that has been quenched.

Often a quick cool makes for a much more rigid, and sometimes brittle final product.

Then again, this is mostly to deal with steel, but I've been lead to believe it's similar for most / all metals and even plastics.

Sounds like I need to do some reading!