It is always wise to FL resize your brass for hunting loads. As has been stated, Murphy is always waiting
for an opportunity to screw you around, and you may be certain he will pick the worst possible time as well.
Even running the neck-sized rounds through before you go hunting will not guarantee you can chamber
that round later when a tiny bit of contamination enters the chamber inadvertently. Full length is the way
to go. Dave.
I have a 30-06 with a chamber right on maximum and it will not shoot any full length resized ammo well enough to trust on a hunt. However, it will shoot partially resized brass reloads very well. I was going to take the barrel off and set back the tenon one thread and recut the chamber. I didn't do that because the neck diameter of the original chamber was also oversize and I would have had to trim to much from this particular barrel for my safety comfort zone. It's a pencil thin barrel on a European action and it shoots 150 grain bullets very well on a very light system.
I size down the neck and bump back the shoulder about .002in. This ammo has never failed to feed and chamber in over 25 years of use. Its taken a lot of Deer, a few Bears and at least one Moose in that time.
Now, I don't shoot this rifle, other than to make sure it's still holding zero, which it does consistently, with very little maintenance, other than cleaning every fall after the season is over. I LEND this rifle to new shooters and hunters. Usually they're younger or women of lighter stature. The weight of the rifle is important in such cases. The barrel has been ported to keep recoil manageable.
Dave, I'm not disagreeing with you at all. If something can go wrong, it will. Even with experienced shooters.
All I'm saying is that "IF" your particular rifle won't shoot full length sized cases with acceptable hunting accuracy you have to size the cases to what it will shoot well.
I'm sure, with all of your experience, you've picked up rifles with chambers right on maximum spec and right on minimum spec(usually holy grails). They can shoot/chamber well with properly sized ammo.
I also have a Winchester Mod 70 short action, chambered in 308Win. It has a minimum spec chamber. I actually have to turn down the necks a couple of thousandths to make sure it chambers the cartridges reliably. This is a factory sporter, not a match rifle with a match chamber. I'm actually surprised this rifle made it out of the factory.
The chamber will only accept some factory ammo and that depends on individual lots. It won't accept any surplus ammo I've tried.
Whatever it accepts, it shoots incredibly well. Everything from 125grain to 165 grain bullets of any design under 1 moa and with some half that. NO, it's not for sale.
The fellow I traded it from wanted a 30-06 in similar condition that shot factory ammo acceptably for hunting out to 300 yards. He didn't hand load and wasn't the least bit interested in starting. In his opinion there was something wrong with the 308Win cartridge because he was having chambering issues with his rifle, so he had to switch to the 30-06. Trade done and we're both very happy.
