I have loaded some 6.5 PRIVI brass for my M96, after firing the first batch, which worked very well, I neck sized, and reloaded for the second time. Upon the second firing, I noticed that the ammo was a bit tight in the chamber, just for the last half inch or so. Am I misshaping the shoulder a bit to cause this snugness? Should I back off the die a bit? Any educated opinions? Thank you.
M96 Swede reloading
- Thread starter yyj200
- Start date
They were tight before or after the second firing? How tight is a "bit"? I just went and checked some neck sized 6.5x55 ammo in its rifle and they drop completely into the chamber under their own weight and then fall free the same. What brand/type of dies are you using? Any other details of the load?
Mark
Mark
The load was tight for the second load. The bolt felt a bit stiff for the last 1/2 inch,requiring a little more pressure to chamber the load. My thoughts were to fire form the brass initially and then neck size it with a Lee collet neck sizer. The load was PRIVI brass with 140 gr bullet over 40 gr of H4350.
If you used the Lee collet sizer you may have had it dialed down a bit too much and crunched the shoulders as you guessed. If you take a straight edge and put it against the sides of the tight cases do they show any sort of bulge or kink near the shoulder? If it was a WSM or .338 Win Mag I would say you need to bump the shoulders but I have not had any issues with 6.5x55 needing that. Some of my cases are on load 6 or 7 and still have not needed the shoulder bumped or length trimmed.
Mark
"...down a bit too much and crunched the shoulders..." You can do that with any die. Setting up the sizer to neck size only is a bunch of trial and error to get it right. And yep, it can be just a slight adjustment.
"...into the chamber..." The chamber is the absolutely best guage.
"...into the chamber..." The chamber is the absolutely best guage.
