Problem with closing the action with some of the rounds I loaded

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Skeezels

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Hey everyone,

I'm new to reloading and this past week I've reloaded about 40 rounds to test out some recipes for my .270.

8 of those round wouldn't cycle properly. I wasn't able to lock my bolt down after loading the round. (I have a Browning medallion, bolt action)

So i went to the rang to fire them off and recorded my finding but when i got to the 6th round i couldn't close my action. i had 8 out of 40 that were like this. I assumed that maybe i didn't seed them far enough or maybe they weren't seeded properly. So i went home, pulled the bulled and re-did them, seeded them further , went back to the rang and still i wasn't able to close my action with those 8..

I have no idea whats going on and hopefully some one can help me out.

Thanks
Steph
 
Has the brass been fired previously in a different gun, has it been full length sized? Other than the case length already mentioned that's my only idea. If you have some calipers you should be able to get an accurate case length after you pull the bullet.
 
Your press needs to cam-over after the shell holder kisses the bottom of your die. This will push the shoulder back the couple thousands of an inch that you need to close the bolt. I a factory chamber the OAL of the case would likely have to be .020"-.025" too long before case length became a problem.
 
In addition to the above mentioned ideas you should have a look for marks on the bullets of the rounds that you could not chamber. It is possible to have excessive runout that causes hard chambering. It's unlikely the cause, but it's certainly possible.

If your runout is more than a few thousands you should be able to see it by rolling the loaded cartridge along a smooth surface and watching the bullet.

I have a .308 that will have a hard time chambering a round with 0.005" runout.

Chris.
 
You need to pull the bullets ans start over... and after sizing a brass, check to see if it will chamber... if a sized brass does not chamber it needs to be sized more. I suggest you purchase a good reloading book (Hornady is one) and study the process described in the book. If you are hand loading you need to be able to diagnose what is going wrong. You need to be quite particular if you are using brass fired in different rifle.
 
That sounds to me like a sizing issue, not a bullet seating issue. You can close the bolt on a bullet that is engraved well into the lands with little trouble. If you can't close the bolt, then either the case body isn't sized small enough to fit your chamber, the case shoulder needs to be bumped back a bit or the case is too long and the neck is getting into the throat a bit.


Mark
 
awesome thank for all the help everyone!
this might be a stupide question but if i pull the bullet am i still able to re size it with a live primer? or will it push it out?
 
Skeezels said:
awesome thank for all the help everyone!
this might be a stupide question but if i pull the bullet am i still able to re size it with a live primer? or will it push it out?
Click to expand...

Yes, you should be able to back off the decapping rod on the sizing die enough that it does not hit the primer.
 
I just tried to do a couple and tried to see if the brass would chamber it, but it wouldn't. unfortunately i don't have to much time to tinker with it but when I do I'm going to try them all and see what happens
 
Stevebot-7 said:
Yes, you should be able to back off the decapping rod on the sizing die enough that it does not hit the primer.
Click to expand...

I just tried a couple and it still didn't chamber. Unfortunatly I don't have to much time to tinker with it but when I do I'm going to try them all and see what happens.
 
You said that some of the cases won't chamber but the rest did: Unless you changed the position of the sizing die, then they would all be resized in an identical fashion. You are running the ram full travel for every case? The same can be said about bullet seating depth, but the bullet can be forced onto the lands in a bolt action, and the OP would have mentioned bulletless cases being extracted. So presuming you are running each case fully into the full length resizing die, that should leave case length as the culprit.

Even brass by the same manufacturer if not expensive brass, can come out at different lengths after resizing, but if your brass is different brands, case length can vary quite a bit. When the case headspaces, there is no place for the excess length to go so the bolt will not close.

Depending on the type of trimmer you use (some like Lee trimmers, the pilot will bottom on the case holder through the primer pocket to trim case to nominal length) you may or may not have to remove the primer. Since you never mentioned this reloading step, it's probably the issue. A good reloading book is indispensable to beginner and experienced reloaders.
 
The brass that didn't chamber were likely shot in a different gun and would need more care when full length sizing as mentioned. If you don't have the time, pull the bullets and toss them in the trash.
 
Please tell us:

Was this brass all fired in the same rifle before?

Was it all full length sized. i.e. the sizing die came down and hit the shell holder.

Is you seating die coming down too far and crimping/bulging the case mouth?
 
Ganderite said:
Is you seating die coming down too far and crimping/bulging the case mouth?
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This happen way to often and people don't realize. The other thing is did you chamfer the case mouth before seating the bullet? Sometime when it is not chamfered enough the bullet being seated crushes the shoulder making chambering a round difficult.

Did you over anneal your brass so your shoulders are to soft so the shoulder is collapsing a little when you seat?
 
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Pull one of bullets and see if the brass fits. I learned the hard way. Your brass was not sized properly or your col is too long. I had to pull 14 bullets after having the same problem at the range. Lessons learned.
 
If you are full length sizing correctly.... ie.- dies set up properly, full strokes on you press, fl dies,

IMHO I would say trimming issue, Did you trim??? or measure to ensure appropriate length???? have you attempted to measure the rounds to see where they are over-sized???

I doubt this is a seating issue.
 
I purchased the hornady reloading book and it was a great buy for all the info it has in it.

as for the brass it has been fired threw my rifle once, I've tried trimming it but i knew some of them needed a bit more. I'm using a Lee trimmer where the rod has to go threw the pocket so i wasn't able to trim it a bit more.
I believe i set up my dies properly as well I took my time and followed the instructions very carefully. I'm using a Hornady die set, apparently the seeding die crimps as well, but that part still confuses me a little. I'm not 100% if its crimping the bullet or not.

I'd like to try to trim the brass a bit more, but they all have live primers in them. Can I extract live primers? or is that just a big mistake waiting to happen?
 
I have deprimed live primers on several occasions with any issues, just wear glasses, and keep your face out of the line of fire. By the way, you seat bullets, you don't seed them. And make sure that your seating die does not contact the shoulder of an empty cartridge case, you might be pushing back the shoulders and deforming the cases, so that they won't chamber.
 
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