Tight chambering reloads

kawicrash

kawicrash

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Hi. I bought some once-fired 22-250 brass that were full length resized. I prepped and loaded them.
My fault for not trying first, but they're very tight to chamber. I can close the bolt, but it's scuffing the case when I close the bolt, Remington 700.
Should I pull them and resize? I'm a bit leery even though the bolt closes, as I do have to force it.
I know I should have checked some first, my bad.
 
Don't be tempted to try to run them into a full length sizing die as they are. The neck part gets squished down too far on a normal FL die - to be opened up to correct inside size with that expander ball. Someone else may have better idea? If you can tell for sure that the hang up is at very rear end (maybe draw a couple lines with Jiffy Marker to see where it is catching?), might be able to use a longer die with same size rear end - possibly a 30-06 or similar - I have never done that, though, so just a thought. Other than that, I would likely pull them all down, salvage the powder, then re-size them in my own die - of course, remove the decapper pin first - then first couple would get checked by chambering into rifle to be sure that actually fit. I have had a combination of a die and a rifle chamber, each correctly labelled, that the die would not size down other rifle's fired cases to fit in my chamber - it's own previously fired were fine. But that was a belted case and the hang up was right in front of the belt, where a normal sizing die does not do anything.
 
If you know your load is safe, there is no harm in firing them, as long as you can close the
bolt, even if it takes a bit of effort. Be sure the cases are not over length, of course.
You can measure that on a loaded round with vernier calipers. Max length 1.912" Dave.
 
Order a Redding body die and run the loaded ammo through it. These dies do not touch the neck of the loaded round. it just bumps the shoulder and resizes the body of the case.
 
Did you check your loaded rounds OAL ? Loaded too long will make your bolt hard to close.
Try a case resized without bullet , if this pass, then load a dummy round to the recommended oal for the bullet you use. If bolt does not close..try to shorten your oal .010 at a time.
 
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Eagleye said:
If you know your load is safe, there is no harm in firing them, as long as you can close the
bolt, even if it takes a bit of effort. Be sure the cases are not over length, of course.
You can measure that on a loaded round with vernier calipers. Max length 1.912" Dave.
Click to expand...

This. ^^ I have, unfortunately, had a lot of experience with tight chambers over the years. If the cases are not more than 0.010 over the 'trim to' length, and you can close the bolt, you should be good to go.
 
You can try a body die if you have - can you get one? Price? vs. price of new brass?
You can try and shoot, but if bolt is hard to close, it may be harder to open

Personally, I have 2 body dies - if brass is another caliber, then I won't use brass from another gun - its simply just a lot of extra work, and in my case, a fricken headache
Altho, I have two rifles chambered and set by same gunsmith, same reamer, same case the headpiece is set to - that is the only time I use brass in two rifles, as there is no diff in length (to shoulder) that I can measure.

In your case, if you don't already have a small base or body die, I would be buying new, no question.
 
As mentioned, if your load is not on maximum, they should be just fine.

I have a 22-250 chambered Model 7 Remington. It requires that I use small base dies to resize cases fired out of any other rifle. Usually range pick up cases.

The chamber dimensions are right on minimum spec. THIS IS USUALLY A GOOD THING when it comes to accuracy.


How do you know the cases were only once fired?

If you picked it up from a gun show or a meticulous reloader, the cases may have been tumbled to clean them to bright and shiny condition, just before they were last fired.

You may want to anneal those cases, if they don't resize properly for your chamber, using your present die set.

Have you reloaded for this rifle previously, or is this a new set up for you?
 
When you use range pickup brass or buy once fired brass it has been fire formed in another chamber. And when full length resized it still wants to "spring back" to its fired size after sizing.

There are two cures for this type of once fired brass fired in another chamber.

1. When full length resizing pause at the top of the ram stroke for 4 or 5 seconds. Pausing greatly reduces the brass spring back helping reduce the case body diameter and increase the shoulder setback.

2. Use a small base die that reduces the entire case body .002 to .003 more than a standard die full length die.

NOTE, chambers and dies vary in size and nothing is written in stone. Example my standard .223 Lee full length die will reduce the case body diameter more than my RCBS .223 small base die does.

There is nothing wrong with being a cheap bastard and using range pickup or once fired brass. All you need to know is the brass should be sized back to minimum dimensions so it will fit and eject from your chamber. The full length resized case body should be .003 to .005 smaller in diameter than its fired diameter. This will allow easy chambering and extraction allowing the fired cases to spring back from the chamber walls and extract reliably.

Also if the cartridges are harder to chamber remember to grease your bolt lugs to prevent the lugs from galling. The same applies to neck sized only cases that have resistance closing the bolt.
 
If the bolt closes, the round can be fired and subsequent reloads should be ok.

BUT (Note: I am old. I have made most of the mistakes I write about and have seen some of the others) there is the risk that you will try to cloase the bolt ona round and it almost cloases, but does not. The next step is usaully to pound the bolt handle with a block of wood. Either to clasoe the bolt or to pound it open.

THEN THE BOLT HANDLES COMES OFF.

Now you have a loaded rifle that cannot be fired or unloaded. You need a gunsmith to unscrew the barrel of a loaded rifle.

Might be better to pull the bullets and do some more sizing ( or fire them in a rifle with a bigger chamber)..
 
Thanks everyone.
I decided to pull them and full-length resize the cases. They chamber nicely now with the slightest resistance.
I remove the decapping pin and raise the expander up higher anyway, so it didn't affect the primers. I know that's extra work on the case, but if I only get a couple reloads out of them that's all right.
It was just pure laziness on my part I suppose. I trimmed, chamfered, deburred the flash holes and uniformed the primer pockets, so why not size too? I know the rifle has a tight chamber, so 100% my fault.
Great example of the adage "If you want something done right, you gotta' do it yourself"
My mistake for trusting someone else's sizing. My full-length die is an RCBS from 1975!
 
I always do my case trimming after full length resizing. I have found that the full length resizing is the step which sets the shoulder back properly, but it causes the most stretch in the neck.
 
rick357 said:
I always do my case trimming after full length resizing. I have found that the full length resizing is the step which sets the shoulder back properly, but it causes the most stretch in the neck.
Click to expand...
really?
I found my 6.5 cm and 7mm rem mag brass was getting shorter, after 4 or 5 times fired a d then FL sized.

Since I started neck sizing and annealing, that issue went away
 
45C said:
really?
I found my 6.5 cm and 7mm rem mag brass was getting shorter, after 4 or 5 times fired a d then FL sized.

Since I started neck sizing and annealing, that issue went away
Click to expand...

All my brass, new or once fired gets a full length resize; after that, neck sizing only with a Lee Collet die. Brass lasts a long time with only neck sizing, and case lenght remains fairly stable too.
 
The best shooters in the world full length size after every firing. If it’s good enough for them, it’ll be fine for me.
I have dies that make my brass grow and others that don’t, all else being equal.
 
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