To Feed or not to Feed ...WTF??

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jiminthecorner

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Maybe this should be in the reloading forum but I've got a real dilemma here!!
I have just assembled a nice 7x57 ,Oberndorf 1935 Chilean action with Hepplinger set trigger ,2 position safety,and a very slim barrel.
The dilemma is this: all my reloads are 175 Hornady spire points and once fired and cleaned Lapua brass, the OAL is 3.02",RCBS dies and only 25% will feed so that I can close bolt easily. The rest won't close. Now I switched to Nosler 175 close easily,Sierra grand slam close easily,Winchester brass close easily,Barnes TX close easily,Now I'm really getting confused. I pull bullets,resize, switch dies to hornady and try again . Same problem with the 175 gr Hornadys again,60% failure to feed!! Out comes the electronic calipers, measure measure,measure again. Everthing seems to be copacetic , pull more bullets resize with new dies AGAIN SAME FAILURES!!!!!!!

Have any of you guys /gals ever had any similar problems?? Is it Me,Hornady or Lapua?? HELP! JITC:confused::runaway::slap:
 
jiminthecorner said:
Maybe this should be in the reloading forum but I've got a real dilemma here!!
I have just assembled a nice 7x57 ,Oberndorf 1935 Chilean action with Hepplinger set trigger ,2 position safety,and a very slim barrel.
The dilemma is this: all my reloads are 175 Hornady spire points and once fired and cleaned Lapua brass, the OAL is 3.02",RCBS dies and only 25% will feed so that I can close bolt easily. The rest won't close. Now I switched to Nosler 175 close easily,Sierra grand slam close easily,Winchester brass close easily,Barnes TX close easily,Now I'm really getting confused. I pull bullets,resize, switch dies to hornady and try again . Same problem with the 175 gr Hornadys again,60% failure to feed!! Out comes the electronic calipers, measure measure,measure again. Everthing seems to be copacetic , pull more bullets resize with new dies AGAIN SAME FAILURES!!!!!!!

Have any of you guys /gals ever had any similar problems?? Is it Me,Hornady or Lapua?? HELP! JITC:confused::runaway::slap:
Click to expand...

Are you full length resizing or neck sizing?
Is it new brass or 1F?

Either your bullet is seated out too far or the brass is longer than your rifle chamber in one dimension or another.

My first guess is a cartridge length problem and the bullet ogive is hanging up on the rifling.
To check, take one of the cartridges that wont chamber, seat the bullet slightly deeper (couple thousandths of an inch), try to chamber it again. Repeat, repeat, until it chambers or it becomes obvious thats not the problem. Let me know if that works.
 
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It's not the dies. Are you seating and crimping to and on the crimp groove? If so, stop doing that and use 3.065" for the OAL. Full length resize 'em, set up the OAL to the 3.065" and try again.
 
Resize a few cases and try closing the bolt on them. That will confirm or eliminate bullets as the problem. If it won't close on resized brass you've got headspace issues or your chamber is not to 7x57 spec.
 
Throw the calipers in the drawer and forget that you have them.

Then trim all your cases to the length of the shortest.

Seat a bullet into three cases to the max length that will fit in the magazine. Cycle action ... does it work? If yes, that is your OAL and seating depth. If it doesn't function all three without a problem, re-seat the bullets 0.010" deeper and try again. Stop when you can cycle all three dummy rounds without a problem.
 
Well I finally figured it out! All(90%)Lapua brass,once fired , was a thou or 2 longer than the Norma and W-W brass which all fed perfectly! Now I need a case trimmer for the Lapua stuff, anyone got a 7x57 trimmer for sale??Thanks JITC
 
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