Hello everyone, I need some Help. I'm brand new to reloading, reloading for my 6mm Remington because I live in California. That means I can't find ammo for it, never mind lead free. So my first batch of 60 rounds, once fired brass from my rifle, came out pretty good and shot better than the factory loads I have for it. Still need to tighten them up a bit. The problem I'm having is that I bought some once fired brass from a local reloading store and didn't realize they had a weird ring near the base of the case until after i cleaned them up. So I went through the process clean, full length resize, measure, trim etc... I thought the full length resize would take care of the ring. So I went ahead and loaded up about 50 rounds and they will not chamber in my rifle. I've also got about 90 cases I didn't load up...luckily. What can I do about this problem, can it be fixed and more importantly what is it?
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There's lots of variables here to consider. I'm not too certain about your first sentence when you wrote about your first 60 rounds coming out pretty good? Does that mean that you reloaded 60 rounds of ammunition and then fired good? I like to start at the basics, if you are new to reloading let's start at the beginning. (1) make sure that the headstamp on the once fired brass is the proper headstamp for the caliber you are trying to reload. Sometimes used brass doesn't always turn out to be what it is supposed to be. Also I bought some "once fired" .270 brass, turned out the stuff was
junk because it wasn't once fired and all the primer pockets were expanded. I believe that the brass was more than once-fired and that it was fired at high pressures to get the primer pockets to be expanded as they were. (2) From your photo is looks like your sizing die is not set to the top of your shell holder, if it isn't it would be good to set it there, or at least check to make sure. (3) After checking the resizing die, and resizing your brass, I would check all of the measurements with a good set of dial calipers to make sure that you are within the proper dimensions of the cartridge. I would definitely check the overall length of your cases to make sure that they do not need trimming. If they truly are once-fired cases they ought not have to be trimmed, however you never know. If you've already used your sizing dies for the first 60 rounds that you have shot, all the dimensions for your brass ought to be in tolerances. (4) After full-length resizing your once-fired brass I would try some of that brass in the chamber of your rifle,
without a bullet on it. (5) If your brass closes easily on the resized brass, then I would start checking the overall length of your round COAL to make sure that your bullet is not seated out so far as it is jamming into the rifling. (6) If you have a crimp seating die, you could have the die set down so far that it is crimping the top of the casing when you seat your bullet and it is causing the top or side of your brass to bulge out (
this really could be your problem). To set your seating die, place a resized case in your press, and run the ram of the press all the way up. Next start turning your seating die down until you start to meet some resistance. If you have a crimp die, this will mean that the crimp section of your die is hitting the tip of your brass. When this happens, back the die out 1/2 a turn, and lock your seating die. (7) After all the above has been done and checked I would make sure that your primers are seated, if they are protruding even a little this could cause binding when you close the bolt. I know that I wrote a lot of information here, hope it makes sense. Don't give up you can figure this thing out!! It's just a matter of trial and error. If factory stuff works, you can make ammunition that will fit and work better.