Need some help, very confused, trying to load some hammer hunters

[BeaverHunter]

Alright guys quick back story: recently bought a browning x-bolt long range in 300 win mag with a 1-8 twist. Shot about 15 rounds through it following Browning's barrel break in procedure. Just used cheap 180 grain federals. Gun shot fine.
I've now taken some measurements using my Hornady oal gauge and 181 grain hammer hunters. I'm using the Hornady modified case and 30 cal insert so my measurements are base too give. I've came up with 2.952 base to ogive.
Went to reload some of these sweet hammer hunters, started about .080 of the lands so they would load out of my magazine and made sure they would load out of the magazine, all good. But my problem is the bolt will not close. Feels like the bullet is contacting the lands. I kept seating the bulllets deeper and deeper and was checking to see if I could get the bolt to close. I have to seat the bullet at 2.760 to be able to close the bolt. I'm using Nosler brass. What is going on? I'm very confused. I double checked my measurements again and have the same base to ogive measurements using the Hornady oal gauge. Please help I don't know what is going on. I've included pictures to show what I'm describing. Full disclosure: I've only been reloading for about a year, so I'm by no means an expert. Thanks in advance.

 

[bigngreen]

The only difference is the brass, the last time I saw something very similar was the trim length, with a bullet seated it would stop the case short till the bullet was seated down far enough the case mouth would just close a little and it would close.

 

[BeaverHunter]

The only difference is the brass, the last time I saw something very similar was the trim length, with a bullet seated it would stop the case short till the bullet was seated down far enough the case mouth would just close a little and it would close.

That's what I thought might be going on also so I measured the oal length case and the Nosler cases, both 2.610.

 

[BeaverHunter]

The Nosler brass I'm using is once fired that I resized and chamfered and deburred. Anybody have any ideas? I'm kind of at a loss and standstill. I guess I could try using some Hornady brass(I'd rather not).

 

[birdiemc]

How many times have you remeasured your chamber?
When I've done this I ended up with a range of about .008" over about 10 attmepts. I'm too cheap to buy the hornady case when I have fired brass on the bench and a drill press in the corner. I just drilled out the head so the tool would slide through, you have to hold it on to take your measurement, but the difference in once fired brass vs. Hornadys threaded case seems to give some folks a problem. Just thinking out loud here, a difference in the shoulder could allow for the case to slide farther down the chamber, causing your bullet to go farther as well. Take your comparator and throw on a bushing big enough to catch somewhere on the shoulder and compare your fired Nosler brass to the Hornady case and see if that sheds any light.

 

[Just cut]

Did you neck size or full length size? It may just be the picture but shoulders almost look like they are moved forward on the case with bullet seated.

 

[BeaverHunter]

Full length resize.

 

[birdiemc]

As Just Cut mentioned, it looks like your shoulder is moved forward, also when I zoomed in to look at that it appears that the base of the case to the belt distance is different on the 2 cases as well. I recommend comparing the two cases with a comparator off the shoulder, just use one from the bullet comparator set you have. Also how does the resized brass chamber without a bullet seated, is it tight on the bolt?

 

[jebel]

That's a big difference. No offence intended by asking, but is it possible you have the wrong insert in your comparator? Maybe the 28 instead of the 30?

 

[BeaverHunter]

As Just Cut mentioned, it looks like your shoulder is moved forward, also when I zoomed in to look at that it appears that the base of the case to the belt distance is different on the 2 cases as well. I recommend comparing the two cases with a comparator off the shoulder, just use one from the bullet comparator set you have. Also how does the resized brass chamber without a bullet seated, is it tight on the bolt?

The resized brass seems to chamber ok without any bullet loaded in it.
Not sure how to compare the 2 cases with a comparator like you're talking about as I'm not the most experienced reloader. Also in response to justcuts comment above about differences in measuring of about .008 and I agree I've had that also. But where I'm at is almost .200. I really appreciate all your guys help on this. I'm really confused on how to proceed.

 

[BeaverHunter]

That's the first thing I checked also. I'm really stumped here because of how big of a difference I have here. When I first was having issues I chalked it up to minor differences in the brass. But not this much.

That's a big difference. No offence intended by asking, but is it possible you have the wrong insert in your comparator? Maybe the 28 instead of the 30?

 

[jebel]

The resized brass seems to chamber ok without any bullet loaded in it.

And if you take the modified case off the rod, does it chamber just as well?

 

[BeaverHunter]

Yes it chambers also. I might have just figured out what the problem is. I just tried a bunch more of my resized pieces of brass and discovered about 1/3-1/2 wont chamber or chamber very difficult. But I still have no idea what to do or what's causing this? Is it my resizing die? Almost new rcbs. And I used Hornady one shot for lube.

 

[birdiemc]

Not sure how to compare the 2 cases with a comparator like you're talking about as I'm not the most experienced reloader.

Take that bushing off that says 30, and get one that says 40 or so, then on a case without a bullet in it, use it exactly as you would to measure from the base of the case to the ogive, but instead you'll be measuring to the "datum" which is supposed to be halfway between the shoulder and the neck. This will just be to compare the Nosler to the Hornady. As long as your bushing catches somewhere on the shoulder it will allow you to compare the two.
Even with the differences in the cases that have been pointed out, it's hard to believe they would add up to .192 (if my math is correct) I could imagine perhaps half of that maybe from looking at the picture.
And maybe another .020 at most from inconsistency in the chamber measurement that is inevitable without lots of practice.
Have you measured the bullets base to ogive to make sure they're consistent? I know hammers are supposed to be extremely consistent, but there's always the possibility