.300 Win Mag Load Help

[Perroe]

First time reloader. So go easy on me.
Rifle: Fierce Carbons fury
Bullet: Berger 210 Vld Hunting
Powder: h1000
Primer: federal 215
Brass: once fired Barnes
Process: cleaned, ran through sizing die and de primed, .333 neck bushing, cleaned again, trimmed to 2.610, deburred, cleaned primer pockets, oal gauge 2.830 so set oal to ogive at 2.820 so .010 off lands, loaded ladder test for 73 gn to 76 gn. Shot 73 gn bolt was sticky so stopped figured pressure was too high, reloaded more for 71.0 to 72.5. Here is where is is weird I am now well below the powder limits and I am still getting a sticky bolt on all of them. 72gn I almost couldn't pull the bolt back. So I am thinking something else is going on. Should I try .030 off lands and see if that helps? The group with 73gn was .8 the groups with 71-72.5gn were all over 1.5 inches. Pictures of brass below. Let me know your thoughts.

 

[Ol' Red]

Is this the first rounds that you have fired through the rifle?

 

[338 dude]

First time reloader. So go easy on me.
Rifle: Fierce Carbons fury
Bullet: Berger 210 Vld Hunting
Powder: h1000
Primer: federal 215
Brass: once fired Barnes
Process: cleaned, ran through sizing die and de primed, .333 neck bushing, cleaned again, trimmed to 2.610, deburred, cleaned primer pockets, oal gauge 2.830 so set oal to ogive at 2.820 so .010 off lands, loaded ladder test for 73 gn to 76 gn. Shot 73 gn bolt was sticky so stopped figured pressure was too high, reloaded more for 71.0 to 72.5. Here is where is is weird I am now well below the powder limits and I am still getting a sticky bolt on all of them. 72gn I almost couldn't pull the bolt back. So I am thinking something else is going on. Should I try .030 of lands and see if that helps? The group with 73gn was .8 the groups with 71-72.5gn were all over 1.5 inches. Pictures of brass below. Let me know your

 

[Huntsman66]

With the belted mag's you get swelling of the brass right above the belt from firing. It makes the bolt close hard and sticky, and you may mistake it for pressure…. Depending on the brass you are using it can show up early or sometimes after 3 or 4 reloadings , I use a willis body die to take it back down to the correct size. I don't know if this is your issue but you can check it… hope that helps..

 

[Sockeye66]

@Huntsman66 beat me to it, exactly what I was going to add, I would start there and also back off the seating depth as OAL gauges can give a good general but not always precise reading. Maybe start deeper and go shallower.

 

[Huntsman66]

@Huntsman66 beat me to it, exactly what I was going to add, I would start there and also back off the seating depth as OAL gauges can give a good general but not always precise reading. Maybe start deeper and go shallower.

good point… yeah I would definitely use a different method of finding your lands, like a Hornady modified round, and then start about 20k off jam (verify that they will fit in your magazine). There are tons of great videos out there that will walk you through the process. I always point new Reloaders to "Panhandle Precision" on youtube, for his complete reloading process start to finish he is strait forward and easy to follow.

 

[Perroe]

I was using the hornady gauge with modified casing. I will back it off to .030 from lands and go from there. Will a rcbs full length sizing die not reshape that swelling area?

 

[Calvin45]

With the belted mag's you get swelling of the brass right above the belt from firing. It makes the bolt close hard and sticky, and you may mistake it for pressure…. Depending on the brass you are using it can show up early or sometimes after 3 or 4 reloadings , I use a willis body die to take it back down to the correct size. I don't know if this is your issue but you can check it… hope that helps..

Maybe I've just been lucky but I've literally never had this problem with belted magnums just using normal dies in ordinary rifles.

257 weatherby in a vanguard
300 win in a vanguard and then later a savage 111
358 Norma in a BRNO zg47 (mauser type
Action)

Some of my 300 brass was factory ammo fired in a strangers gun, resized by me, ran through the vanguard a couple of times and is now on its second or third firing in my 111. Primers startin to get less tight but that's literally the only "problem" I've ever had.

My 257 wby is resized 264 win mag that was bought once or
Twice fired.

My .358 Norma i formed from 300 win, none of it virgin.

No issues.

 

[Huntsman66]

Maybe I've just been lucky but I've literally never had this problem with belted magnums just using normal dies in ordinary rifles.

257 weatherby in a vanguard
300 win in a vanguard and then later a savage 111
358 Norma in a BRNO zg47 (mauser type
Action)

Some of my 300 brass was factory ammo fired in a strangers gun, resized by me, ran through the vanguard a couple of times and is now on its second or third firing in my 111. Primers startin to get less tight but that's literally the only "problem" I've ever had.

My 257 wby is resized 264 win mag that was bought once or
Twice fired.

My .358 Norma i formed from 300 win, none of it virgin.

No issues.

I dont see it very often either, when using quality brass. I start seeing it swell with Lapua brass at like five or six firings . With the Larry Willis die, one side is the gauge that the brass slips into to check it and then you turn the die over to size the belly if needed. I check it after every FL sizing and then size it when needed. I was using some Federal brass and had the issue show up on the second round of firing, just never know? If using cheap brass you can just discard it when it swells, but on my expensive and hard to come by brass its definitely worth having the die to bring it back into shape.

 

[Calvin45]

I dont see it very often either, when using quality brass. I start seeing it swell with Lapua brass at like five or six firings . With the Larry Willis die, one side is the gauge that the brass slips into to check it and then you turn the die over to size the belly if needed. I check it after every FL sizing and then size it when needed. I was using some Federal brass and had the issue show up on the second round of firing, just never know? If using cheap brass you can just discard it when it swells, but on my expensive and hard to come by brass its definitely worth having the die to bring it back into shape.

That makes sense. I've been doing this mostly with Winchester and PPU honestly BUT…it's Also mostly 20+ year old Winchester which is plainly not the same as their new crap.

The PPU brass has thoroughly impressed me. Cheaper and of far superior consistency and quality than anything made by Remington, Winchester, Hornady, or Federal in the last two decades.

 

[Huntsman66]

I was using the hornady gauge with modified casing. I will back it off to .030 from lands and go from there. Will a rcbs full length sizing die not reshape that swelling area?

No… if the case starts to swell the FL die wont touch the issue. The belt keeps you from being able to insert the case to the effected area.

 

[Calvin45]

I have in the last year dove into the wonderful world of Peterson and Lapua brass. Perhaps I will look into this Willis die as I paid a pretty penny for those cases…but dang they really are better. Way better. Tough as nails.

 

[Huntsman66]

That makes sense. I've been doing this mostly with Winchester and PPU honestly BUT…it's Also mostly 20+ year old Winchester which is plainly not the same as their new crap.

The PPU brass has thoroughly impressed me. Cheaper and of far superior consistency and quality than anything made by Remington, Winchester, Hornady, or Federal in the last two decades.

Yeah learned about this years ago when all of a sudden my sized brass wouldn't go back in the gun. It was like I wasn't bumping the shoulder back at all. I kept bumping it back more and more, but it never helped, started doing a little research and found the issue. The nice thing is the one die works on all of my belted mags,300WM, 300H&H and 264WM

 

[Huntsman66]

I have in the last year dove into the wonderful world of Peterson and Lapua brass. Perhaps I will look into this Willis die as I paid a pretty penny for those cases…but dang they really are better. Way better. Tough as nails.

Here is the die… I can't remember what I paid but it wasnt horribly expensive, and like I said it works with all of my belted mags so that helps…