crooked necks

[Berry228]

I'm not positive as to which thread this question would go on. But here goes.

I've been having a hell of a time with a semi-custom Remington 700 in .338 Edge to shoot. There has been a lot of rounds fired trying to get a load worked up for this thing without any good result. One problem has always been constant.....the brass won't extract. I know most people would say to back the charge off because I'm over pressured, But I was shooting RL33 at 97.5 gr with a velocity of about 2750 and no pressure signs. I took the rifle back to my gunsmith and he removed the barrel and polished the chamber. After taking the rifle home and a trip to the range, Problem still exists.

Now here's the kicker. Today, while doing some reloading, I was running my brass though my L.E. Wilson case trimmer and observed that the cuts from the VLD chamfer tool was off center. This was signaling to me that the case mouth was off center. So, I started investigating. Thinking that the problem was the cutter, I was able to find a few pieces of virgin brass and ran them through the cutter. All of the cuts from the virgin brass was concentric and when I turned the cases on my concentricity gauge, all of the case necks were concentric with .001 runout. Now, checking my once fired brass, Every one of them is at least .003 off center.

So my question is, Is this a high amount of runout on the case necks which could possibly be the cause of all of my extraction problems? And, Could I expect this problem to be ruining the accuracy of my rifle?

 

[MagnumManiac]

I doubt the runout is causing your sticky cases, sounds like a chamber problem.I have tried a test with a proven load that ranged from .001" runout to .008" runout.
At 600yrds, the groups were identical, EXCEPT, the .008" runout rounds were not grouping round, they had some vertical. They still shot within the same MoA as the other rounds.
The leade does a very good job of straightening eccentric rounds, if it's over bullet diameter by .001", then the bullet wouldn't fit without some binding if it was off centre by .008".
I try to keep my rounds within .001" concentricty

Cheers.
gun)

 

[Gene]

You need to explain this in more detail:

"observed that the cuts from the VLD chamfer tool was off center. This was signaling to me that the case mouth was off center."

How did you conclude that the case mouth and or champfer is off center? I do not think champfer would have anything to do with hard extraction. The problem usually is stretching at the base near the belt, and the usual cure is to polish the bore.

re you FL sizing down to the neck-shouder junction?

 

[MagnumManiac]

You need to explain this in more detail:

"observed that the cuts from the VLD chamfer tool was off center. This was signaling to me that the case mouth was off center."

How did you conclude that the case mouth and or champfer is off center? I do not think champfer would have anything to do with hard extraction. The problem usually is stretching at the base near the belt, and the usual cure is to polish the bore.

re you FL sizing down to the neck-shouder junction?

The Edge doesn't have a belt.
My own is built on a trued and blueprinted Sendero action, I had extraction problems because the chamber was too tight, it didn't allow enough room for expansion and springback.
Every 'smith suggested I put an M16 extractor on the bolt, no, that's a bandaid fix in my opinion. I rechambered the chamber, and the problem was fixed. A one turn adjustment was necessary to do this, but, I only lost a 1/4" maybe on a 30" barrel.

The case is rarely the cause for these problems, it's either the extractor, the chamber or a misalignment of something.
Maybe your rifle needs a trip to the 'smith.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.
gun)

 

[AZShooter]

There is no mention of what style sizing die you are using.

Neck runout: Have you used a concentricity gauge? If you can find one or buy one you can make comparisons. Measure fired brass and sized brass to zero in on where it is occurring.
Necks that have excessive runout could be formed that way in the chamber or when sized.

I recently encountered a RCBS FL sizer die that caused the necks to have excessive runout. I compared fired cases (which had no runout) with cases that were sized with the sizer ball removed and they STILL were out. I concluded the die body was the culprit

Sticky extraction: while I suppose polishing the chamber to a larger diameter would help, it seems backwards to me. How accurately can someone sand and polish a chamber to maintain concentricity?

RUM cases are thick as a result, IMO, they don't have as much springback as thinner cases. I solved my 300 RUM and my friend's 300 RUM issues (as well as a 338 RCM) by making a small base die from another FL die. I used a carbide tool bit on my lathe to remove top and bottom of die for a sizer sleeve. It reduced the area of the brass at the web/body junction of the brass making extraction easy.

I would suggest if you cannot get a small base die or make one, to talk to Whidden and have a custom FL or small base die made that will reduce the base diameter.

 

[Berry228]

My apologies, I am using the defensive edge die set which I believe comes with a FL size die. This morning I did find some fire formed brass and the necks are canted .001-.004. At first I was thinking that the die was the culprit. But now I'm not sure.