Hard to close bolt.

[Abolt]

I'm stumped now, I loaded up 20 rounds and went to shoot them this afternoon. I shot 3 factory loads and everything went fine. When I tried to chamber my reloads it was very tough to close the bolt and very tough to open without even firing, I tried a couple different ones and same on all.

They way I have always sized my brass is to run the press ram all the way up, then thread the die down until it touches, then back off one full turn.

These were once fired brass fired by me but out of the old barrel. When I got home I used a headspace comparator and they were 2 thousandths longer than the factory loads that chambered fine, I still had a bunch of brass that I resized in this same batch so I bumped the shoulder back to just behind the factory loads. No change

I then decided to trim the brass as it was almost to max length. that's when I noticed that it didn't want to fit in the shell holder in my ribs case trimmer. I had to force it into shell holder, then I put a factory loaded shell in and it went in fine.

The only way I could make this brass chamber but with still a slight resistance was to run the ram up and screw the die down and only back it off 1/16 of a turn.

Was my old chamber extremely loose causing this brass to expand all the way down to the case head? Am I better off tossing this brass and buying new brass? Sorry for the long post and thanks for the help

 

[Deleted member 46119]

It sounds like what you postulate. Old chamber was loose and new chamber is very tight.

If it were me, I'd size up 20 or so of the old brass. If it's not too difficult to work the brass, load them with a charge reduced %10 or so. Give a try.

While at the range, rechamber the fired brass. If it goes then you have solved the problem.

It only takes .001 to reach the no go point.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

you aren't camming your press over. There should be resistance at the top of the stroke where your shellholder presses on the bottom of the die. Turn your die all the way down, back the ram off a bit, and turn the die in a bit more... If you need longer cases get a shellholder with a different height ( see the redding competition set) or have your barrel turned back and re-chambered so your chamber is correct...

as to old brass in your new chamber, if you can get your dimensions down enough it should work, but it may not. You may be forced to use new brass and size that brass correctly for the new chamber.


Redding Competition Shellholder Set #6 (7mm Remington Mag 300

 

[Abolt]

WINNER!!! As soon as I read the first line it hit me. Thanks for saving me a long night going through it in my head. I just sized 20 and they went in just fine. That's the great thing about this site, it helps having thousands of eyes looking over your shoulder!! Thanks agin for the help

you aren't camming your press over. There should be resistance at the top of the stroke where your shellholder presses on the bottom of the die. Turn your die all the way down, back the ram off a bit, and turn the die in a bit more... If you need longer cases get a shellholder with a different height ( see the redding competition set) or have your barrel turned back and re-chambered so your chamber is correct...

as to old brass in your new chamber, if you can get your dimensions down enough it should work, but it may not. You may be forced to use new brass and size that brass correctly for the new chamber.


Redding Competition Shellholder Set #6 (7mm Remington Mag 300

 

[mikea5232]

Like Lefty said, the press should cam over when FL sizing. The Web area on the brass is probably too large in your new chamber.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I've given up on partial fl sizing like you were doing because of fitment issues like you have been having and accuracy issues that I had in one particularly long chamber.
My last 7stw was punched 15 thou. deeper than it needed to be... tried partial fl sizing for it and had so many accuracy issues that I went back to true fl sizing. Then my brass life went to three firings because of the stretch.
I eventually had the barrel turned back; the 'smith wouldn't put it back together though as some dolt didn't measure correctly. I have oversized receiver threads on this rifle (worked over rem700) and they shoved a standard shank pre-fit on the rifle, then ditched it on trade. Long story short, the new bbl. was cut with proper dimensions by a local 'smith and she shoots great and doesn't eat brass as quickly.

 

[oldfortyfiveauto]

You really need to get a cartridge measuring tool like the RCBS precision mic so you can verify the length to the shoulder. Only real way to know what's going on. A number of times I've had to grind .010" off the top of a shell holder due to case spring back. It's usually an issue with mil-surp cases or thicker ones like the WSSM series. Most commercial brass usually isn't a problem.

Another one I really like is this one: Innovative Technologies - Reloading Equipment

 

[Jester896]

I primarily use Mo's Gauges but have a couple of RCBS for checking headspace of cases. One way to check your press to see if it cam over or not is to run the ram up and screw the die in until it touches. Then if you have resistance going back down you have a cam over type press. If it doesn't offer resistance the ram is a straight up straight down type. Try not to stress your press. You can get case dimensions from SAAMI.org for any case you have so you can check to see how out of spec it is if you are having issues. If you can see a strong bulge above the web you may want to hit them with a small base die to get them back closer to spec.

 

[BountyHunter]

First off, the standard mftrs instructions to go down until you touch the top of the shell holder and cam over will work AS LONG as case life is not an issue.

These instructions are designed by lawyers to ensure the case is sized to fit into ANY chamber. You are almost always bumping the shoulders back way too much and increasing headspace, causing excess brass flow and may result in case head separation in 3-4 reloads.

IF you want max accuracy and case life learn to adjust the die to fit your chamber.

Here is a pretty good example of how to do it correctly to adjust the dies for minimal headspace and to fit your chamber.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f28/setting-up-full-length-die-45401/

 

[BountyHunter]

First off, the standard mftrs instructions to go down until you touch the top of the shell holder and cam over will work AS LONG as case life is not an issue.

These instructions are designed by lawyers to ensure the case is sized to fit into ANY chamber. You are almost always bumping the shoulders back way too much and increasing headspace, causing excess brass flow and may result in case head separation in 3-4 reloads. Not a good thing.

IF you want max accuracy and case life learn to adjust the die to fit your chamber not some blanket instruction for every sloppy chambe made.

Here is a pretty good example of how to do it correctly to adjust the dies for minimal headspace and to fit your chamber.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f28/setting-up-full-length-die-45401/


If you do not have tools here is Alex Wheelers video (Sizing brass). Keep all of these videos for reference as they are all great. His video on finding your lands is spot on and works every time and super easy to utilize.

wheeleraccuracy

 

[SansSouci]

Hi Abolt,

From experience, please don't try to fire a round that causes a bolt to close with force.

I had the same problem. My chamber wasn't as long as I had thought. I seated bullets a little more deeply, and all was good.

 

[LoneTraveler]

Take a sized case and put it in the rifle and close the bolt on it. If it fits tight it is in the sizing of the case that is the problem. If the bolt closes on empty sized case, Check your seating die set up. If a seating die has crimping ability and you have screwed the die into the press till the crimping section hits the neck of the case it will shove the neck and shoulder down and make a slight bulge where the shoulder meets the body of the case. Just a few thousands bulge will cause a lot of grief. Check the loaded shells with a Mike or dial caliper. This is one of the most common problems when a loaded shell will not chamber.

Also check the length of case. in a custom chamber a slightly long case can cause the problem to.

Good Luck in finding the problem and a proper cure.

 

[Wachsmann]

you aren't camming your press over. There should be resistance at the top of the stroke where your shellholder presses on the bottom of the die. Turn your die all the way down, back the ram off a bit, and turn the die in a bit more... If you need longer cases get a shellholder with a different height ( see the redding competition set) or have your barrel turned back and re-chambered so your chamber is correct...

as to old brass in your new chamber, if you can get your dimensions down enough it should work, but it may not. You may be forced to use new brass and size that brass correctly for the new chamber.


Redding Competition Shellholder Set #6 (7mm Remington Mag 300

Will these work in a RCBS press?. Will they fit in the slot on the RCBS Rock chrusher. I don't remember the brand but one set of shell holders would not work in the RCBS press that I have. The bottom part of the shell holder that slides onto the grove one the press was 2 thick. I think it was some Lee shell holders I have.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Will these work in a RCBS press?. Will they fit in the slot on the RCBS Rock chrusher. I don't remember the brand but one set of shell holders would not work in the RCBS press that I have. The bottom part of the shell holder that slides onto the grove one the press was 2 thick. I think it was some Lee shell holders I have.

they will... half of my shellholders are pacific or redding... I use a rockchucker... The lee for their primer seater are pretty much lee only.

Many people are under the erroneous assumption that you can simply turn your dies out to fit a long chamber. Often a long chamber is also a bit crooked ( the shortbus crowd may have built your rifle) (or you have a bit of slop in the press linkage and die) and if you don't close the die to get the brass straight you will be building crooked ammo. I've seen long set dies work, and I've also seen them cause a 1/2 moa load go to 1 1/2 moa just to save brass life.