Lost and confused

[wvbearhunter]

I have been reloading for quite a number of years and for the first time have run into a problem I cannot seem to sort out.

I full lengrh re-sized and trimmed a bunch of 308 brass. All of it drops cleanly in and out of my Sheridan guage HOWEVER it will not chamber in any of my 308 rifles. I have measured it against some factory brass and cannot find a difference. Thoughts/suggestions?

 

[Critter Picker]

Did you check neck thickness?

 

[PddPdd]

When you say "it will not chamber" how much of the bolt closure are you able to achieve? Does it vary by rifle? Have you measured the neck diameter of the loaded rounds? Headspace dimension? Are your rifles factory or custom?

 

[QuietTexan]

Do you have a straight edge? And not a cheap one, but a real machinist's edge that's truly flat?

The steps on the back of the gauge are very small increments, there's a good chance that headspace is set long and while the round drops into the case it's still projecting outwards from the back. Depending on what you're using for headspace measurement you might be inside what the tool can resolve.

TLR screw the FL die in deeper and see if it fixes it.

 

[MagnumManiac]

I will bet that your case is too large at the expansion line at the web…you may require a small base die to fix the issue.
I would measure that area with a micrometer that reads to .0001" and note how many tenths past nominal it is after going through your die.

Cheers.

 

[Calvin45]

Interesting. The only time I've had this happen to me was with Hornady brass as well. In this case from factory ammo, 140 grain interlock btsp in 270 Winchester. It felt "snug" when chambering the factory ammo. After resizing, it was still usable but a VERY snug fit, such that it would cause slow reloading in the field and I didn't trust it, chucked it out. And this was ammo fired from the same chamber! Never had that happen with any other brass

 

[shaughn]

Did you possibly change your shell holder for another you might have?

I have several .308 size shell holders, and know that if they don't stay with their proper calibrated die sets, that fun and games will happen.

My 30/06 small base set and my 7.62N set both use the same size shell holder but if I don't use the ones that I set the dies up with the cases won't chamber.

Could that have happened?.

 

[ARlife4me]

Was this/these dummy rounds, brass only or loaded rounds? Bullet isn't showing signs of land marks? Resize the brass and chamber it without promer, powder and Bullet. Extract and measure again. On the fl part do you use S, M and/or with a button? This small base issue (or might not be) should not be an issue! I reload autos and ba's the same way and without issues. Belted mags also. Sounds more like a die issue if the base isn't sized correctly?

 

[Petey308]

Bump your shoulder back more. That almost always fixes that problem. If you can't get any more bump out of your current setup, you can either grind some material off your shell holder or get a competition shell holder set from Redding.

Your chamber is likely just headspaced a bit tighter than your gages.

 

[wvbearhunter]

It took me ALL day but I figured it out. There were a couple slivers of brass shavings preventing my RCBS FL die from bumping the shoulder back far enough.

 

[wvbearhunter]

It never even occured to me to check the die itself. My wife suggested it

 

[shaughn]

Sigh.........haven't we all Been there....

 

[Petey308]

It took me ALL day but I figured it out. There were a couple slivers of brass shavings preventing my RCBS FL die from bumping the shoulder back far enough.

Well that was a way easier fix to bumping them more lol. I knew that was the problem though. Glad you figured it out.

 

[Dirtrax]

It never even occured to me to check the die itself. My wife suggested it

I hate it when that happens.