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

Then save that brass and only use it in the 300 you first fired it in. It will work fine in that gun.

 

Given what you said about trying to resize and looking at the picture of the belt on your resized case I woukd bet it’s a case head expansion issue at the belt as was mentioned above.

 

I had a similar problem a while back with some 243 win loads. They would chamber roughly.....you had to force the bolt to close to get them to chamber. I reviewed my loading steps and could not figure out what I did wrong...so I called my mentor and he told me to check my shell holder. Well I did and i was using a RCBS shell holder with a Hornady sizing die......so I put a Hornady shell holder on the press and made a couple of loads and ......they worked properly....problem solved. From then on I always use a shell holder manufactured by the same company as the die manufacturer. Not sure what you are using , but wanted to relate the problem I had and fortunately I was a simple fix.

 

I sugest: 1.- Resize one case with decapping pin and neck expander. 2.- Resize one case WITHOUT decapping pin and neck expander. 3.- Try to chamber both.

 

Good read guys, thanks. One more item to consider...I’m not familiar with browning bolts, but I had a lot of 50 pieces of said Nolser brass that one third or so of which wouldn’t chamber new and FL sized in my reworked 700 action with a Sako style extractor. Oh and would chamber in other factory actions. Tough area to measure and compare. Had to cut my losses and move on. Happy Shooting.

 

Tight neck can cause this as well.

 

Yeah, all other outside dimensions under that of fired. Well considered being a custom chambered barrel in 300wm.

 

This is an important point. It's good that you recognize that.

It may also help to know that you can get holder's in sets from Redding that have different lengths built in so you can experiment with different offsets. You can also get shim sets (7/8" washers of different thicknesses that can mix and match to set different die heights at Brownells/Sinclair & Midway to put between your die and the press to obtain different offsets too.

 

I think most of agree that brass should be kept segregated by rifle. I keep mine in 50 round MTM boxes with the caliber and name of my rifle on them.

But this reminds me that I once saw a fellow swapping bolts between otherwise identical rifles. This is an even bigger no-no. NEVER swap bolts between rifles. Even factory rifles are individually headspaced with a given dedicated bolt for that rifle. Usually the last four or 5 digits of the Serial number are also etched on the bolt someplace. Not saying that you did that, but it's worth mentioning to anyone who didn't know that swapping fired brass isn't a good practice because the issues are similar.

 

I've had these same issues where the brass is swollen out right above the belt and won't or is hard to chamber. you can't full length resize that far down. innovative designs by larry willis has a special collet die. just for belted magnums that resizes that lower part of the case back to factory specs, also the die top is a case gauge. if it fits in there it will chamber in any rifle. it also states that they are getting over 20 reloads without cases coming apart. it is worth every penny!! just google larry willis or innovative designs collet die for belted magnums

 

I'd just purchase a SINCLAIR BULLET COMPAREATOR and then you have a EXTREMELY ACCURATE OGIVE COAL Guage and then use STARRETT DIAL CALIPERS. THEY NEVER, EVER LIE!
Theosmithjr