problems chambering belted mag brass

[greggc1960]

Ok, so I got a rifle chambered in 338-378 wby, and apparantly, it was just a touch short in the lenght. Some brass would chamber ok, but roughly half were really hard to close on. Verified my thoughts by filing the top of the belt on a couple that were real hard to close on, down, till the bolt closed good. So, next, I got some valve lapping compound, and lapped the bolt, and after alot of work cleaning it up, the bolt closes with about the right amount of effort on ALL of my brass. Next, I'll fire form the brass(again), and now, should be spacing on the shoulder. Any body got any thoughts on this?

 

[DocB]

Having done that, at a minimum and primarily, I would check the headspace now.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Safe Shooting!

Doc

 

[supercrossbmx69]

^agreed. I had similar problems with chambering my 7 stw. I was blaming it on the belt but it turned out to be the fact that even though the die was making contact with the shellholder, it still was not bumping the shoulder back far enough to chamber like it was supposed too. So check your headspace.

 

[greggc1960]

^agreed. I had similar problems with chambering my 7 stw. I was blaming it on the belt but it turned out to be the fact that even though the die was making contact with the shellholder, it still was not bumping the shoulder back far enough to chamber like it was supposed too. So check your headspace.

I thought of that, too. Not really having a way to check, I took a couple cases that I had ruined, and took a special file I have w/diamond grit only on the edges, and filed down the TOP of the belt, and the bolt closed easily. Not satisfied with that, I took another case( tite fitting ) and marked the shoulder and belt , and its definitly the belt hitting the chamber. Still not quite satisfied, I took ANOTHER case, and filed down the belt, and got it to fit. After that, I lapped the bolt...now, only some are tite, but not excessively so. I need to fire some, and check fired against sized, and find out for sure. Does that sound rite, or am I missing some thing ? I got a hard head, and tend to learn the hard lessons mostly, but I'm looking for input. By the way, how do you like that 7STW? Heard lots of good things about it. And, thanks.
Gregg

 

[greggc1960]

Having done that, at a minimum and primarily, I would check the headspace now.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Safe Shooting!

Doc

Thanks, sir, and the same to you and yours.

 

[speedmaster97]

I had problems with my 7mm mag. closing the bolt. I came across this belted magnum collect resizing die that Larry Willis of Innovative Technologies sells. It takes care of the case bulge that occurs just above the belt. I could only get about 2 firings on the brass and then have problems chambering the third, until I bought the collect.gun)

 

[greggc1960]

Folks, here is an update on my brass chambering difficulties. What I did, worked. May not have been the best solution, and maybe I came at it *** backwards, but, it worked. Thanks for the help.

 

[DocB]

Folks, here is an update on my brass chambering difficulties. What I did, worked. May not have been the best solution, and maybe I came at it *** backwards, but, it worked. Thanks for the help.

Kewl Beans!

Good job sir. Now, I'd document in your reload book what the problem was, with pics if you have them, and how you resolved it. This might reoccur again with someone else and you might be able to mentor them thru their issues. It's all about recognizing an issue, identifying the possible causes, working thru each one and seeking assistance if it get's bigger than you, resolving the problem then documenting it thoroughly, just in case.

Be safe and enjoy you reloading!

DocB