Stiff chambering

[jasonoldman]

Factory ammo chambers fine. My resized brass chambers fine as well. My problem comes after I prime, powder and place my bullet in the case. The bolt will close but it is tight, and takes more effort than I feel is correct.

So off the bat you would assume seating depth right? Well I am using the hornady OAL guage to find out where I need to be. Anyways I am well off the lands as measured so I dont know where the problem lies. I have measured the brass at the necks, and bodys of factory, sized, unsized, and reloaded brass and I am pretty sure it is not the brass. I also have some reloads with different bullets that chamber fine.

I finally took a sharpie to the bullet on two different seated bullets to see where I might be rubbing or hitting. With one close of the bolt it was somewhat hard to say, but after working the bolt a few times I get a mark on just one side of the bullet. Also at the same point on the bullet (not the same distace from the case neck).

I was just going to seat deeper, but would like to know your thoughts.
thanks

 

[Joe King]

That almost makes me wonder if you've got something in your chamber. Have you tried a factory round again since running into this? Just for grinns mic your bullets for dai.

 

[pitsnipe]

It could be an optical illusion but the difference in the mark location from one bullet to the other looks like it is because one is seated deeper than the other. But at any rate, the scrape/mark sure looks like what rifling would make. Is there a possibility that your loading process is seating the bullet(s) out of round? Thus "high" on one side?

 

[jasonoldman]

Yes factory rounds still chamber. If I sharpie up a factory round it may make the slightest mark. I was wondering if I could have something in the chamber as well but after reading pitsnipe's comment I was curious so i took one of the marked reloads and chambered it going in at different positions (essentially just rotated the bullet around) now I would think it should make this scrape mark in different points of the rotation if seated straight.

This was not the case as no further marks were made, leading me to think I may not have seated them exactly straight, and may very well have a "high" side. I don't know what would cause this either, maybe the slightest amount of give in the press? I can not see any variation but it would be to small for me to see by eye. What could I do to fix the problem if that is it for sure.


Oh and what is "mic your bullets for dai". I am relatively new to this.

Thanks again.

 

[lightflight]

mic ...micrometer. measure.

 

[jasonoldman]

Yeah I gotcha on the mic part but the dai part is what I didn't know. I searched up answers to improving bullet runout as well. Looks like I can improve some with the equipment I have for future loads, but I will have to seat deeper and live with it for now I guess. Maybe if this school thing ever pays off I can get more serious.

If I still touch lands slightly will there be a pressure increase I should worry about.

let me know if any of this sounds off base.
thanks.

 

[Mikecr]

Check trim length & fired necks -vs- your reloaded necks(w/bullet seated).

 

[jasonoldman]

I did measure everything involving brass both fired, sized, loaded, and factory loaded to compare, that's why I say it is a bullet/seating problem.

Thanks

 

[RTK]

I don't use any fancy gauges to check seating depth to the lands, what I do is smoke the bullet around the case neck to see if when I pull the cartridge out of the chamber the bullet has not back out any. The lands always take the soot off of the bullet but I have never had any that look like yours.

 

[ehryk]

looking at the shoulders, it looks like there may be some buckeling there. Are you crimping (on purpose or otherwise)? Try backing out your seater die some then readjust your seating plunger for ptoper depth then try again.

 

[paste]

i had a similar problem and i drove myself insane trying to figure out what was going on when one day i was switching dies in my press and i dropped something on the floor when i bent down to pick up the item i noticed that when i had the ram on my press at its upper most position the shell holder was extremely out of square with the die. i have been using this press for more than a few years so i decided it was time for an upgrade so i bought a redding big boss II press and i havent had the problem since. now my shell holders are perfectly square with my dies..

in a nut shell .... my shellholder was not square with the die so my cases were being shoved into the die at a slight angle causeing my cases to be sized at an angle and the bullet to be seated at an angle...
a new press fixed the issue

just a suggestion

 

[dpty22]

check your crimp depth. i had the same problem, i set the bullet depth and then set the crimp. unfortunately when i reset for the bullet depth the bullet pushed down on the case and bulged the shoulder and then the shells would not chamber.

 

[Bart B]

Another reloading process that'll make a once fired new case hard to chamber after it's reloaded is as follows.

If a full length sizing die's used and set in the press so not all of the neck's sized down (oft times called partial neck sizing), the fired case body will be reduced in diameter by the die but that will push the shoulder forward a few thousandths of an inch. That case may be a bit too long from its head to its shoulder and is a bit shorter than the rifle's bolt face to chamber shoulder. The bolt typically binds when this happens.

The solution is to reset the die lower in the press by about 4 thousandths inch; that's about 1/16th of a turn. After doing this, the case can be resized and its shoulder shoulde be set back enough to chamber easily and still be safe and accurate in performance.

 

[winmag]

dia=Diameter. He wants you to make sure you didn't accidentally grab 7mm bullets for 270 for example. Weather mis marked on the box, or mistaken at the bench. Easy mistake when multiple boxes of the same bullet in different calibers are on the bench.
Heck I've got 277, 140 gr, 308 cal 165's, 180''s, & 200gr, & 338 cal 225gr Accubonds in my cupboards. All in thier own spot, of course, but I could see how it could happen. Tho seating them would be a bear....

Did you standard Champher, or VLD Champher your cases? Could be your bullet isn't seating "smooth enough" causing excess seating pressure there by causing the run out?

I've run into a simmilar stiff bolt problemb but I'm certain its in my shell holder. I actually have to size my dads, & cousins 270WSM brass with a piece of paper folded in two for a shim under the brass, in the shell holder. My Redding F/L die is bottomed out on the ram. There is no adjusting it down farther. My chamber is the only chamber the brass fits in, but it's somewhat stiff bolt. Not bad stiff, but noticeable. I intend to correct it by ordering custom shell holders, measured for different thicknesses. Cant just "sand it down evenly". Won't be square.

Anyway, the title is what perked my intrest in your thread. Simmilar, but different issues.