Testing Cases After Resizing?

[JAYgs8163]

I did not trim the cases. Per die instructions I threaded die into press until the sizing die touched the ram in the up position. I know nothing about bumping shoulders and such.

Did you check the OAL of the brass after resizing?

 

[30dirty]

You may need to adjust your sizing die down a little bit.

I Agree , U R probably over sizing brass . You should adjust Die down till when you try to slide a bullet in you really have To PUSH on it,to get it to slide into the case . Or Measure The case TILL U get .002 constriction . Hope this helps

 

[denobravo]

Bud the best thing you can do is stop right here and get a reloading manual and start reading, your gonna be so confused by the time this ends that you won't know what to do, don't worry about bumping your shoulder right now, concentrate on loading a live round correctly first, Keep it simple then work in to the rest

the BEAN is correct
you need a couple of tools may as well get them
also whoever suggested videos is also correct
however which ones ?
Eric Cortina has a good video on setting up full length dies
and examine and measure every case for length
you need a trimmer
a bump gauge
and a deburring tool if you dont have them,
however I wouldnt reload a round
I would research a bit then start from scratch and prep the brass as you should

 

[TXTrained]

Newbie alert...I am new to reloading and have full length resized some 7mm STW, 6.5 Creedmoor and .308. I deprimed as well on the press.

I thought I would chamber a few empty cases and see how they cycle. I noticed the bolt was more difficult to close on the newly resized brass. Is this normal? No bullet in the case, no primer but I did deburr the outside and inside of case after resizing.

Did you measure and trim? Did you check with a comparator

 

[Chas1]

I don't see where you said whether it's all 3 rifles having the problem or just one and how does factory ammo chamber ?

 

[misterc01]

IMHO I would suggest you stop your reloading and do a little more studying up on the reloading process. A good relodaing in manual (as suggested earlier) and research on the web will get you a TON of information, with many Youtube videos with good explanations. Stopping when you feel or sense "something" is not quite right will go a long way to help keeping one out of trouble:0) BTW - be sure you docuement everything. A reloading log will help track the details as you not only do them, but what changes you make are positive or negative. And have fun and be safe..............

 

[baldhunter]

I bought a rifle that has a custom barrel.When I tried to chamber a round it was so tight it would smear the head stamp a little.I have three other rifles the same caliber and I have no issues when using this set of dies.I never could get the dies set for that rifle no matter what I did.I bought another set of dies,same brand RCBS,ran the brass through the new set of dies and the problem went away.

 

[TXTrained]

I did not trim the cases. Per die instructions I threaded die into press until the sizing die touched the ram in the up position. I know nothing about bumping shoulders and such.

Newbie alert...I am new to reloading and have full length resized some 7mm STW, 6.5 Creedmoor and .308. I deprimed as well on the press.

I thought I would chamber a few empty cases and see how they cycle. I noticed the bolt was more difficult to close on the newly resized brass. Is this normal? No bullet in the case, no primer but I did deburr the outside and inside of case after resizing.

The best and advice I can give you and to be safe is get on your computer and find a book TOP-GRADE AMMO by Glen D. Zediker .
And read it and keep it handy.

 

[chav0_12]

You're probably not actually fully sizing the case. I didn't see what dies you're using or what the rifle is. Some rifles have really tight chambers. You should probably be measuring to see if you need to trim too. Like others have said, get into a manual and really understand what you're doing.

 

[MNbogboy]

It is easy to get a seating die in too far the case neck may contact the die & deform the case body enough to cause difficult chambering.

 

[Window]

So I experimented turning the die down a little more at a time and it didn't really make a difference. I then took a factory round and discovered maybe its just a tad stiff closing the bolt to begin with. Because I'm starting reloading and trying to pay attention to little details maybe I hadn't noticed it before. I will see what happens when I get some loaded rounds.

Remove the firing pin out of your bolt. This will allow you to truly feel the stiffness. As you progress with your knowledge and skills, it's always best to go off actual measurements and not feel. A 2 thou shoulder bump will allow you to close the bolt with zero resistance and will give you great consistency and long brass life. Good luck and enjoy your new hobby that will soon turn into an addiction!

 

[MarshMello]

I agree with the feedback here on a few points. Get the headspace comparator. That will help you see what's changing.
Keep doing your homework with the vids and manuals.
There is nothing wrong with practicing and sacrificing a few pieces of brass. Just be sure to set those aside as they will tend to fail prematurely as compared to your other brass. Once those get mixed in and you get,say for instance a split neck during a shooting session, you'll be wondering if there is a bigger issue with all of your brass.
Most of all, decide on your process. Multiple things could be causing the tight bolt closing. Systematically going through the potential issuess will help you to both confirm and avoid lengthy troubleshooting sessions in the future.
I like to start with a factory unfired round. You can pull the firing pin or I just pull bullet/powder/primer and make a dummy round. Measure the shoulder on that as well and log it. If that closes well, go to a piece of 1x fired brass and measure the shoulder on that. Measure the case length to make sure that is in spec. Trim as necessary. Resize to get a .002-.003 bump. Once you establish that you can moving on to other potential causes.

 

[jerry moore]

Yes

if you don't have proper tools to check cases then when you screw die down & contact ram lower ram & turn die 1/4 turn down you should be ok your manual should explain set up

 

[mntnflyr4fun]

Set the resizing die down far enough that the handle "cams" over (ie a bit past die touching the shell holder and trim to the spec'd trim length. This will get you started in the right direction. There are all kinds of more "professional level techniques that can be employed but for someone starting out, forget about shoulder bumping and all the rest, learn to full length resize properly as step one, trim the brass and move forward from there as you gain proficiency.
Good Luck