Reloading help

[H2Ofuzz]

Ok here are a couple new pictures the casing on the left is a once fired that was only re sized. On the right its a re load that i did. As you can see both have markings in the same spot. I went a bought another set of die's and it is still doing it. So it must be something that i am doing.

[cwuwildcat]

When your resizing, is the empty cartridge going all the way into the resizing die?  If they do, is it leaving a very faint ring, about an 1/8th of an inch above the rim?

[H2Ofuzz]

Yes i am and yes it is. I tried the casings in another gun and same issue so its not a tight chambered gun.

[WDFW-SUX]

if there are dents its from excess lube... i cant tell from the photos

[PA BEN]

I don't know why, but my 243 wouldn't chamber my handloaded rounds if I just dropped them in and chambered them. I had to put them in the magazine and let the bolt pick them up and then they would chamber. 

[JackOfAllTrades]

OK, CWU is on one of the tracks I was going to point out. It's tough to tell without standing there looking at what you're doing/ how your dies are set. By the look of the lower end of the case where there's ink stripped, I was thinking that the die is not set deep enough. That usually doesn't make it so the case won't chamber though.

So... here's what happens when full length resizing. The case grows in length. That, pushes the shoulder to be a bit longer about half way through the press stroke. As you near the end of the stroke, the die actually pushes the shoulder back to where it's supposed to be. There's a little brass compression that happens through the whole length of the case.

What I think I see in the photo is just a bump right where the transistion from straight wall to shoulder angle is. That transition should be smooth without bump at all.

Here's what you do with a fresh/fired unprimed case that you haven't resized yet. Make sure it will still fit your chamber. (yeah, I know.. But go with me on this...)  From your current resize die setting, mark two index dots, (one on the die, one on the lock ring), Back your die out three whole turns. Lube a case and resize. Test fit in your chamber. It should chamber, as at this point you're pretty much only necksizing.   If what I think I'm seeing in the photo of the shoulder transition is that you're actually pushing the shoulder back a bit too far, creating a buldge.

We can figure this out... !!!  I'm in and out of the house today but will keep an eye on this thread. Hell, if you're available this evening, we can go through it on the phone.


edit:   Just backing out the die 3 turns is not the answer here. It's the first step to finding out what's set wrong. There will be more steps with that one piece of brass to find the correct die setting.

-Steve

[uncoolperson]

First I would make sure that the sizing die is turned all the way down to the shell holder when you are on the up stroke.

(sorry if you said you have, I didn't see it)


Sure you have the right shell holder?

[cwuwildcat]

Also, have you taken apart the sizing die?  I'm wondering if the resizing ball inside of it might be loose and doing something funny when extracting the shell.  When I got my set for my 30.06, I stripped it down and the ball and decapping pin were attached by about a turn of a thread and rattled when I shook the die.

[Rgrady35]

Do those shoulders look funny to you guys?

[WDFW-SUX]

yes

[AWS]

It looks like he's hitting the crimper when seating and setting the neck back slightly expanding the shoulder.

AWS

[JackOfAllTrades]

That's why I'll go step by step through the resizing steps, to make sure where the issue is. Either in the resizing phase, or in the bullet seating phase. We'll make sure all the brass, 'resized', chambers, then move to setting up his seating die properly.

It'll be pretty quick if we do it over the phone. 

-Steve

[carpsniperg2]

make sure you check your oal on the shell your neck might be a little long and that is causing it to fit tight had that happen a lot in my shot mags and they have 2 be trimmed back lower then book says to fit good and not have a stiff bolt hope this helps