The wait begins

[dmoua]

For those that were curious, the one on the top is a 185gr Berger VLD jammed into the lands that was throated for a 215gr VLD. The one on the bottom is my dummy round that I had him throat it for afterwards. Cbto on the top is 2.148”. CBTO for my dummy round is 2.277”.

[dmoua]

Well I’ve fire formed all my brass. However I am having an issue.

The bolt will close by itself smoothly with no brass but when I put a prepped brass that’s been fl resized with 0.002” shoulder bumper the bolt doesn’t even go far enough to be able to close it.

Is this a die related issue?

Without brass and with brass

I have tried bumping the shoulder back 0.003”-0.004” but it feels like there is a lot of spring back when doing so.


I just watched Eric Cortina's video on setting up FL sizing die for a refresher but this is the results I am getting.

[jasnt]

Must be a difference some where between fired and resized.  I’d focus on figuring out what those are

[dmoua]

Been trying. It's always been hard to chamber anything in this gun. No where close to being smooth like my 700 .308 or the wife's Model Seven.

I've tried everything I can think of or know how.

The only thing else I can think of is possible bur in the chamber. I get this mark on all the brass fired from this rifle. It's not from the feed ramps since I am single loading everything as of right now.

Guess my reloading skills is no where near good.

Good thing I don't have any hair on my head. 

[jasnt]

Do you have a bore scope

[callturner]

What does the builder say when you show him?

[dmoua]

Do you have a bore scope

I do not.

What does the builder say when you show him?

I haven’t talked to him yet. Trying to do all that I can or know how to on my end before bothering him again.

Maybe I’m just not used to such tight tolerance’s and just need to learn how to load for such specs but I feel like my reloading process is pretty tedious already.

[Crunchy]

I had a similar issue and it turned out to be the bullet seating die needed to be backed out 1/4 turn.  Try it on a piece of brass.

[dmoua]

I had a similar issue and it turned out to be the bullet seating die needed to be backed out 1/4 turn.  Try it on a piece of brass.

I’m not even seating bullets right now. I am testing to see if the cases are sized properly for the chamber.

[buckfvr]

Get your hands on a set of go/nogo gages and give them a whirl.

[Stein]

Man, if you are full length sizing with a 2 thou bump and trim one brass that has been fired in that rifle I just don't see why the bolt won't close.  Makes zero sense to me.  I would probably try a 4 thou bump just to see, but would be calling the builder up to see what he thinks.

It won't close on empty brass resized or an actual loaded round?  I assume you compared the resized brass to the loaded brass that fit?

[dmoua]

Man, if you are full length sizing with a 2 thou bump and trim one brass that has been fired in that rifle I just don't see why the bolt won't close.  Makes zero sense to me.  I would probably try a 4 thou bump just to see, but would be calling the builder up to see what he thinks.

It won't close on empty brass resized or an actual loaded round?  I assume you compared the resized brass to the loaded brass that fit?

I’m testing my fire formed brass to see if they will chamber with 0.002” bump. Trying to chamber a round just doesn’t feel right.

Maybe it needs more time to break in? 

Shawn’s going hunting this weekend so I don’t want to bother him until afterwards.

[callturner]

Any body near ya have a sizing die you could try? I've watched your vids for a couple years and believe your too good of a reloader and Shawn has a pretty good rep so it has to be in the dies. I've had a couple die issues in the last 50 years and you cant rule them out . That marred brass shouldn't be happening too. Your other rifles seem to shoot your reloads well.

[dmoua]

Any body near ya have a sizing die you could try? I've watched your vids for a couple years and believe your too good of a reloader and Shawn has a pretty good rep so it has to be in the dies. I've had a couple die issues in the last 50 years and you cant rule them out . That marred brass shouldn't be happening too. Your other rifles seem to shoot your reloads well.

Thanks, I'm not great but I can manage to get some decent groups, ES, and SD.

Upon further investigation and tinkering it seems that my FL sizing die is bottoming out. That's most likely the reason why I can't bump the shoulder anymore than 0.003" and that's even pushing it with alot of spring back. Unfortunately I don't know of anyone with a 300 WSM die. I might just suck it up and go buy a Lee FL sizing die just to rule out the RCBS one or maybe just buy another RCBS die.

The marring on the brass is another concern but maybe it'll smooth itself out after x amount of rounds fired.

[jasnt]

The marring on the brass could be from lug rail on ejection.  The rcbs die could just be a bit fat, or the shell holder just a hair tall, could be that you need a small base die.  You’ve mentioned a lot of spring back.  You could try resizing with a 15 count.  Ram up count 15,then bring case down, spin case 180 or so, ram up for another 15 count.  This has worked for me in the past and it’s free to try and may rule out if the die is egged or not.