Ever had Fire Formed Brass have a hard bolt close?

[Mikido]

Shave the shell holder….slowly

 

[TaperPin]

Thanks fellas. Ill do some researching and reading and video watching.

And Yes the brass was fired from this rifle.

i dont have the headspace kit. Ill have to pick one up.

That’s most likely a case of the sizing die squishing the diameter the case causing a portion of the shoulder to squeeze up - the die is slightly long compared to your chamber so it doesn’t push the shoulder back enough for easy chambering. If the die won’t screw down further onto the shell holder the only choice is filing or grinding down the shell holder (or bottom of die), until it chambers easily. I’ve had a friend simply change brands of the die and it fixed the issue, but I’d rather grind a bit off the bottom of the die.

 

[ropeup79]

You can color your resized case with a sharpie and chamber it. This should show where it’s contacting the chamber. You can also color a unsized case and see how far down the neck you are sizing. Adjust die until it is at the neck/shoulder junction and just barely removes marker from shoulder.

 

[wind gypsy]

How do you decide how far to screw in the sizing die if you're not measuring shoulder bump?

 

[ropeup79]

I don’t measure. I turn die a 1/8” at a time and when I see the sharpie on the shoulder start to move I see how it chambers.

 

[wind gypsy]

I don’t measure. I turn die a 1/8” at a time and when I see the sharpie on the shoulder start to move I see how it chambers.

Maybe not measuring but that is at least monitoring when you’re moving the shoulder.

 

[ropeup79]

Maybe not measuring but that is at least monitoring when you’re moving the shoulder.

Yep, definitely monitoring and I would estimate about 3 thousandths bump but I care more that they chamber when in the field.

 

[ropeup79]

On my latest rifle (Tikka 300 WSM) I’ve been using a Lee collet neck sizing die for the first couple firings. If I can feel the bolt closing stiffer on fired brass I anneal and FL size as mentioned above. Works well and I’ll probably get more collet dies for other cartridges.

 

[Sadie]

Are you lubing the case neck. I've had the expander ball pull the shoulder foreword on 243 cases .

 

[marc357]

As alluded to above already, as you screw the die down and begin to squeeze the case body the shoulder will begin to move forward a bit, making the case fit tighter in the rifle (or even "not fit"). This is a sign you are getting close to where you want to be. As you screw the die down more, it will start to bump the shoulder back, and when you find the spot where the case just chambers freely, you're done.

This is a tool-less way to do it, I did it that way for many years. Now I own the Hornady Case Comparator kit and keep better track of the actual measurements of fired vs resized. When I first bought the tool, I checked some fired cases and some ammo I had done the "old fashioned" way- and sure enough- I had been bumping the shoulders exactly .002" using the "feel" method described above.

 

[SDHNTR]

Yep, definitely monitoring and I would estimate about 3 thousandths bump but I care more that they chamber when in the field.

Not to say your method doesn't work, but wouldn't simply measuring at the shoulder datum be easier and more precise? It's not like a headspace comparator is expensive, you can even make one easily too.

 

[ropeup79]

Not to say your method doesn't work, but wouldn't simply measuring at the shoulder datum be easier and more precise? It's not like a headspace comparator is expensive, you can even make one easily too.

Maybe more precise but I can see where and how the die is contacting the case. As far as easier it’s the same amount of die adjustment and checking chamber fit without any special equipment. Once the die is set for that chamber I don’t need to mess with it anymore.
My main point to the OP is sharpie or candle soot on a piece of brass can help find where the brass has too much contact in the chamber.

 

[Luked]

Did a bit of work tonight.
And everyone was right.
I ended up bumping the shoulder back a bit by doing a few measurements, like the 9mm case on the datum worked well and also measuring the bottom of the die to the lock ring.
Got the shoulder bumped back .003 and it worked perfectly.
So got a Load Dev setup and ready to shoot.

Will say the deprimed 9mm case did work. but was a bit of a pain to measure easily as it wanted to move around a bit. Not a huge issue but Ill be buying the Hornaday kit here soon for this exact thing.

Wanted to thank everyone here for the ideas and help.