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.