Resized Cases Won’t Chamber

[Radosilver]

I am trying to work up loads for a Rem 700 .300 Wby my brother recently acquired. However, almost half of the cartridges I resize will not rechamber in his rifle. Even the ones that do rechamber require a lot of force to get the bolt to close. I tried two different dies with the same results.

I have resized brass a buddy had laying around with a Redding full length die that was shot through another rifle an unknown amount of times, as well as Rem brass that was factory ammo shot through this 700 once and then resized with an RCBS full length die. I have a decent amount of reloading experience and am resizing the same way I have for years for multiple belted and non belted cartridges.

Interestingly when he was shooting the Rem factory ammo there were several cartridges that did not chamber easily and required a lot force to close the bolt. I checked the case length and they are within 5 thousandths of book length when they come out of the resizing die.

At this point I feel like I’m missing something simple, but I’m at a loss for what is causing this issue. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Pickettpuncher]

Clean the chamber. Could have debris in there. I’d also look into a comparator as you may not be pushing shoulders back far enough. You didn’t say if you were trying loaded reloads or just sized brass. If it’s been reloaded there’s some other issues that could be involved.

 

[Radosilver]

Thanks. This is just resized brass. I haven’t reloaded these cases yet. He did clean it but I didn’t verify for myself what it looks like so I’ll check that.

 

[Pickettpuncher]

If it’s just resized I’d look at how much the shoulders were bumped back. If you used multiple dies that sorta rules out an out of spec die, but chamber could be screwed up but also die set up could be wrong.

 

[hiker270]

Does factory ammo cycle in the rifle? If it does then its a sizing issue.

 

[Radosilver]

Factory ammo cycles but there were even several rounds of factory ammo that were very difficult to chamber. I’m going to color a case that won’t chamber with marker tonight and see if I can see where the issue is coming from.

 

[dreadi]

You might need a belted magnum collet resizing die https://www.larrywillis.com/

 

[fraz01]

Need to check the headspace at the belt first. If you don't have a belted headspace gauge you can try another belted case like a 300 WM or some other belted case. I would check the bolt face for any issues also, could be an ejector issue or piece of brass lodged some where. Factory brass is usually under sized at the shoulder datum by .010 or more. I would strip the bolt give it a cleaning and try to chamber a case with it.

 

[Cahunter805]

Do the fired cases chamber easily after being fired but not resized? If so it’s something in your reloading process.

 

[Hill Difficulty]

How do you resize a double-radius shoulder that has been fire-formed in a different chamber?

Did you set the FL die to overcam? If not, try a 1/4 turn extra when setting the die.

I have a 700 barreled action chambered in 240W. Tho the shoulders grow a bit per firing, they still chamber after 5+ firings without any overcam when sizing. Can't imagine they'd fit in another chamber without pushing the shoulder back.

What do you mean by "Rem factory ammo?" Or is it Weatherby factory ammo?

 

[Radosilver]

Do the fired cases chamber easily after being fired but not resized? If so it’s something in your reloading process.

The fired cases do not rechamber easily before or after being resized.

 

[Radosilver]

How do you resize a double-radius shoulder that has been fire-formed in a different chamber?

Did you set the FL die to overcam? If not, try a 1/4 turn extra when setting the die.

I have a 700 barreled action chambered in 240W. Tho the shoulders grow a bit per firing, they still chamber after 5+ firings without any overcam when sizing. Can't imagine they'd fit in another chamber without pushing the shoulder back.

What do you mean by "Rem factory ammo?" Or is it Weatherby factory ammo?

I was leery about resizing the cases that were shot in another chamber. Didn’t know if it would work or not but figured it was worth a shot. But what is throwing me is the fact that resized brass that was only shot in this chamber will not resize. By Rem factory ammo I mean Remington brand factory .300 Wby ammo.

 

[Radosilver]

I painted up a case that won’t chamber to see if I could find any marks. Can’t see a scratch on it though.

 

[Pickettpuncher]

Run your sizing die down to touch your shell holder with the ram up. See if that will allow an easy bolt closure. Might have missed it, but they aren’t too long are they?

 

[Hill Difficulty]

I was leery about resizing the cases that were shot in another chamber. Didn’t know if it would work or not but figured it was worth a shot. But what is throwing me is the fact that resized brass that was only shot in this chamber will not resize. By Rem factory ammo I mean Remington brand factory .300 Wby ammo.

Thanks for the response. I did not know that Remington made brass and loaded ammo for Weatherby cartridges.

One idea is to buy 50 new Weatherby/Norma brass (Weatherby headstamp) and start from there.

 

[Radosilver]

Thanks for the response. I did not know that Remington made brass and loaded ammo for Weatherby cartridges.

One idea is to buy 50 new Weatherby/Norma brass (Weatherby headstamp) and start from there.

That’s probably going to be the next step. May have to wait until after hunting season though.

 

[Radosilver]

Run your sizing die down to touch your shell holder with the ram up. See if that will allow an easy bolt closure. Might have missed it, but they aren’t too long are they?

No they aren’t too long. I’ll give that a try.

 

[takdrvr]

Most likely there is a bulge just above the belt. Regular dies usually don’t fully resize it all the way. I would suggest using a collet die.

 

[mtnbound]

Factory ammo cycles but there were even several rounds of factory ammo that were very difficult to chamber. I’m going to color a case that won’t chamber with marker tonight and see if I can see where the issue is coming from.

Confirming the bolt still has issues closing on some factory new ammo correct?

 

[TaperPin]

Edit: I just realized this might not be a factory barrel - there’s no telling what the headspace is if someone screwed a takeoff barrel from a different gun into their receiver.

You should be able to make Weatherby cases from 8mm Rem mag, or even 375 H&H and have them chamber ok. It’s definitely a die that isn’t matching up with the chamber, probably not pushing the shoulder back enough. The method Remington used to ream chambers was quite consistent in making fairly large chambers, so I’d bet lunch your die is built a little long. The final reaming was done by spinning the reamer with an extension out the muzzle as the bolt was closed so short chambers would be very uncommon. Grinding a bit off a case holder or the bottom of the die is the common way to deal with it, but friends with similar problems have changed dies and that took care of the problem.

Personally I’d grab this set of used dies off eBay for less than $30 and if the different die didn’t solve the problem it comes with an extra shell holder that could be ground down.

The older RCBS dies seem better made than the newer ones.