Rifle reloading questions

[Colorado Cowboy]

So far we are all looking at the result of what was reloaded. Recheck your equipment. What type of tool and dies are you using? How old is everything and are your dies nice and clean inside, same with your shellholder. Just trying to work your way up to the result from the starting point.

Need to start eliminating the variables and this is the starting point.

 

[Sawfish]

Sorry about leaving out info. The cartridges are all the same brand and all have only been shot in my rifle. I shot them once, full length resized them. (Probably shouldnt have done that but I am a newbie) trimmed them all to a uniform length and then primed, charged and seated a bullet. I used all the same components but some chamber easily and some do not. How do I find out what the problem is?

Thank you for all the help.

Although it is not very common, some of your comments suggest that you may have an out of round chamber i.e. some chamber easily and some do not. This can be checked by measuring the diameter of the case body, or (better choice) have a gunsmith make a chamber cast of your chamber, and measure it for you. Another possibility is that you are stretching the case body after sizing. Are you brushing the inside of the case neck before resizing. If the case is hard to pull over the expander ball, or you hear a shriek when pulling the case over the expander ball, case stretch is a definite possibility. Try brushing the inside of the case with a bronze or nylon brush that you have sprayed with one of the wax type case lubes (Hornady, Lee), or dust it with a dry lube like Motor Mica.

 

[jerm8352]

Thanks everyone for the help. I will check out all this stuff later this week. This is a fun but tough thing to start doing without having someone around to show you the ropes.

The dies and equipment are all less than a year old. I did not really brush out the cases so that could be part of the problem.

 

[extreme minnesotan]

Maybe you guys have mentioned this and I am newer to reloading so the technical names will probably not be correct. How about a problem with seating the bullet and actually compressing the shoulder ever so slightly. This could be giving him the right overall length measurement, but the bulge that is made in the shoulder will be why they are not chambering. Is he possible bottoming out the neck on the collet?

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Maybe you guys have mentioned this and I am newer to reloading so the technical names will probably not be correct. How about a problem with seating the bullet and actually compressing the shoulder ever so slightly. This could be giving him the right overall length measurement, but the bulge that is made in the shoulder will be why they are not chambering. Is he possible bottoming out the neck on the collet?

Possible, but if the die is the problem, I would expect all of the reloaded ammo to be a problem, not just some of them.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Maybe you guys have mentioned this and I am newer to reloading so the technical names will probably not be correct. How about a problem with seating the bullet and actually compressing the shoulder ever so slightly. This could be giving him the right overall length measurement, but the bulge that is made in the shoulder will be why they are not chambering. Is he possible bottoming out the neck on the collet?

The process of seating the bullet shouldn't cause what you're stating and if it was there should be visible signs on the brass. The OP says there are no signs that he can see and this would lead one to believe that it is strictly a matter of the bullets needing to be seated a hair more into the casing because the ogive is hitting the lands. The brass has only been fired in the one rifle, so he wouldn't even need to do a full resize after just one or two firings, but rather just a neck sizing so the next bullet will be held firmly in the brass when it's loaded. The only thing in the resizing process that could be causing it is if the die isn't set properly and the shoulder of the brass is hitting the chamber. That can't be determined by just checking the overall length of a loaded round, but rather the actual sizing process and die setting needs to be looked at to see if that might be the cause. My gut feeling is still that the bullets just need to be seated a hair deeper into the case and that's what I would do by turning the seating die down a very fine amount and running the rounds back through. If that doesn't correct the problem, then it has to be the brass.

 

[Sawfish]

Did you deburr the cases after trimming?

 

[jerm8352]

I did deburr the brass. I will turn the bullet seating die down a little bit, run the batch through and see what happens. Thanks so much.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Keep us posted...

 

[jerm8352]

I readjusted the seating die and ran some dummy rounds and these seemed to be much better. I put the already loaded rounds through the seating die again and they seemed to be much better. I will fine tune the seating die before the next batch. Looks like I will have to go shooting this week. Thanks for all the help and I will probably be on here again when I try setting up my dies for neck sizing the 30-06, 300 win mag, and after I break in my new AR 15!

Thanks!

 

[LaHunter]

I would recommend going to the RCBS website. There is some good general info there for people new to reloading. Also, I would pick up more that just one (Lyman) manual. There is some good info in the Nosler Manual. Read as much as you can to get a good working knowledge of the process and what each step is working to accomplish.

Also, I would recommend getting a Hornady Lock n Load headspace measurement kit along with a Hornady Bullet compararor. Also you will need a caliper. This will allow you to know the critical measurements of your brass and your loaded cartridges, rather than guessing. It is a good idea to know the measurement of your fired brass from the base to the datum line on the shoulder after firing. This measurement may grow between the first and second and third firing in your rifle.
Also, knowing how far your seated bullet is from making contact with the rifling is a very critical factor in optimizing accuracy for a given load. The bullet comparator is useful in this measurement.

The brass sizing that has worked for me is: I use the Redding Competition Shell Holders with a full length sizing die. These shell holders allow me to bump the shoulder back to allow .002-.003 headspace, on every piece of brass. This also helps with not overworking the brass. These shellholders have a higher rim on them so that you can run the ram up to make positive contact with the sizing die.

Good Luck

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I would recommend going to the RCBS website. There is some good general info there for people new to reloading. Also, I would pick up more that just one (Lyman) manual. There is some good info in the Nosler Manual. Read as much as you can to get a good working knowledge of the process and what each step is working to accomplish.

Also, I would recommend getting a Hornady Lock n Load headspace measurement kit along with a Hornady Bullet compararor. Also you will need a caliper. This will allow you to know the critical measurements of your brass and your loaded cartridges, rather than guessing. It is a good idea to know the measurement of your fired brass from the base to the datum line on the shoulder after firing. This measurement may grow between the first and second and third firing in your rifle.
Also, knowing how far your seated bullet is from making contact with the rifling is a very critical factor in optimizing accuracy for a given load. The bullet comparator is useful in this measurement.

The brass sizing that has worked for me is: I use the Redding Competition Shell Holders with a full length sizing die. These shell holders allow me to bump the shoulder back to allow .002-.003 headspace, on every piece of brass. This also helps with not overworking the brass. These shellholders have a higher rim on them so that you can run the ram up to make positive contact with the sizing die.

Good Luck

Great advice. I have found RCBS to be very helpful with problems encountered while reloading. I use their products almost exclusively (and have for 30 or more years).

 

[jerm8352]

I have the Hornady reloading manual as well and am looking to get the nosler one too as I use their bullets a lot. I also have a caliper.
Thanks for all the help.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I have the Hornady reloading manual as well and am looking to get the nosler one too as I use their bullets a lot. I also have a caliper.
Thanks for all the help.

Its pretty important to keep up with a new manual or 2 every couple of years as they keep refining powders and bringing out new ones.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

This happened to me once. Trim length was perfect. Bullet seating was perfect. All rounds were the same. Doubled checked all measurements. First few rounds chambered perfectly fine and then suddenly the next four would not chamber. WTH!! This was my last trip to the range prior to my hunt. Here's what happened during the reloading process: measuring H4350, double checked powder weight, put the powder in the casing, placed the bullet into the neck and I gave the bullet a little EXTRA push into the neck, don't know why I did this because normally I gently set the bullet in the neck until I seat the bullet. Anyhow, I finished seating the bullets the next morning. I realized when I pushed the bullet into the neck, with the little extra push, it created a subtle bulge right at the neck which prevented the round from chambering. Lesson learned.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

This happened to me once. Trim length was perfect. Bullet seating was perfect. All rounds were the same. Doubled checked all measurements. First few rounds chambered perfectly fine and then suddenly the next four would not chamber. WTH!! This was my last trip to the range prior to my hunt. Here's what happened during the reloading process: measuring H4350, double checked powder weight, put the powder in the casing, placed the bullet into the neck and I gave the bullet a little EXTRA push into the neck, don't know why I did this because normally I gently set the bullet in the neck until I seat the bullet. Anyhow, I finished seating the bullets the next morning. I realized when I pushed the bullet into the neck, with the little extra push, it created a subtle bulge right at the neck which prevented the round from chambering. Lesson learned.

That's exactly why I chamber EVERY one of my reloaded hunting rounds right after I have finished reloading them. Don't want any problems in the field later. I try to do the same with all my competition loads too. Two thing I've found to be critical with my .45 Colt loads is OAL and primer seating. Last weekend in a CAS (Cowboy Action Shoot) I had 2 rounds with high primers in my pistol rounds. Found them at the loading table. I usually spin the cylinder after I loaded it so I can make sure there are no high primers. Found them and saved myself trouble during the stage. OAL is critical in my 73 Winchester lever action, as rounds that are too long will not cycle and hang up the carrier. I measure them all in a go/no go guage after I load them.

Even after reloading literally 1,000's of rounds in 60 years of reloading, I can still get careless and make a mistake. Check, recheck and check again!!!

 

[Mule3006Elk]

That's exactly why I chamber EVERY one of my reloaded hunting rounds right after I have finished reloading them. GREAT PIECE OF ADVISE!!

 

[Topgun 30-06]

That's exactly why I chamber EVERY one of my reloaded hunting rounds right after I have finished reloading them. GREAT PIECE OF ADVISE!!

I've also done that ever since I started reloading!

 

[jerm8352]

Thanks for all the help. This is a hard thing to start, but very rewarding!