I set my rifle barrel on my action with new Lapua brass. I bought some "once fired" brass from a customer. It will not load into my new barrel. I trimmed the cases and ran them through my new Redding dies. The same dies I ran the new Lapua brass through. The new brass fits into the chamber just fine. I do not know why the old brass will not fit into my action. Do you have any ideas???

The final size of resized brass depends at least on the following factors: 1) dimensions and adjustment settings of die, and 2) dimensions of brass before sizing - which in turn is closely related to dimensions of chamber in which the brass was fired.

The once fired brass will definitely be larger than new brass. It is also possible the once fired brass is larger (in the various dimensions) than brass fired in your own chamber. Chambers come in all possible sizes.

Adjust your sizing die to get all the once fired brass to chamber (with minimal shoulder set back - .001 - .002"). *Hopefully* all the once fired brass was fired in just one chamber, otherwise you could be in for an interesting sizing experience... Then fire that brass in your own chamber. Also fire new brass in your own chamber. Now re-set your sizing die to match the brass fired in your own chamber - hopefully you'll now only need one die setting to deal with both batches of brass.

In the future: consider whether buying once fired brass is really worth it...

- mike

Sounds as though your customers rifle has a very sloppy oversize chamber. Sort of like trying to resize brass that has been fired in a 742 auto to make it fit a bolt gun.

A new small base die could be in your future. Perhaps lucking into an old used small base .284win die would fit the need. best-o-luck

My gunsmith has two 6.5X.294 reamers, one for Lapua brass, the other for Norma. It could be that your "once fired" brass was fired in a slightly different chamber than yours.

However, taking all the slack out of your press by screwing the resizing die all the way in until it touches the shell holder, then backing the ram off and turning the die a bit further, until the ram absolutely will not rise all the way to the top, then backing the die off until it will, should solve the problem, unless the heads are swollen.

You can check that in advance with your micromenter.

quote:

I set my rifle barrel on my action with new Lapua brass.

If you used the brass as a headspace gauge, then i would guess your die is not going to size enough for any of the brass to chamber, after its fireformed to the chamber. Factory new brass can be a lot smaller than what it needs to be. Just a guess.

Try using a wooden match to soot the case to identify where your cases are making contact in the chamber. There is a more sophisticated product, but I forgot the name... Machinist's Blue, maybe?

Or maybe I'm just remembering methylene blue from the lab. At any rate, somebody on here knows I'm sure.